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

SPONSOR Cisneros

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/8/06

HB

SHORT TITLE Taos County Aquifer Mapping & Monitoring

SB 343

ANALYST Earp

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

$650.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to: SB415, SB565, SB569, SB683, HB553 and HB685

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Higher Education Department (HED)

Office of State Engineer (OSE)

Department of Environment (DE)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 343 appropriates $650,000 from the general fund to the Board of Regents of the New

Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (NMTech) for the Bureau of Geology and Mineral

Resources (NMBGMR) to prepare aquifer maps and monitor aquifer conditions in Taos County.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $650,000 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.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

This proposal was not included among the special program funding requests submitted by the

NMTech to the Higher Education Department (HED) for review. Consequently, this proposal

has not been included in the HED fiscal year 2007 funding recommendations to the Legislature.

Senate Bill 343 – Page

2

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

NMTech provides administrative support for the Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources. No

significant additional impact is anticipated if this legislation is adopted.

CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP

This bill is generally related to SB 415, SB 565, SB569, SB683, HB553 and HB685, all of which

appropriate funding for aquifer mapping and studies.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

OSE notes that aquifer mapping and monitoring provide the framework to allow administration

and management of the state’s water resources. A similar bill for $300,000 was approved last

year for the NMBGMR to perform statewide aquifer mapping, and was inadequate to address the

aquifer mapping needs of the state. A number of recent hydrogeologic studies have been com-

pleted, or are in the process of being completed for the area surrounding the Town of Taos. The

U.S Geological Survey is presently conducting a geophysical survey along the mountain front in

cooperation with the NMBRMR, the OSE, and others. Geologic mapping has recently been per-

formed by the NMBGMR. A groundwater flow model for water resource administration and

planning in the Taos area has just been finalized. The OSE has a water level monitoring net-

work for the county and local groups are also participating in water level data collection activi-

ties. Funding for Taos County may be necessary to complete on-going work presently being per-

formed by the NMBGMR in Taos County. The continuation of funding would be essential to

realize the value of these investigations. However, the bill does not provide details on the scope

of work so an assessment of whether the remaining tasks will require the requested level of fund-

ing cannot be made.

POSSIBLE QUESTIONS

Will it be possible to complete the requested studies within a single fiscal year. (The appropria-

tion will revert at the end of FY 07.)

DKE/mt