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

SPONSOR

HAFC

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/25/07

4/11/07 HB

291/HAFCS

SHORT TITLE

Create Additional Judgeships

SB

ANALYST

C. Sanchez

E. Ortiz

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$2,168.1

Recurring

General Fund

$198.7 Non-Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Administrative Office of The Courts on behalf of District Courts and Magistrate Courts

Public Defenders

Administrative Office of the District Attorneys

SUMMARY

Synopsis of HAFC substitute

The House Appropriations and Finance Committee Substitute for House Bill 291 appropriates

$2.36 million from the general fund to the agencies specified in the bill. Courts, Corrections and

Justice Committee sponsored bill creates and provides for an appropriation for four district court

judgeships in the Second, Fourth and Sixth (Luna County) Judicial Districts and one San Juan

County Magistrate Court judgeship (in Aztec). For election purposes, the composition of the

divisions for the San Juan County Magistrate judgeship has been amended to incorporate the

additional judgeship, division 6.

The bill provides for the district judges to be appointed by the governor pursuant to the

provisions of Article 6 of the Constitution of New Mexico. The magistrate court judgeship in

San Juan County shall be filled by appointment by the governor and will begin serving on July 1,

2007. The appointed magistrate judge shall serve until succeeded by a magistrate elected at the

general election in 2008. The first full term of office of the elected magistrate shall begin on

January 1, 2009.

House Bill 291/HAFCS – Page

2

The bill also makes appropriations to the following agencies for salaries and benefits, furniture,

supplies and equipment.

•

The 2

nd

district attorney $282 thousand ;

•

The Public Defender Department $175 thousand for use in the 2

nd

judicial district;

•

The 4

th

district attorney $141 thousand;

•

The 6

th

district attorney $141 thousand;

•

The 11

th

district attorney in San Juan $100 thousand; and

•

The Public Defender Department $108 thousand for use in the 11

th

judicial district San

Juan.

•

Also, included for the Public Defender Department is $50 thousand for contractual

services in the fourth judicial district; $75 for contractual services in the 6

th

judicial

district.

The effective date of the Act is July 1, 2007.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriations are laid out in the following table:

JUDGESHIP APPROPRIATIONS

Judgeships

Appropriation to the Court or the AOC

2

nd

Judicial (2 judges and support staff)

$662.478

4

th

Judicial (1 judge and support staff)

$181.700*

6

th

Judicial (1 judge and support staff)

$331.239

San Juan County (Aztec) Magistrate Judge (1 judge)

$112.654

Total

$1,288,071

2

nd

District Attorney (salaries and benefits, furniture,

supplies and equipment)

$282,000

Public Defender (salaries and benefits, furniture,

supplies and equipment 2

nd

judicial district)

$175,000

4th District Attorney (salaries and benefits, furniture,

supplies and equipment)

$141,000

6th District Attorney (salaries and benefits, furniture,

supplies and equipment)

$141,000

11th District Attorney San Juan (salaries and

benefits, furniture, supplies and equipment)

$100,000

Public Defender (salaries and benefits, furniture,

supplies and equipment 11th judicial district San

Juan)

$108,000

Public Defender Department (contractual services in

the 4

th

judicial district)

$50,000

Public Defender Department (contractual services in

the 6

th

judicial district)

$75,000

House Bill 291/HAFCS – Page

3

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

to the general fund.

As listed in the appropriations table above. There is funding for the new judges and support

staff, for District Attorneys, and Public Defenders to start on July 1, 2007. There will be

recurring costs of $2.22 million.

*The actual costs for the fourth judicial district court judgeship are consistent with the amount

established by the Judiciary for a new judgeship package ($331,239). However, the fourth

district will reduce the overall fiscal impact ($181,700) by eliminating a number of existing

positions (one full-time hearing officer position and domestic violence commissioner contract) as

their related personnel costs in order to acquire the new judgeship. The fourth judicial district

court will utilize approximately $149,500 of its existing recurring budget for the new judgeship

($331,239).

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

In November 1998, the AOC completed and updated an expanded study to provide the

legislature with a methodology for determining the needs for additional judgeships – the

Weighted Caseload Study. The study assigns a weight, expressed in minutes, for each type of

case heard in a court. The weight represents the average amount of judge’s time necessary to

process a case of that type. Each weight is multiplied by the number of new cases filed per

category.

The Chief Judges Council reviewed all district, metropolitan, and magistrate judgeship requests

statewide and considered both the need as determined by the Weighted Caseload Study applied

to FY 06 data as well as additional narrative and testimonial information. The Council voted to

support the judgeship requests in this bill, and this request is contained in the judiciary’s unified

budget.

The results of the Weighted Caseload Study for each judgeship request in this bill are attached to

this analysis. The San Juan Magistrate Court Districts have been changed to comply with the

Voting Rights Act.

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

The courts are participating in performance based budgeting. This bill may have an impact on

the measures of the district in the following areas:

•

cases disposed as a percent of cases filed (district and magistrate)

•

percent change in case filings by case type (district)

WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL

Currently, the courts listed in this bill to which judges are proposed to be added are experiencing

delays in hearing and disposition of the cases. If this bill is not passed, delays will continue.

CS:EO/mt