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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR SJC

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/23/06

2/13/06 HB

SHORT TITLE DNA Samples From All Felony Arrests

SB 216/SJCS/aSFC

ANALYST Peery

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

NA

NA

NA

NA

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Department of Public Safety (DPS)

New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD)

No Responses From

Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC)

Administrative Office of the District Attorneys (AODA)

Attorney General (AG)

Public Defender Department (PDD)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of SFC Amendment

The Senate Finance Committee amendment of the Senate Judiciary Committee substitute for

Senate Bill 216 on page one, line 15 deletes “;MAKING AN APPROPRIATION”. The amend-

ment on page 15 deletes Section 11 regarding appropriation and calls for the renumbering of the

succeeding sections. The amendment on page 15, line 14 deletes the subsection designation “A”

and “Sections”. Also, the amendment on page 15 deletes lines 16 and 17 containing the follow-

ing language: “B. The effective date of the provisions of Section 11 of this act is July 1, 2006.”

Synopsis of Original Bill

The Senate Judiciary Committee substitute for Senate Bill 216 requires the collection of DNA

samples from all person eighteen years of age or over who are arrested for certain felony of-

Senate Bill 216/SJCS/aSFC – Page 2

fenses and the requiring submission of DNA samples collected pursuant to medical examinations

of sexual assault victims. The word “felony” is defined in the proposed legislation as a sex of-

fense as defined in the provisions of Section 29-11A-3 NMSA 1978, or any other offense that

involves death, great bodily harm, aggravated assault, kidnapping, burglary, larceny, robbery,

aggravated stalking, use of a firearm or an explosive or a violation pursuant to the Antiterrorism

Act.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $360,000 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general fund.

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of a fiscal year shall not revert

to the general fund.

DPS reports their Law Enforcement Records Bureau receives approximately 7,000 felony arrest

fingerprint cards per year. The DNA Identification Act requires persons convicted to pay a $100

fee for DNA analysis and administration. DPS states the proposed legislation does not require

the person arrested to pay a fee for DNA analysis or administrative costs. DPS estimates the

general fund appropriation of $360,000 will fall short by $64,000 to cover the minimum antici-

pated costs for analysis and administration.

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

DPS reports the fiscal implication to the Law Enforcement Records Bureau are not addressed

which could lead to serious backlogs of DNA samples waiting to be analyzed and entered into

the Combined DNA Index System a national system of regions.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

DPS states the administrative implications will occur with the process of expungements. DPS

reports if a timeline for the administration process is not written into statute, state liability from

resulting lawsuits will occur.

NMCD reports the proposed legislation could potentially increase the workload of the two Cen-

tral Office records managers because the DNA administrative center will be required to coordi-

nate with the managers concerning whether or not NMCD has DNA information on file for vari-

ous arrestees.

CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP

The proposed legislation is duplicated by in House Bill 130.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

DPS states New Mexico DNA Identification System would need to improve and establish com-

munication through networked computers or updates to communicate about the individuals who

have already had DNA samples collected. DPS reports the communication will require a net

work capable of handling the increased traffic of requests to confirm samples exist in the data-

base.

Senate Bill 216/SJCS/aSFC – Page 3

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

DPS reports duplicate DNA samples are not necessarily inappropriate. Although they would not

be analyzed, they would be stored and used for confirmation and other qualitative tests.

ALTERNATIVES

DPS recommends the appropriation in the proposed legislation be increased to $425,000 to as-

sure adequate funding and no backlogs.

RLP/yr:nt:mt