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

SPONSOR Papen

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2-6-2006

HJM

SHORT TITLE Dona Ana Court Consolidation

SJM 41

ANALYST Dearing

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

NFI*

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates HJM 54

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Senate Joint Memorial

Citing a Dona Ana County Court Consolidation Committee Report, as written for the New Mex-

ico Legislature, wherein estimates of increased costs associated with consolidation of the court

system in Dona Ana County are in excess of three times current costs, Senate Joint Memorial

resolves that the 3

rd

Judicial District Court and the 3

rd

Judicial District Attorney, as well as the

City of Las Cruces withdraw their support of proposed consolidation

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

Enactment of Senate Joint Memorial 41 carries no appropriation, and as such this has no fiscal

impact.

*It should be noted, that according to the "Dona Ana County Court Consolidation Committee

Report", written for the New Mexico Legislature, there are stated to be extensive cost increases

that would be associated with consolidation of the county court system, however these are pe-

ripheral fiscal considerations to this Senate Joint Resolution’s enactment, as these would occur in

future fiscal periods.

Senate Joint Memorial No. 41 – Page

2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

In a study of the Bernalillo county metropolitan court system by the administrative office of the

courts concluded that "based on current attitudes and experiences... the public and lawyers are

still critical of long waits, delays, expense (in time and money) and frustration.”

Newspaper articles published since 2000 suggest the Bernalillo county metropolitan court

system has continued to experience problems, inferred to be due to the consolidation of that court

system.

According to the administrative office of the courts' report, the Bernalillo county metropolitan

court system has been plagued by administrative problems from the beginning, as evidenced by

reports that case loads immediately increased by twenty-five percent.

The "Dona Ana County Court Consolidation Committee Report", written for the New Mexico

legislature, the Las Cruces city council and the Dona Ana board of county commissioners esti-

mates the cost of moving to a consolidated court system in Dona Ana county would triple costs

from the current fiscal year 2005 figure of three million three hundred ninety-six thousand five

hundred ten dollars ($3,396,510) for all magistrate and municipal courts in the county to eleven

million nine thousand nine hundred six dollars ($11,009,906) for a consolidated court, while at

the same time reducing the total number of judges from ten to seven.

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

Copies of this memorial are to be transmitted to the administrative office of the courts, the third

judicial district court, the district attorney in the third judicial district and the mayor of the city of

Las Cruces.

WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL

No public support for the consolidation of the Dona Ana County Court proposal would be with-

drawn.

PD/nt