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

SPONSOR Campos

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/10/06

HB

SHORT TITLE NMHU Programs

SB 601

ANALYST Earp

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

$3,229.3

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to HB’s 281, 722, 742 and SB’s 271, 550, 674, 675, 689

Relates to Appropriations in the General Appropriation Act

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Higher Education Department (HED)

Public Education Department (PED)

Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 601 appropriates $3,229,300 from the General Fund to the Board of Regents of New

Mexico Highlands University (NMHU) for expenditure in fiscal year 2007 for the following

purposes:

•

$500,000 for the Ben Lujan Leadership and Public Policy Institute

•

$433,100 for the New Mexico Forest and Watershed Restoration Institute

•

$388,000 for the Spanish program

•

$680,000 for the Technology Training Institute and Regional Communications Hub

•

$804,700 for the Northeastern New Mexico Economic Development meta-center

•

$423,500 for athletics

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriations contained in this bill appear to be recurring expenses to the general fund. Any

Senate Bill 601 – Page

2

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

general fund.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

While the specific appropriation amounts vary somewhat, these proposals were included among

the special program funding requests submitted by NMHU to the Higher Education Department

(HED) for review. However, none of these expansion items has been included in the HED fiscal

year 2007 funding recommendations to the Legislature.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

NMHU would bear administrative responsibility for all of the requested programs.

CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP

This bill is related to several pieces of legislation that would provide funding for some of these

programs at NMHU. Among the related bills are House Bills 281, 722, 742 and Senate Bills

271, 550, 674, 675, 689. Funding for some of these items is also included in the General Appro-

priation Act.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

Information provided through HED indicates that the requested funds would be utilized as fol-

lows:

1. Ben Lujan Leadership and Public Policy Institute. This bill provides direct support to student

fellowships, speaker series, workshops, and career development. The appropriation will also

support faculty members coordinating the community service component of the institute.

2. Forest and Watershed Restoration Institute. This newly-formed institute focuses on the man-

agement of mountain watersheds in the southern Rocky Mountain and High Plains ecological

provinces. This institute is in collaboration with Colorado State University and Northern Arizona

University. This bill provides the necessary funding that will allow NMHU to participate fully

as a collaborative institution and provide research, methods, and contemporary practices that will

improve forests and watersheds to create an ecological balance that reduces forest fire threats,

destruction to soil structure, and pollution impacts to high quality watersheds located in northern

New Mexico.

3. Spanish program. This bill supports the NMHU Spanish Program that seeks to integrate so-

cial work and business into a language program. By providing Spanish immersion into these

programs this will create more opportunities for job placement upon graduation as well as pro-

vide skills needed to work in rural areas of New Mexico where Spanish is spoken prominently.

NMHU is also developing an on-line course of Spanish immersion for health care professionals.

Currently there is a statewide need for health care professionals and this bill addresses this need,

particularly in rural areas throughout the state.

4. Technology Training Institute and Regional Communications Hub. The institute provides

training for technology and use of computers as well as equipment maintenance and repair for

Senate Bill 601 – Page

3

Las Vegas and surrounding areas. This will enable NMHU to provide training and repair for

other state institutions such as the state hospital and local governments. The training will help

sustain the program and allow surrounding technology needs to be serviced by NMHU staff and

eventually after the training has taken place, other participating agency staff members will be

able to address any current technological problems instead of relying on service technicians from

as far away as Santa Fe.

5. Northeastern New Mexico Economic Development Meta-Center. NMHU has an ongoing

agreement with the City of Las Vegas in assisting economic development. NMHU also is work-

ing with surrounding communities such as Mora and Springer in economic development initia-

tives.

6. Athletics. This bill supports the women’s rodeo team and men’s wrestling team as a part of

the athletic department at NMHU. Due to high gasoline prices, there is a need to increase support

for athletic teams that drive as far away as twelve hours in order to compete in the Rocky Moun-

tain Athletic Conference (RMAC) that includes institutions in Colorado, Nebraska, and Kansas.

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