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

SPONSOR Taylor

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/24/07

2/12/07 HB

SHORT TITLE Uniform Athletes Agents Act

SB 106/aSPAC

ANALYST White

REVENUE (dollars in thousands)

Estimated Revenue

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

FY09

($.01)

($.01) Recurring General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Revenue Decreases)

ESTIMATED ADDITIONAL OPERATING BUDGET IMPACT (dollars in thousands)

FY07

FY08

FY09 3 Year

Total Cost

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

Total

$0.1

$0.1

$0.1 Recurring General

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

New Mexico Corrections Department (NMCD)

Athletic Commission of the Regulation and Licensing Department

Secretary of State Office (SOS)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of SPAC Amendment

The Senate Public Affairs Committee Amendment authorizes the New Mexico State Athletic

Commission to be responsible for administering the provisions of the act by acting as a

professional licensing board. This not only reassigns jurisdiction to an experienced athletic

licensing board it also eliminates the substantial costs of creating a professional licensing board

within the Secretary of State’s Office. While there may be significant costs associated with

Senate Bill 106/aSPAC – Page

2

widening the jurisdiction of the NM Athletic Commission they will be substantially lower than

those related to creating an entirely new licensing board. According to the NM Athletic

Commission costs will include additional staffing and office equipment which are indeterminate

at this time.

Furthermore the Amendment eliminates civil liability from the student athlete. Therefore

educational institutions may only recoup losses from the Athlete Agent in civil court.

Synopsis of Original Bill

Senate Bill 106 creates the Uniform Athletes Agents Act intended to protect potential

professional athletes and their educational institutions. The act states that an athlete agent who,

with the intent to induce a student athlete into an agency contract, gives materially false or

misleading information and or furnishes anything of value to the student athlete before entering

into an agency contract or engages in other acts named in section 15 of the Bill, is guilty of a

misdemeanor and may be liable for civil damages as well. Furthermore a student athlete found

to be in collusion with said athlete agent may also be liable for civil damages. The act also

authorizes the Secretary of State to be responsible for administering the provisions of the act by

acting as a professional licensing board.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

Fiscal implications for Senate Bill 106 are minimal to none based upon analysis from the New

Mexico Corrections Department. The reasoning for which is that very few individuals convicted

of misdemeanors actually end up in the Department’s prisons or on its probation/parole

caseloads. However, a few individuals are convicted of misdemeanors may receive probation

supervision from the Department. The minimal impact shown in the tables above is based upon

this possibility.

The cost per client in Probation and Parole for a standard supervision program is $1,467 per year.

The cost per client in Intensive Supervision programs is $3,383 per year. The cost per client in

department-operated Community Corrections programs is $3,503 per year. The cost per client in

privately-operated Community Corrections programs is $7,917 per year. The cost per client per

year for male and female residential Community Corrections programs is $39,401.

Furthermore this Bill empowers the Secretary of State’s office to act as a professional licensing

board. This is a role that it has not played in the past and therefore would create some additional

costs related to the creation of a licensing department within the Office of Secretary of State.

These costs should be minimal and include such necessities as additional computers and staff.

The majority of these costs should be taken care of through the application and licensing fees

being paid by the Athlete Agent applicants, however there is a possibility that some costs will

not be completely covered by those fees which are discussed in Section 9 of the Bill.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

This Bill not only protects potential professional athletes from being taken advantage of by

potential athlete agents it also financially protects the educational institutions in which these

athletes are enrolled by allowing them to be compensated through civil action.

Senate Bill 106/aSPAC – Page

3

Additionally the state already has a professional licensing board related to these types of issues

in the New Mexico State Athletic Commission which is attached to the State’s regulation and

Licensing Department.

ALTERNATIVES

The bill could be amended after Section 3 and excluding Section 17 to replace “Secretary of

State" with “Athletic Commission." This could alleviate any additional costs relating to the

creation of a licensing department within the Secretary of State Office.

DAW/mt