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

SPONSOR SIAC

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

HB

SHORT TITLE

Beds For Native Americans At UNM Hospital

SM 33/SIACS

ANALYST Moser

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

NFI

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act

Relates to Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

The Senate Indian Affairs Committee substitute for Senate Memorial 33 requires that the univer-

sity of New Mexico report to the interim legislative affairs committee by October 2006 on its

understanding of the extent of its legal obligation to make beds available for Native Americans

and whether this obligations being met.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

New Mexico has 173,483 Indian citizens, which compose nearly 10.5% of the state's entire

population. There are 22 Indian tribes in New Mexico - 19 Pueblos, two Apache tribes (the Ji-

carilla Apache Nation and the Mescalero Apache Tribe), and the Navajo Nation, and a consider-

able urban Indian population.

More than fifty years ago, the United States Congress through Public Law 85-249 provided fund-

ing for the Bernalillo County Hospital on a commitment to reserve a minimum of 100 beds for

Native American patients in exchange for land taken out of trust for the hospital. Public Law 85-

249 is still in effect. The University of New Mexico board of regents has managed the hospital

since 1968.

Senate Memorial 33/SIACS - Page

2

The department of higher education (HED) indicates that UNM offers that it is fulfilling its con-

tract by providing access to care and financial assistance for that care to all Indians, regardless of

origin, on the same basis as it provides access to non-Indian patients. HED indicates that while

this care and assistance for the general welfare is significant according to SM33 UNM does not

fulfill the terms of the contract. The Pueblos of New Mexico donated the land to the hospital in

exchange for future services. This act was intended to assure health service delivery to the entire

population of Bernalillo County. The act constitutes an agreement with legal remedies for its

breach.

The Indian Health Service reimburses UNM Hospital for approximately one-half the cost the

hospital incurs each year for providing hospital services to eligible Native Americans.

HED points out that historically treaties signed by the U.S. Government and the hundreds of In-

dian tribes constitute moral and legally binding agreements. At the heart of contention is a mis-

understanding of what it means to fulfill contracts with tribes.

GM/nt