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

SPONSOR

Vigil

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/15/07

HB 1116

SHORT TITLE

San Miguel DWI-Drug Court Program

SB

ANALYST C. Sanchez

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$0

$273.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to,

SB 259, Drug Court Funding & Expansion

ESTIMATED ADDITIONAL OPERATING BUDGET IMPACT (dollars in thousands)

FY07

FY08

FY09 3 Year

Total Cost

Recurring

or Non-

Rec

Fund

Affected

Total None Indeterminable Indeterminable Indeterminable Recurring General

Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 1116 would appropriate $273,000 in general recurring funds to the administrative

office of the courts for expenditure in FY08 to implement a DWI-drug court through the

magistrate court in San Miguel County. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at

the end of fiscal year 2008 shall revert to the general fund.

House Bill 1116 – Page

2

FISCAL IMPACT

The funds appropriated by HB1116 should fully fund any unidentified costs associated with

implementing the proposed program. The LFC believes additional operating funds will not be

needed for at least the following three fiscal years.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

According to the Administrative Office of the Courts, y combining treatment with the coercive

power of the judiciary, the drug court model has repeatedly shown through national studies and

statewide performance measures that it outperforms virtually all other intervention strategies for

drug involved offenders: recidivism of drug court graduates is much less than for similar

offenders, the cost-per-client of drug court participants is significantly less than that for

incarceration, and even those who do not successfully complete a program have a greater chance

of long-term success due to the longer period of treatment received during their involvement in a

drug court program.

Because of the success of its drug court programs, the New Mexico Judiciary continues working

with communities around the state to maintain existing programs as well as establish new drug

court programs. In January 2006, The New Mexico Supreme Court approved a 5-Year Plan for

Growth of New Mexico Drug Courts (available at www.nmadcp.org). That plan has two main

goals: (1) to implement a drug court program in every county of the state (there are currently

programs in 18 of the state’s 33 counties); while (2) providing a predictable and stable funding

request to the legislature each year of the plan. FY08 will be the second year of the 5-Year Plan.

The Judiciary reviewed over $3.25 million in drug court requests from courts around the state in

preparation for this legislative session, but by applying the priorities outlined in the 5-Year Plan,

and focusing on those courts with the greatest need and best preparation to implement state

funds, the Judiciary was able to reduce the overall requests to match the $1.35 million funding

cap for FY08 set by the plan.

This drug court funding request was not submitted for review during the Judiciary’s unified

budget process, and so is not part of the Judiciary’s Unified Budget. The judiciary is fully

supportive of helping start a DWI-drug court program through the magistrate court in San

Miguel county following the guidelines and processes of the 5-Year Plan, which requires the

court to apply to the New Mexico Supreme Court’s Drug Court Advisory Committee for a

determination of how the application fits into the 5-Year Plan as well as the viability of the

applicant. The appropriation in HB 1116 did not proceed through this process.

RELATIONSHIP

SB 259, Drug Court Funding & Expansion, contains the $1.35 million drug court funding request

vetted and approved as part of the Judiciary’s unified budget process.

WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL

Status Quo

CS/mt