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

SPONSOR Hamilton

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/6/2007

HB 402

SHORT TITLE WNMU Web-Based Criminal Justice Program

SB

ANALYST McOlash

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$375.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Higher Education Department (HED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 402 appropriates $375,000 from the General Fund to the Regents of WNMU for

expenditure in FY 2008 to “establish and maintain a web-based criminal justice program at

western New Mexico university."

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $375,000 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the General Fund.

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY 2008 shall revert to the

General Fund.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The Criminal Justice program at WNMU offers three levels of training. The Law Enforcement

Academy is a five-month program that meets legislative requirements for police officer training

House Bill 402 – Page

2

in New Mexico. When a student completes the program, he or she takes the state certification

examination. If the exam is passed, the student is automatically certified as a police officer upon

employment with a law enforcement agency.

The University also offers Associate’s (2 years) and Bachelor’s (4 years) degrees in Criminal

Justice. Both degree programs can be completed - in their entirety - anywhere one has access to

the internet. Every required course and elective necessary for a Bachelor of Applied Science in

Criminal Justice is available online in a sequence that enables anyone to graduate in four years of

full-time study.

This request was not on the list of priority projects submitted by WNMU to HED for review and

was not included in the Department’s funding recommendation for FY08.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

According the WNMU web site, a web-based criminal justice program has been established and

has been operational for several years. It would appear that HB 402 provides an appropriation to

maintain and expand this program.

If these programs already exist, WNMU should be receiving some level of formula funding to

maintain the course offerings.

BM/nt