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

SPONSOR Cote

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/8/2007

HB 494

SHORT TITLE Doņa Ana Community College Textbooks

SB

ANALYST McOlash

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$30.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Related to HB 451.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Higher Education Department (HED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 494 appropriates $30,000 from the General Fund to the NMSU Regents for expendi-

ture in FY 2008 to purchase textbooks for the use of students in the library at the Doņa Ana

Branch Community College (DABCC).

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $30,000 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 Dona Ana Branch Community College (DABCC) is a two-year community college offering

over 30 degree programs. DABCC has two campuses and three satellite centers in Dona Ana

House Bill 494 – Page

2

County. DABCC has an enrollment of more than 7,000 students in credit courses and more than

10,000 students in non-credit courses. The library’s mission is to create a supportive learning

environment for DABCC students in two library locations: one on the central campus and one at

an East Mesa location.

A 2005 US Government Accountability Office study found that textbook prices have increased 6

percent a year since the academic year 1987-88 -- twice the general rate of inflation. The average

annual cost of textbooks for a student in 2003-04 was $898 at a four-year college and $886 at a

two-year college, the report found. While overall prices have increased 72 percent since 1986,

the report said, college tuition and fees have increased 240 percent and textbooks 186 percent.

This request was not submitted by NMSU Dona Ana Branch to the HED for review and is not

included in the Department's funding recommendation for FY08.

CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP

House Bill 451 appropriates $20,000 to purchase textbooks for the Alamogordo Campus of

NMSU.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

The DABCC library serves over 17,000 users, has two libraries in six locations, focuses on digi-

tal materials for maximum accessibility, and has over 1,407 NetLibrary eAudiobooks and 31,000

NetLibrary eBooks.

DABCC has increased enrollment by 10% in the last five years. The college is expanding voca-

tional programs, transfer credits, Applied Science degrees, and introducing Dental Hygiene and

Aerospace Technology programs.

BM/sb