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

SPONSOR Varela

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/23/07

HB 225

SHORT TITLE

Making an Appropriation to Contract for the

Provision of a Science and Engineering Fair in

Albuquerque; Declaring an Emergency

SB

ANALYST Propst

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$1,200.0

Non-recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates Senate Bill 131. The Executive recommendation includes $100.0 for the Science and

Supercomputing Challenge.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

Responses Received From

Public Education Department (PED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Making an Appropriation to Contract for the Provision of a Science and Engineering Fair in

Albuquerque; Declaring an Emergency.

House Bill 225 appropriates $1,200.0 in general fund to the Department of Finance and

Administration to provide for the International Science and Engineering Fair that will be held in

May, 2007 in Albuquerque. The legislation has an emergency funding clause. Any unexpended

or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY2008 reverts to the general fund.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The Public Education Department reports that this legislation supports the Intel International

Science and Engineering Fair. The 2007 competition will attract 1,500 top high school students

representing all 50 U.S. states and 47 countries, territories and regions. They will bring their

cutting-edge research in areas such as nanotechnology, genetics, fuel efficiency, engineering,

House Bill 225 – Page

2

medicine and much more to the Albuquerque Convention Center on May 13-19, 2007 to

compete for over $4 million in prizes. In addition, over 5,000 New Mexico students and their

teachers will visit the Fair during the two public days where they will have the opportunity to

interact with the student finalists as well as participate in hands-on inquiry science and

engineering activities (

www.intelisef2007.org

). (Registration for New Mexico school groups to

visit the event began on 01/17/07 and by 01/19/07 almost 4,000 students were registered.)

Science fairs have served students, teachers and parents in New Mexico since 1959. Science

fairs require students to engage in scientific research and demonstrate understanding of concepts

and principles in science, mathematics and engineering (

www.unm.edu/~scifair

).

This event will be one of the largest conventions to be held in Albuquerque, both in size and

financial impact. More than 5,000 world visitors who will travel to this event and contribute to

the state’s economy before, during and after the Fair. Nearly all of the 16,000 hotel room nights

that were reserved for this event have been booked. The total cost of hosting this event is about

$2,400.0; approximately 30% of this cost has been committed by sponsors including Sandia

National Laboratories, PNM, Northrop Grumman, UNM, McCune Charitable Foundation, NM

Tech, CNM and others.

This program was funded by the New Mexico legislature for $500,000 for FY07 in HB02 p. 226,

lines 13-14

.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

Staff from the PED’s Math and Science Bureau is involved in the planning of the ISEF and will

attend the event.

CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP

Duplicates Senate Bill 131. Relates to the Executive recommendation of $100.0 for the Science

and Supercomputing Challenge.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

Due to the timing of the event, funding must be allocated for FY07 under the emergency clause.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

Rio Rancho Public Schools is acting as the fiscal agent for Inquiry Facilitators, the 501(c)3 non-profit

organization that won the bid to bring the International Science and Engineering Fair to NM.

WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL

The International Science and Engineering Fair organizers would have to seek funds from other

sources. If adequate funds are not found, the quality of this international event may suffer.

WEP/mt:csd