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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR Campos
ORIGINAL DATE
LAST UPDATED
2/20/07
2/22/07 HB 1274
SHORT TITLE County Debt for Voting Machines
SB
ANALYST Propst
APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)
Appropriation
Recurring
or Non-Rec
Fund
Affected
FY07
FY08
$3,500.0
Recurring
General Fund
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
REVENUE
Estimated Revenue
Recurring
Fund
FY07
FY08
FY09
or Non-Rec
Affected
386.0
N
General Fund
3,500.0
N
Board of Finance – Electronic
Voting Machine Revolving Fund
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Revenue Decreases)
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
LFC Files
Responses received from
Department of Finance and Administration (DFA)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
House Bill 1274 appropriates $3,500.0 from the General Fund to retire county debt for voting
machines.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
The appropriation of $3,500.0 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.
pg_0002
House Bill 1274 – Page
2
The funds will be used to repay outstanding county loans with the Board of Finance for voting
machines and equipment purchases made in past years. The loans were made from the Electronic
Voting System Revolving Fund and lease purchase agreements were established between the
State Board of Finance and the each county. A one year moratorium on loan repayments was
approved by the Board of Finance and expires in December 2007. Currently the fund has a
balance of $3,386,030.64 and with this appropriation the new balance will be $6,886,030.64.
According to 1-9-19, NMSA 1978, the amount in excess of $6,500,000 shall revert to the
General Fund at the end of the fiscal year. As a result, $386,030.64 will revert to the General
Fund at the end of FY08.
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
HB 1274 appropriates $3,500.0 to the state Board of Finance for expenditure in FY08 to retire
county debt for voting machines pursuant to Sections 1-9-17 and 1-9-18 NMSA 1978.
DFA notes that the outstanding loans were made to counties to purchase electronic voting
equipment and machines that are no longer in use due to the Senate Bill 295, (the paper ballot
bill) passed in last year's session. SB 295 phased out the electronic voting machines and
replaced them with paper ballot machines. Therefore, the counties are required to make loan
payments for machines for which they no longer have use. If the appropriation is granted then
the counties will own these machines and may be able to sell them. Currently, these machines
are owned by the Board of Finance but are in the custody of the counties and many of these
machines are being stored by General Services Department on a temporary basis. In any case,
DFA suggests that the disposal of these machines be addressed.
TECHNICAL ISSUES
DFA reports that the Electronic Voting System Revolving Fund may need to be reconstructed.
Currently, the fund can only be used to purchase electronic voting systems and support
equipment and it is uncertain whether the newly required paper ballot machines would qualify as
electronic voting systems.
WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL.
If the appropriation is not granted, the counties will need to make loan payments starting on
December 31, 2007. Since the machines are owned by the Board of Finance, the storage and
disposal will be left with the Board of Finance. The Board of Finance does not have the
resources or authority to take on such a task.
WEP/mt