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

SPONSOR Tsosie

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/07/06

HB

SHORT TITLE

INTERNET TO THE HOGANS INITIATIVE

SB 626

ANALYST Weber

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

$5,740.6

Recurring

General

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act

Relates to Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Indian Affairs Department (IAD)

Higher Education Department (HED)

Cultural Affairs Department (CAD)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 626 appropriates $5.74 million from the general fund to the entities below for the

purposes noted.

To the Indian Affairs department:

•

$156,848 for administrative costs to establish a fiscal administrative site at a tribal

college for the internet to the hogans initiative; and

•

$50,000 for a land use master to advise local Navajo chapters on establishment of

communication corridors and to serve as a liaison with the Navajo Nation to

coordinate use of specific lands within chapter boundaries;

To the Board of Regents of the University of New Mexico:

Senate Bill 626 – Page

2

•

for its public television station,$110,000 to implement a teleconferencing pilot project

at the White Rock chapter of the Navajo Nation to demonstrate and test technology

and wireless communication, power and electrical systems, call routing and

teleconferencing; and

•

for its health sciences center, for use by the Navajo telehealth commission:

$1,200,000 to leverage existing Navajo telehealth project programs to improve the

scope, accessibility and quality of medical services for people who live in New

Mexico in the Navajo Nation; and

•

$480,000 to develop a cardiac rehabilitation program for people who live in New

Mexico in the Navajo Nation to provide rehabilitation services to Navajo people

suffering from heart disease;

To the Public Education Department, for use in schools in districts with a Native American

kindergarten through twelfth grade population of at least fifty-one percent:

•

$2,895,000 to improve Native American electronic access to bilingual and other

culturally relevant programming, of which $2,755,000 is to be used to match public

school funds with those of the federal government and other entities to provide

college preparatory coursework, teacher collaboration and training and distance

learning classes in mathematics, science or language arts through the internet; and

•

$498,748 to examine current Navajo-English bilingual programming and create a

model bilingual program for pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade students, using

input from consultants and educational entities that include the indigenous language

institute, the university of New Mexico school of medicine's office of diversity and

the Navajo education technology consortium;

To the Higher Education Department,

•

$200,000 for the governing board of San Juan college for a community college-based

initiative to expand the programs of the Navajo technology empowerment center by

developing technology-based training materials for community educational

organizations, creating Navajo web content for access by community members,

advocating technology awareness at the community level, seeking additional funding

for technology and broadband initiatives, acting as a regional technology support

center and coordinating the activities of governmental and nongovernmental entities

that conduct business in the region; and

To the State Library

•

$150,000 to provide for computer maintenance and technical support staffing to

expand access to digital technology for state tribal libraries and chapter houses,

including developing a network and web-page development

.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $5.74 million contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general

fund. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY07 shall revert to the

general fund.

Senate Bill 626 – Page

3

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The Public Education Department contributes the following.

Of significance to PED is that the Internet to the Hogans initiative is targeting schools in districts

with at least a 51 percent Native American kindergarten through 12th-grade student population.

There are six (6) school districts with at least 51 percent Native American K-12 student

population. The Internet to the Hogans initiative is primarily focused on Navajo Language

through the examination of current programs and creating a model Navajo language bilingual

program. There are seven school districts implementing Navajo language bilingual programs, of

which three (3) have at least 51 percent Navajo K-12 student population.

All 110 Navajo chapters, including the 50 Navajo chapters in New Mexico, have websites and

email service through the Navajo Nation Design and Engineering Services established under the

Division of the Community Development of the Navajo Nation Government .

From 1999-2003, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation worked with tribal leaders, librarians and

educators to help bridge the digital divide among Native Americans. The goal of the Native

American Access to Technology Program (NAATP) was to empower Native communities

through increased access to digital information resources. The program provided access to tools

and technology to preserve local culture and heritage. The foundation’s Native American Access

to Technology Program (NAATP) worked with 43 tribes/pueblos in Arizona, Colorado, New

Mexico and Utah to provide computers, peripherals, training and technical support. NAATP has

invested $9.6 million to provide 805 computers for 161 sites. The program provided services to

all 110 Navajo Chapters. The NAATP Progress Report of December 2001 stated “most of the

tribes did not cite the State Librarian as a key partner in developing their libraries (as in New

Mexico)”. This legislation proposes to give additional funding to the state library to provide

computer maintenance and technical support to tribal libraries and Navajo chapter houses.

