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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR HJC
ORIGINAL DATE
LAST UPDATED
3/05/07
HB 1311/HJCS
SHORT TITLE Public Peace, Health, Safety and Welfare
SB
ANALYST Hanika Ortiz
ESTIMATED ADDITIONAL OPERATING BUDGET IMPACT (dollars in thousands)
FY07
FY08
FY09 3 Year
Total Cost
Recurring
or Non-Rec
Fund
Affected
Total
see narrative
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
LFC Files
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
The House Judiciary Committee Substitute for House Bill 1311 amends Section 66-7-506
NMSA 1978 to include a DWI recidivism prevention component in all driver rehabilitation
programs for alcohol or drugs approved by the traffic safety bureau. The substitute also provides
language clean-up to bring the bill into compliance with existing terminology.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
The substitute is unclear which driver rehabilitation programs are being asked to include a DWI
recidivism prevention component; and, does not provide an appropriation for this effort.
The substitute relates to the LFC FY08 budget containing $296.0 of the Drug Court Replacement
request, $69.8 of the Drug Court Expansion request; and, $386 of the New Drug Court request.
In January 2006, The New Mexico Supreme Court approved a Five-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; while (2) providing a predictable
and stable funding request to the legislature each year of the plan.
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
New Mexico has benefited from the success of a drug court model, with its drug court programs
growing from 1 in 1994 to 30 active today, with several more in the pilot and planning stages.
Because of the success of its drug court programs, the New Mexico Judiciary continues working
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House Bill 1311/HJC – Page
2
with communities around the state to maintain existing programs as well as establish new drug
court programs. Currently, there are drug court programs in 12 of the state’s 13 judicial districts,
and 18 of the state’s 33 counties. It is unclear how DWI rehabilitation programs as defined in the
bill can participate and benefit from this successful model.
PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS
The "Traffic Safety Bureau" assists in carrying out the provisions of the Traffic Safety Act. State
law currently provides for DWI prevention and education in programs designed for school-aged
children and youth; and, in approved drivers-education classes.
ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS
The Drug Court Advisory Committee and the state’s drug court coordinators have worked with
the LFC to establish performance measures for New Mexico drug court programs. The drug
court programs provide performance measure data quarterly to the LFC.
Additional AOC staff will be necessary for continued oversight of any statewide DWI
rehabilitation program additions.
CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP
Relates to SB 259, Drug Court Funding & Expansion
OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES
The long history of positive outcomes for drug courts asks the question: If drug court programs
can reduce recidivism among the populations they now serve, could the drug court model,
applied to impaired drivers be as successful. In the University of New Mexico’s evaluation of
the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court’s DWI/Drug Court Program, only 36 of the 341
graduates had been rearrested for DWI since the program’s inception, which reflects a recidivism
rate of only 10.6%.
AHO/mt