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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

HB

SHORT TITLE UNM Inter-American Cooperation Program

SB 677

ANALYST Hoffmann

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

$50.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Higher Education Department (HED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 677 appropriates $50,000 from the general fund to the Board of Regents of the Uni-

versity of New Mexico to pay for an inter-American cooperation and development 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.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The Inter-American Cooperation and Development Program was not included in UNM’s 2006

legislative priorities submitted to the New Mexico Higher Education Department (NMHED) for

review. This project was not on the list of NMHED's recommendations.

Senate Bill 677 – Page

2

According to the Higher Education Department, the $50,000 will be used to help fund the fol-

lowing:

•

Scholarships for training

•

Consultant travel between UNM and D.C. to coordinate activities

•

Production of course brochures for promotion and outreach

•

Hiring of course programmers

•

Server and line maintenance, internet fees

UNM's Ibero-American Science and Technology Education Consortium (ISTEC) is collaborat-

ing with the Inter-American Institute for Advanced Studies (INEAM) of the Organization of the

American States (OAS) in Washington, D.C. The collaboration is to provide educational and

professional training to 6,000 professionals from 18 countries through a minimum of seven

online courses and 3,000 teachers in New Mexico.

Administered and housed at UNM, the Inter-American Cooperation and Development Program’s

training will be offered to the following countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile,

Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicara-

gua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

CH/mt