Fiscal impact reports (FIRs) are prepared by the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) for standing finance

committees of the NM Legislature. The LFC does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of these reports

if they are used for other purposes.

Current FIRs (in HTML & Adobe PDF formats) are a vailable on the NM Legislative Website (legis.state.nm.us).

Adobe PDF versions include all attachments, whereas HTML versions may not. Previously issued FIRs and

attachments may be obtained from the LFC in Suite 101 of the State Capitol Building North.

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

SPONSOR Arnold-Jones

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

02/01/07

HB 206

SHORT TITLE Poison and Drug Info Center Statewide Program

SB

ANALYST Williams

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$428.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

University of New Mexico (UNM) 2007 Legislative Priorities

Responses Received From

Higher Education Department (HED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 206 appropriates $428 thousand from the general fund to the board of regents at the

University of New Mexico for salary increases for the staff of the poison and drug information

center.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $428.0 thousand 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.

As well, the salary increase may impact contributions to the educational retirement board.

House Bill 206 – Page

2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

HED discusses the impact of higher private sector salaries for pharmacists and potential impacts

on retention of staff at the New Mexico Poison and Drug Information Center. HED notes this

appropriation bring the salaries of specialists at the center competitive with the Albuquerque

private sector market.

HED notes the bill conflicts with higher education salary recommendations currently under

consideration by the Legislature. However, HED indicates it cannot provide details of the extent

to which a 1 percent increase in compensation in the current higher education funding formula

supports the poison and drug information center in FY08.

According to LFC files, actual salaries in FY06 for the center were $146.3 thousand for faculty

and $974.8 thousand for staff for a total of $1.12 million. The cost of a total 1 percent

compensation increase for faculty is $1.7 thousand and for staff is $11.4 thousand for a total of

$13.1 thousand. Thus, this appropriation represents a 32.6 percent increase if applied equally

across the board. This would be in addition to the 4.5 percent for faculty and staff provided in

the LFC compensation recommendation and the 6 percent for faculty and 5 percent for staff

provided in the executive compensation recommendation.

As noted by HED, UNM proposed funding through the HED budget request process of $203.0

thousand for this purpose. In its priorities list, UNM notes the poison control services are offered

24/7.

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

In compliance with the Accountability in Government Act, UNM Health Sciences Center reports

the following output measure for the center:

Percent of human poisoning exposures treated safely at home after poison and drug information

center contact: The FY06 actual was 67 percent, while the FY08 target is 70 percent.

AW/nt