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

SPONSOR Altamirano

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/23/2007

HB

SHORT TITLE UNM Resource Center for RAZA Planning

SB 128

ANALYST McOlash

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$220.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates HB 66..

LFC Files

Responses Received From

New Mexico Higher Education Department (HED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 128 appropriates $220,000 from the General Fund to the Board of Regents of the

University of New Mexico for expenditure in FY 2008 for the expansion of the Resource Center

for Raza Planning.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $220,000 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 Resource Center for Raza Planning (RCRP), established in 1996, is in the Community and

Regional Planning Program within the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of

New Mexico. The goal of RCRP is to contribute to the sustainability and survivability of tradi-

tional New Mexico communities. The core membership of Resource Center for Raza Planning is

Senate Bill 128 – Page

2

drawn from New Mexico graduate students in the Community and Regional Planning program at

the University of New Mexico.

The RCRP has four main objectives:

1.

Produce research and policy analysis of planning issues affecting traditional commu-

nities.

2.

Partner with other organizations to promote effective strategies for community devel-

opment.

3.

Produce, compile, and distribute educational material.

4.

Generate and nurture a pipeline of individuals interested in planning and development

issues and planning education.

This expansion request for $95,000 was submitted to HED. The Department notes that the

$95,000 was intended to be added to its recurring FY07 funding of $127,800 – a total request of

$222,800.

The New Mexico Higher Education Department's Executive recommendation for FY08 is

$127,800.

ALTERNATIVES

Higher Education Department

Higher education institutions receive indirect cost revenues from federal contracts

and grants. This money is unrestricted in the sense that the governing board of the

institution has the flexibility to choose which projects are supported with these

funds. A great deal of this money is used as seed money to develop new research

and public services projects at institutions. A portion of the indirect cost revenue,

or earned overhead, is used to support items such as the salaries of the account-

ants responsible for monitoring the contracts and grants, or for paying utilities and

other expenses required to maintain the space where the contract and grant activi-

ties are housed.

The higher education funding formula allows institutions to retain 100% of this

indirect cost revenue. One of the purposes of retaining these funds is to provide

seed money and matching funds for projects such as the one proposed in this bill.

BM/mt