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).
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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 Picraux
ORIGINAL DATE
LAST UPDATED
2/09/2007
3/15/2007 HB
384/aHAFC/aSEC/aSFC
SHORT TITLE
Higher Ed Accountability Report Faculty Info
SB
ANALYST Moser
APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)
Appropriation
Recurring
or Non-Rec
Fund
Affected
FY07
FY08
NFI
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
Duplicates: HB 572
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
LFC Files
Responses Received From
NM Department of Higher Education (HED)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of SFC Amendment
The Senate Finance Committee Amendment to House Bill 384 as amended clarifies that the pay
schedule for part-time faculty is “…subject to legislative appropriation."
Synopsis of SEC Amendment
The Senate Education Committee Amendment to House Bill 384 as amended strikes HAFC
amendments 2, 3, and 4. The amendment modifies the information to be collected for the annual
accountability report by focusing on compensation and benefit data and excluding information
regarding:
1.
faculty diversity, orientation and evaluation;
2.
faculty ethnicity and gender;
3.
number of vacant positions posted and percentage of applicants interviewed;
4.
percent of faulty receiving an annual performance evaluation that includes a peer
review and meeting with supervisor; and,
5.
dates and locations of formal orientation sessions.
pg_0002
House Bill 384/aHAFC/aSEC/aSFC – Page
2
Additionally, the Amendment establishes a requirement for HED to work with the public post-
secondary educational institutions to establish a pay schedule for part-time faculty.
Synopsis of HAFC Amendment
The House Appropriations and Finance Committee Amendment to House Bill 384 removes the
appropriation assigned to this Bill and inserts as required information in its annual accountability
report to the governor and the Legislature a “plan and budget for salaries, benefits and career
track for part-time faculty at public post-secondary educational institutions."
The Amendment is incorrect in citing line 12 on page 1 for removal of a semi-colon. The
reference should be line 13.
Synopsis of Original Bill
House Bill 384 makes amendment changes relating to higher education to include faculty
information in the annual New Mexico Higher Education (NMHED) accountability report and
appropriates $5,000,000 from the General Fund to NMHED for expenditures in FY08 for part-
time faculty salary increases and to initiate group insurance benefits for thee individuals.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
The appropriation of $5,000,000 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general fund.
Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY08 shall revert to the
general fund.
HED points out that it is unsure of the total fiscal impact for part-time faculty salary increases
and for the inclusion of group insurance benefits for part-time faculty. HED additionally
indicates that $5,000,000 may not cover the actual costs initially or in future years as costs
continue to escalate.
HED would be the administrator for these funds and indicates that additional staffing, not
provided for in this bill, may be required to support additional data collection and analysis for
this request.
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
HED indicates that its annual accountability report, The Condition of Higher Education, requires
all public post-secondary institutions to report information on student progress and success;
student access and diversity; affordability and costs of educational services; and public and
community service by the institution.
HB384 proposes to change Section 1. Section 21-1-26.7 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1990 (1st
S.S.), Chapter 4, Section 2, as amended) to establishing faculty information reporting
requirements for all public post-secondary institutions. The amendment proposes the following
information be reported to HED annually for inclusion in the report:
Faculty diversity, orientation, evaluation, compensation, and benefits practices, including:
pg_0003
House Bill 384/aHAFC/aSEC/aSFC – Page
3
number and percentage of part-time and full-time faculty by ethnicity and gender
number of vacant positions posted, average number of applicants for each position and
percentage of applicants interviewed for full-time and part-time faculty positions
percentage of full-time and percentage of part-time faculty receiving an annual
performance evaluation that includes peer review and a meeting with a supervisor
list of dates and locations for formal orientation sessions for full-time faculty and a list of
dates and locations for formal orientation sessions for part-time faculty
per-credit-hour pay rate for full-time instructors or lecturers and per-credit-hour pay rate
for part-time faculty
percent salary increase for full-time faculty and percent salary increase for part-time
faculty
description of the institution's policy for offering benefits to full-time faculty and to part-
time faculty.
This data is necessary in order to conduct any analysis of the salary increases necessary for part-
time faculty and to assess the financial impact of providing benefits to these individuals.
HED indicates that $3,000,000 would be distributed to the public post-secondary educational
institutions so that the institutions may begin to phase in part-time faculty compensation rates
that on a per-credit-hour basis equal those of full-time instructors or lecturers.
The remaining $2,000,000 would be distributed to the public post-secondary educational
institutions so that the institutions may begin to phase in the provision of group insurance
benefits for part-time faculty.
POSSIBLE QUESTIONS
Why should appropriations be given to fund compensation increases and insurance benefits for
part-time faculty prior to knowing how much is needed to fully fund this need.
GM/nt