The Navajo Technology Empowerment Center (NAVTEC) was a project funded by the

Department of Commerce's Technology Opportunities Program (TOP), a part of the

Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). NTIA

promotes the widespread availability and use of digital network technologies in the public and

non-profit sectors. TOP gives grants for model projects demonstrating innovative uses of

network technologies, evaluates and actively shares the lessons learned from these projects to

ensure the benefits are broadly distributed across the country. NAVTEC focused on e-commerce

development, e- training and government management technologies. NAVTEC applied these

technology applications to deliver interactive, user-friendly instruction on economic

development, career training, educational opportunities and health advisories to 18 communities

throughout a three-state area. The center will house a secure, Internet-based e-commerce, e-

training and data collection hub for the Western Navajo Agency, a part of the Navajo Nation. It

will offer the community a variety of IT-based services, such as business management, IT

training and certification, English as a Second Language, as well as dependable Internet access

and services that further e-commerce. The NAVTEC partners include: Texas A&M University;

Institute for Native Americans at Northern Arizona University; Dine College; U.S. Indian Health

Service; Hewlett Packard Village Centers/World e-Inclusion; Teltecglobal; Navajo Nation

Divisions of Human Resources, Social Services, General Services, Economic Development,

Dine Education, Public Safety, Natural Resources; Navajo Nation Data Resource Center; Navajo

Nation Temporary Aid to Needy Families; and the Navajo people. The start and end dates were

Senate Bill 626 – Page

4

October 1, 2001 - September 30, 2005. This legislation proposes to give additional funding to

the governing body of San Juan College to expand the programs of the NAVTEC.

The Higher Education Department adds.

In 2000, the Navajo Nation first began installing the wireless network as a means to implement

the Local Governance Act (LGA), which had been passed in 1998 to encourage the Navajo

Nations 110 chapters to become more self-sufficient. Providing an infrastructure for technology

has been a challenge because many of the communities do not have phone lines and installing a

wired system takes too long and is expensive. The Navajo Nation found the wireless, satellite

options to be less time-consuming and cheaper. Grant funds from the Bill and Melinda Gates

Foundation helped develop the infrastructure to install computers in all 110 chapter houses and

273 Head Start pre-kindergarten centers. The foundation provided funds to the Navajo Nation to

install a satellite system to cover the reservation. OnSat, a satellite company based in Park City,

Utah was awarded the contract and has since opened a mostly Navajo-staffed operation on the

reservation to maintain the satellite system. Of the 110 Chapter houses, over 50 of them are on

the Navajo Nation in the state of New Mexico. Chapter houses serve as the local government

gathering place across the Navajo Nation. Chapter houses serve as the clearing house for

information and community resources. Often, chapter houses offer the only phone and internet

services for miles.

The Navajo Area Indian Health Services (NAIHS) is by far the largest provider of healthcare

services to the Navajo people. It administers numerous clinics, health centers, and hospitals,

providing healthcare to 201,583 members of the Navajo Nation. The Navajo Nation is the largest

Indian tribe in the United States and has the largest reservation, which encompasses more than

25,516 square miles in northern Arizona, western New Mexico, and southern Utah, with three

satellite communities in central New Mexico.

Comprehensive health care is provided to the Navajo people through in-patient, out-patient,

contract, and community health programs centered around 6 hospitals, 7 health centers, and 14

health stations. School clinics and Navajo tribal health programs also serve the community. The

six hospitals range in size from 25 beds in Crownpoint, New Mexico, to 98 beds at the Gallup

Indian Medical Center in Gallup, New Mexico.

Since 1997, The University of New Mexico has partnered with Northern Navajo Hospital and

Alamo Health Service in Shiprock and Magdalena, NM to operate a telemedicine network from

the School of Medicine. It also has an arrangement with the Albuquerque High Performance

Computing Center's (AHPCC) Education and Research Center which is co-located at UNM. The

AHPCC uses advanced internet-based systems and high performance computing to enhance

education, training, patient care management and problem solving while working in

collaboration with students, and healthcare providers at the Northern Navajo Medical Center and

Alamo Indian Health Service. SB626 will support the development of new technology to deliver

healthcare services to remote areas of the Navajo Nation in New Mexico.

Most students in the United States take for granted ready access to computers and the internet.

But for students on the Navajo Nation, this technology is a luxury. Recent developments by state

post-secondary institutions to establish increased education opportunities through computer

access is allowing students on the Navajo Nation to get degrees when they otherwise wouldn't be

able to because of distance or technological barriers. Tribal colleges and some New Mexico

public post-secondary institutions have memorandums of understanding to offer programs and

Senate Bill 626 – Page

5

educational services to cost share in the development of new initiatives to provide education

anywhere, anytime. SB626 supports these ongoing initiatives as well as ways to further develop

new models of education that incorporate Navajo language and culture using a P-20 approach.

Cultural Affairs notes for the State Library.

The State Library division’s tribal libraries funding currently provides a variety of support

services to tribal communities throughout New Mexico. The funding provided by this section of

SB 626 will expand the current capacity of the program to allow it to provide training and

technical support entirely devoted specifically to Navajo chapters in New Mexico.

MW/mt