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

SPONSOR M.J. Garcia

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/31/07

HB

SHORT TITLE NMSU Center for Latin American and Border Studies SB 51

ANALYST A. Guambaña

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$100.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Public Education Department (PED)

Human Services Department (HED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 51 appropriates $100,000 from the General Fund to the Board of Regents of New

Mexico State University (NMSU) for the Center for Latin American and Border Studies

(CLABS).

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $100,000 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the General Fund.

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY 10 shall revert to the

General Fund.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

PED contends that CLABS’ mission is to promote excellence in teaching, research and

community outreach on issues concerning Latin America, the US-Mexico border and border

studies in general. According to HED, the appropriation from Senate Bill 51 will go towards the

writing and editing of the online border news service (Frontera NorteSur), towards conducting

Senate Bill 51 – Page

2

the center's outreach program with schools in New Mexico, as well as towards the promotion of

research activities on Latin America and border issues through conferences, public lectures, and

workshops.

The new CLABS proposal was not submitted by NMSU to the New Mexico Higher Education

Department for review and was not included in the Department’s Funding recommendation for

FY08.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

Per HED, CLABS was founded in January 1979. Beginning in 1980, the U.S. Department of

Education began funding CLABS for three year cycles as a Latin American Resource Center.

Since 1992, NMSU has also contributed direct funding.

AG/csd