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

SPONSOR Tyler

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/6/07

HB 868

SHORT TITLE Lea County Drug Abuse Education

SB

ANALYST Propst

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$150.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Related to HB 867

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Department of Health (DOH)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 868 appropriates $150.0 from the General Fund to the Local Government Division of

the Department of Finance and Administration for drug abuse education and prevention in Lea

County.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $150.0 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.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The Department of Health notes that, while HB 868 does not target an age group for prevention

and education, it is noted that youth leadership and development opportunities are an effective

way to prevent negative health and social outcomes among youth. Young people who take

House Bill 868 – Page

2

active roles in organizations and communities have fewer problems, are better skilled, and tend

to be lifelong citizens (Preventing Problems, Promoting Development, Encouraging

Engagement, 2003).

Lea County high school students have much higher rates of use of illicit drugs than the statewide

estimates (

http://www.health.state.nm.us/pdf/c_lea_yrrs2005.pdf

). By some measures, ease of

access to drugs appears to have decreased from 2003 to 2005. In 2003, 41.2% of all NM students

indicated that someone had offered, sold or given them an illegal drug on school property during

the previous 12 months; in 2005, 33.5% reported the same. However, the percentage of students

who found it easy to obtain drugs remained relatively unchanged from 2003 to 2005. Marijuana

was reported as very easy or sort of easy to obtain by 67.2% of students in 2005 and 68.3% in

2003. Approximately one-third (32.9%) indicated it was very easy or sort of easy to get hard

drugs (cocaine, LSD, methamphetamines, or other illegal drug) in 2005, while 33.5% reported

the same in 2005 (NM Youth Risk Resiliency Survey 2005

(

http://www.health.state.nm.us/pdf/2005YRRSStatewideReport.pdf

CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP

HB 868 relates to HB 867 that proposes appropriating $150.0 to the City of Hobbs for drug

abuse education and prevention.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

As noted by DoH, HB 868 does not specify who or what entity is involved in the performance of

the drug abuse education and prevention. Lea County is mentioned, but it is not clear if Lea

County is proposed to undertake the education and prevention. It is also not specified whether

the targeted audience for the drug abuse education and prevention is adult and/or youth, school

based, incarcerated/adjudicated, volunteer, or any other group.

WEP/mt