Fiscal impact reports (FIRs) are prepared by the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) for standing finance

committees of the NM Legislature. The LFC does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of these reports

if they are used for other purposes.

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

SPONSOR Maestas

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

3/08/07

HM 73

SHORT TITLE Minority Health-related College Faculty

SB

ANALYST Williams

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

NFI

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Directly relates to SB 999

Also relates to SB 910 and HB 591; HB 384, HB 572 and SB 1002 and HM 82

ESTIMATED ADDITIONAL OPERATING BUDGET IMPACT (dollars in thousands)

FY07

FY08

FY09 3 Year

Total Cost

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

Total

See Text

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Memorial 73 notes a 2006 health summit of the Hispano-Latino advisory council found

the need to prioritize increasing support for cultural and linguistic competence programs,

replacing funding for the combined bachelor’s degree-doctor of medicine program and

examining hiring patterns of tenure-track faculty.

The memorial further notes tenure and tenure-track Hispanic-Latino faculty on the University of

New Mexico (UNM) Main campus increased 7.5 and 10.9 percent, respectively, from 1990 to

2004. In contrast, a similar statistic at UNM Health Sciences Center (HSC) was less than 1

House Memorial 73 – Page

2

percent. Further, the total number of tenure track faculty at UNM HSC increased from 66 in

1990 to 95 in 2004, compared to an increase from 5 to 8 of tenure-track Hispanic-Latino faculty.

The memorial further notes the following for Hispanic-Latino tenure-track faculty ratios from

1990 to 2004:

•

A decrease in basic sciences from 31 percent to 12 percent;

•

A decrease in nursing from 15 percent to 6 percent;

•

No change in the ratio in pharmacy.

House Memorial 73 requests the UNM HSC assess policies for recruitment, retention and tenure

of Hispanic, Native American and other minority health related faculty at the state’s public

colleges and universities. The memorial notes the study could help identify physicians, nurses

and other public health professionals interested in academic medicine as well as existing faculty

and medical students. The study could also include:

•

Trends in current hiring and future needs;

•

Fiscal, attitudinal and other barriers to increasing minority faculty representation;

•

Promising and best-practice models;

•

Recommendations for programming, funding and policy changes; and

•

Plans to correct deficiencies.

The report is to be presented to the Interim Health and Human Services Committee by November

2007. Copies of the memorial are to be distributed to the Executive Vice President of the UNM

HSC, the Secretary of Higher Education, the Chair and Vice Chair of the Legislative Health and

Human Services Committee and the Governor.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

House Memorial 73 does not include an appropriation.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

Senate Bill 999 appropriates $25 thousand from the general fund to the board of regents of the

University of New Mexico (UNM) for the Office of Diversity in the School of Medicine. The

study would address the status of tenure-track Hispano or Latino faculty and professionals

interested in medicine, identify fiscal and other barriers to increasing recruitment, retention and

tenure of minority faculty in health sciences and identify best practices.

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

UNM HSC does not report faculty and staff diversity data separate from that reported for the

university as a whole in the annual Council of University Presidents Performance Effectiveness

Report.

BE/mt