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

SPONSOR McSorley

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/30/06

HB

SHORT TITLE UNM Sustainability Studies Program

SB 330

ANALYST Hoffmann

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

$243.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates House Bill 244.

House Capital Outlay Request 73 is a companion to this bill.

Relates to House Bill 243.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Higher Education Department (HED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 330 appropriates $243,000 from the general fund to the Board of Regents of the Uni-

versity of New Mexico to support the sustainability studies program.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $243,000 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general fund.

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2007 shall revert

to the general fund.

Senate Bill 330 – Page

2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

This request does not appear on the University of New Mexico's institutional request for FY07

and is not included in the New Mexico Higher Education Department's recommendations.

DUPLICATION, RELATIONSHIP AND COMPANIONSHIP

This is a duplicate of House Bill 244. It is related to House Bill 243, which appropriates

$120,000 for the same purpose.

House Capital Outlay Request 73 is a companion bill, requesting $35,000 for equipment to dem-

onstrate the production and uses of biodiesel fuels.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

According to the Higher Education Department, the Sustainability Studies Program at UNM

provides leadership and solutions to tackle the sustainability challenge. Knowledge from the sci-

ences, humanities, and arts will percolate through collaborations both on and off campus. Sus-

tainability studies facilitate new career paths and job opportunities in the development of sus-

tainable:

•

energies: solar, wind, biomass and vegetable fuels, etc.

•

design: architecture, neighborhoods, rural-urban interactions, building, and construction

•

technologies: transportation, water re-use, local food production, waste disposal, water

retention, etc.

•

decision making: urban planning, public transportation, public policy, resource use, art,

culture, economics, etc.

•

collaborations: academic, business, community, state, non-profit, global.

The Higher Education Department also notes that this request will support staff for the program.

Staff members include an administrative assistant, curriculum coordinator, and a Lecturer III po-

sition. There will be $10,000 set aside for student scholarships to attract more students to this

new program.

CH/nt