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

SPONSOR Robinson

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/4/06

2/7/06 HB

SHORT TITLE NMHU Spanish Language Program

SB 674/aSEC

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 Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

SUMMARY

Synopsis of SEC Amendments

The Senate Education Committee amendments add a new appropriation subsection to the bill

which appropriates $600,000 to the Board of Regents of New Mexico Highlands University to

support the accelerated development of a mathematics, science and reading comprehensive im-

provement program.

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 674 appropriates $50,000 from the general fund to the Board of Regents of New

Mexico Highlands University to support the Spanish language program.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $50,000 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. These funds would augment a line-item appropriation of $288,000 contained

in the General Appropriation Act for this purpose, as well as resources generated through the

higher education funding formula.

Senate Bill 674/aSEC – Page

2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

This proposal (but in the amount of $62,000) was included among the special program funding

requests submitted by New Mexico Highlands University to the Higher Education Department

(HED) for review. However, this proposal has not been included in the HED fiscal year 2007

funding recommendations to the Legislature.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

NMHU administers the current line-item funding provided for the Spanish program. No signifi-

cant additional impact is evident.

CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP OR RELATIONSHIP

This bill is related to House Bills 281 and 722, as well as Senate Bill 601, all of which appropri-

ate funds to NMHU for expansion of Spanish programs.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

HED reports that NMHU’s strategic plan calls for making NMHU the country’s premier His-

panic-serving institution. The Board of Regents at NMHU has enthusiastically embraced this ini-

tiative. NMHU is requesting five new faculty members to begin implementing some new pro-

grammatic directions, including two faculty members in the Spanish program to expand educa-

tional offerings in various disciplines targeted for bilingual students.

DKE/yr