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

SPONSOR Varela

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2-13-2007

HB 949

SHORT TITLE New Deal 75th Anniversary

SB

ANALYST Dearing

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$60.0 Nonrecurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates Senate Bill 806

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Cultural Affairs Department (CAD)

Public Education Department (PED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 949 appropriates $60 thousand from the general fund for expenditure in FY08 to

department of Cultural Affairs for activities related to the commemoration of the seventy-fifth

anniversary of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal programs.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $60 thousand contained in House Bill 949 is a nonrecurring 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 75th anniversary of the creation of the various New Deal programs under President Franklin

Delano Roosevelt from 1933 to 1943 will be celebrated nationwide from March 31, 2008

House Bill 949 – Page

2

through March 31, 2009. It is the Cultural Affairs department’s understanding that funding

identified in this bill would be used for planning and coordinating activities for the 75th

anniversary of the New Deal programs with local, state and national organizations statewide to

make certain that all agencies and communities will be involved in this important

commemoration.

Laborers, Artists and others were employed by New Deal programs such as the Works Progress

Administration (WPA) in the 1930’s and would have otherwise been idle and impoverished. The

accomplishments of this undertaking greatly expanded the country’s federal infrastructure,

public buildings and created a legacy of public arts projects.

The State of New Mexico, with its rural population, was particularly assisted through New Deal

programs aimed at arts, crafts and grass-roots agricultural and livestock development efforts.

Other New Deal undertakings around the State include the Elephant Butte Dam and hydro-

electric plant, recreational structures at Bandelier National Monument and Carlsbad Caverns, and

the Conchas Dam.

New Mexico is home to an extensive collection of Works Progress Administration artworks in its

public buildings. Public buildings such as the Carrie Tingley hospital and others, in addition to

post-offices and university buildings throughout the State contain artwork from during this

period. Many of New Mexico’s well-know artists such as Allen Houser and Pablita Velarde

made significant contributions to public artworks during the period.

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

The Public Education department states that the program implementation that would occur with

the funding in House Bill 949 would support the implementation of the K-12 Social Studies

Content Standards, Benchmarks, and Performance Standards as well as the K-12 Language Arts

Content Standards, Benchmarks, and Performance Standards, and the K-12 Arts Standards.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

Cultural Affairs department states that the necessary administrative infrastructure to implement

this program is already in place.

DUPLICATION

House Bill 949 duplicates Senate Bill 806

PD/mt