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

SPONSOR Garcia, MJ

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/16/2007

HB

SHORT TITLE Cooperative Establishment Assistance

SB 1050

ANALYST Moser

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$175.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicate to: HB 442

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

New Mexico State University – Department of Agriculture (DOA)

Higher Education Department (HED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 1050 appropriates $175,000 from the General Fund to the Regents of NMSU for

expenditure in FY 2008 for the DOA to assist agricultural producers in the establishment of

cooperatives.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $175,000 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

Agricultural cooperatives are formed to work with like-minded producers to build a cooperative

structure to sell their goods as one large unit. The goal is to assist small producers in selling in a

Senate Bill 1050 – Page

2

larger volume and to bring quality and quantity to the market system.

This request was not submitted by NMSU to the New Mexico Higher Education Department for

review and is not included in the Department’s funding recommendation for FY08.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

The DOA will require a new FTE or consulting services in order to assist with the establishment

of grower cooperatives.

The funds from HB 442 would be administered by DOA with assistance from the Cooperative

Development Center (part of the United States Department of Agriculture) based in Denver, CO.

The DOA would establish a branch office of the Cooperative Development Center in

Albuquerque to assist producers in the formation of cooperatives.

GM/nt