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

SPONSOR Lovejoy

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

02/21/07

HB

SHORT TITLE Internet to the Hogan Initiative

SB 1139

ANALYST Weber

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$3,000.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Indian Affairs Department (IAD)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 1139 appropriates $3 million from the general fund to the Indian Affairs Department

for New Mexico's portion of the internet to the hogans initiative, a statewide intergovernmental

collaborative designed to ensure that no New Mexico hogan is left behind in the evolving digital

world. The funds shall be used for operations infrastructure for telecommunications and

telehealth for the state's fifty-two Navajo chapter houses, schools, libraries and rural hospitals.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $3 million contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general fund.

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of Fiscal Year 2008 shall revert

to the general fund.

It is difficult to ascertain if this is a recurring or non-recurring appropriation because of recurring

nature of it has the appropriation requests for the project. It has therefore, been classified as

recurring.

Senate Bill 1139 – Page

2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

IAD notes the appropriation is intended to further efforts to develop internet infrastructure on the

Navajo Nation, thereby providing internet access to one of New Mexico’s most remote and

economically disadvantaged populations. The funding would be directed to the Internet to the

Hogans Initiative, a collaborative project undertaken beginning in 2005. Participants in

collaborative meetings have included many agencies of the Navajo Nation government, Navajo

Chapter governments, private sector technology specialists, and relevant offices within the

University of New Mexico.

The program is currently underway pursuant to $1,800,000 provided in a capital outlay

appropriation to the Indian Affairs Department beginning in fiscal year 2007. Money will be

allocated to the Navajo Technical College (“the College") in Crownpoint to implement the initial

stages of the program. According to officials at the College, the money will be spent to construct

wireless transmitting towers between the Albuquerque area and Crownpoint, establishing a high-

speed wireless connection between the two points. Groundbreaking for this phase took place on

January 29, 2007 and it is anticipated that it will be complete by July.

1

Once Crownpoint has been connected via this network of new towers, wireless internet will be

extended to schools, medical clinics, hospitals, police departments, fire houses and homes within

a 15 to 30 mile radius of each Navajo Chapter House. In addition, a second wireless pipeline

between Albuquerque and Crownpoint will be constructed to serve as a backup to the tower

network currently being constructed, thereby achieving redundancy.

The three-million dollar recurring appropriation set forth in SB 1139 would fund the construction

of the redundancy network, the extension of wireless into communities from Crownpoint,

ongoing operational expenses, and the hiring of additional FTEs at the College. Todd Romero

from the College reports that personnel resources there have already been strained by the Internet

to Hogans project. He anticipates even more demands on the College as the project ramps up.

2

POSSIBLE QUESTIONS

Should this be a capital outlay appropriation.

MW/csd

1

From Navajo Technical College’s Todd Romero 786-4197:

http://www.navajotech.edu/docs/releases/release.html

2

Ibid.