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

SPONSOR Arnold Jones

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/18/2007

HB 1277

SHORT TITLE

UNM & NMSU GEOSPATIAL INFO STUDIES

SB

ANALYST Moser

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$1,000.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to HB359

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

NM Department of Higher Education (HED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill1277 appropriates $500,000 from the General Fund to each of the Board of Regents

of the University of New Mexico (UNM) and New Mexico State University (NMSU) for a pilot

project on Geospatial Information Studies. Total appropriations would total $1,000,000.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $1,000,000 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

Geographic (geospatial) Information Systems (GIS) have become indispensable tools for

governance, for commerce, and for environmental and social science. GIS includes electronic

mapping technology, systems and satellite information processing and geographical positioning

House Bill 1277 – Page

2

systems. This technology penetrates every aspect of our lives from digital maps in rental and

delivery vehicles to the management and maintenance of city infrastructure, regional agriculture

and forest lands. The demand for innovative geographic information products, services, data, and

know-how is strong and increasing. Consequently, the need for basic and applied research and

education in geographic information science has never been greater.

Last year the New Mexico state CIO’s office organized a statewide Geospatial Conference to

bring together the various state and federal agencies and higher education institutions that deal

with geographic information issues to develop a collaborative dialogue. The goal was to identify

the needs and make recommendations for GIS technology in the state of New Mexico. The

focus of the conference involved how to move the state toward more coordination and less

duplication of efforts with the goal of organizing more cost effective data acquisition. One

outcome of this summit was the need for greater education in the field.

UNM and NMSU are the leading geospatial information educational institutions in the state.

UNM is home to the Earth Data Analysis Center (EDAC) which was established by NASA in the

1960’s. EDAC provides services in geospatial technologies and has been a leader in technical

assistance for a wide range of uses since 1964. Their goal is to assist industry, government, and

the general public in applications of spatial and spectral technology. NMSU offers specialty

programs of study in Systems and Satellite Information Processing and GIS including

undergraduate and graduate degrees through the Department of Geography.

HB1277 approaches geospatial development issues from an educational perspective. The

appropriations call for:

•

$500,000 each for UNM and NMSU to define and develop core curriculum for geospatial

training to serve common needs across academic and research disciplines including:

o

integrate curriculum with individual Colleges of Arts and Science Programs;

o

design and implement a specialized geospatial classroom and laboratory to serve

core curriculum needs of different colleges;

o

pilot a geospatial resources internship program for rural and minority youth for

basic hands-on experience and exposure to career opportunities;

o

and propose a program for on-line geospatial information training.

•

The $500,000 appropriation is split for specific purposes into the following amounts:

o

$250,000 (recurring) each for UNM and NMSU for the development and

administration of a pilot interdisciplinary training program through the Colleges

of Arts and Sciences;

o

$175,000 (non-recurring) each for UNM and NMSU for the development of a

geospatial information studies training classroom and laboratory; and

o

$75,000 (recurring) each for UNM and NMSU for a rural and minority youth

summer internship program in geospatial information studies.

The roles and responsibilities of the individual institutions regarding any collaborative efforts are

unclear.

This request was not on the list of priority projects submitted to HED by UNM or NMSU and

was not recommended by HED.

GM/mt