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

SPONSOR Gutierrez

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/29/07

HB 107

SHORT TITLE NMSU Nursing Education Program

SB

ANALYST Wilson

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$440.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates SB 38

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Board of Nursing (BN)

Department of Health (DOH)

Health Policy Commission (HPC)

Higher Education Department (HED)

NMSU School of Nursing

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 107 appropriates $440,000 from the

is appropriated from the general fund to the

board of regents of New Mexico State University (NMSU) for expenditure in fiscal year 2008 to

improve the nursing education program..

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $440,000 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general fund

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2008 shall revert

to the general fund.

House Bill 107– Page

2

The proposal of $440,000 was submitted to NMHED by NMSU and is included in the HED’s

funding recommendation for FY08 in the amount of $749,700, which includes $449,700 that was

appropriated in FY07.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

This bill is a targeted response to the well documented nursing and nursing faculty shortage

within the state and nation and the growing need for nurses with higher education levels. This

need for additional nurses as well as more highly educated nurses is particularly critical in the

State’s rural areas. It builds on federal start up funding that clearly demonstrated the feasibility of

the accelerated second degree BSN. Partnerships between various levels of nursing education

programs such as community colleges and universities are emphasized. Larger numbers of mi-

nority baccalaureate, masters, and doctoral students will be educated based on demographic

composition of the state. It sustains the gains made in increasing the number of pre-licensure

nursing students over the past three fiscal years and the pipeline established to increase nursing

graduates.

NMSU is the only public university providing nursing education in the southern region of the

state. Approximately 338 students are enrolled in education degree programs, and over 400 are

enrolled in pre-nursing majors.

HED notes the nursing programs cannot expand without the increase of faculty to teach in those

programs. This bill proposes to fund a program that will increase nursing faculty. It also targets

the in-crease of minority nursing faculty. The growing need for more nurses in New Mexico will

continue to exist if this bill is not enacted.

DUPLICATION

HB 107 duplicates SB 38. (except for short title)

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

Data gathered by the Center for Nursing Excellence 2007 implies that our state is meeting pro-

jected need for RNs at this time. But, we are also entering a critical period as 46% of nurses are

over 50 and 72% of all nurses in New Mexico are over age 40. Nationally it is predicted that the

supply of nurses will meet healthcare demands until 2012 and then as nurses retire there will be a

deficit of 20% by 2020. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) predicts that

NM will only be able to meet 64% of its demand by 2020.

Nurse candidates passing the nursing exam (NCLEX) was 679 for July 1, 2005 to July 1, 2006

up from 586 in 2000. This is an increase of 16% which reflects the success of New Mexico nurs-

ing program to increase capacity and the impact of additional funding targeting expansion initia-

tives.

Currently NMSU nursing education program includes a BSN and MSN program. Graduates

from this nursing program staff health care facilities in many of the southern areas of NM. Be-

cause these students are hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, citizens in these facilities benefit

from this additional education.

DW/mt