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

SPONSOR Cravens

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/22/2007

HB

SHORT TITLE Office of the State Medical Investigator

SB 95

ANALYST McOlash

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$655.5

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to the annual appropriation to UNM in the General Appropriation Act for the recurring

operations of the OMI.

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 95 appropriates $655,460 from the General Fund to the Board of Regents of the Uni-

versity of New Mexico for expenditure in FY 2008 for the Office of the Medical Investigator.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $655,460 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the General Fund...

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY 2008 shall revert to the

General Fund.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The Office of the Medical Investigator (OMI) reports experiencing severe increases in operating

expenses and caseload, and significant productivity declines due to staff shortages, increased

documentation requirements, and aged, obsolete equipment. Further, delays in the provision of

toxicology results from the State Laboratory Division (SLD) are seriously impacting the OMI

investigative processes, and families across the state are suffering a variety of financial hardships

due to the very late issuance of death certificates needed to settle insurance claims and to access

savings accounts.

Senate Bill 95 – Page

2

The forensic examination caseload at the Office of the Medical Investigator has increased by ap-

proximately 21 percent over the past five years. At the same time, due to law enforcement com-

pliance and litigation, the amount of time required for each examination has increased by 40 per-

cent. The national standard for autopsy caseload is 250 autopsies per pathologist annually. The

New Mexico OMI pathologists have been averaging close to 500 autopsies per year. The funding

proposed in this legislation would enable OMI to hire additional personnel to better handle the

caseload.

The proposal for $655,500 additional appropriation for FY08 was submitted to the New Mexico

Higher Education Department (HED) by UNM Health Sciences Center, but is not included in the

HED’s funding recommendation for FY08.

BM/mt