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

SPONSOR Rainaldi

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

3/15/07

HB

SHORT TITLE “Italian American Day"

SB SJM 72

ANALYST Guambaña

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

NFI

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Joint Memorial 72 requests the declaration of March 15, 2007 as “Italian American Day“

in recognition of the contributions of Italian Americans and United States Senator Pete Domenici

to the country and to New Mexico.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

Senate Joint Memorial 72 states that:

•

Italians like Amerigo Vespucci and Christopher Columbus were some of the first explor-

ers to discover the American continents and to illustrate their geographies;

•

Italians and Italian Americans have made substantial contributions to American society

economically, culturally and politically;

•

Italian Americans have won prizes such as the Nobel Prize, the Pritzker Award for Archi-

tecture and the Fields Medal for Mathematics;

•

Italians and Italian Americans invented pianos, violins, calendars, radios, telescopes,

compasses, microscopes, thermometers, eyeglasses, steam engines, typewriters and

batteries;

•

Italian Americans such as Joe DiMaggio, Frank Sinatra, Henry Mancini, Al Pachino and

Robert DeNiro have contributed to American culture;

Senate Joint Memorial 72 – Page

2

•

Italian Americans such as Fiorello La Guardia, past mayor of New York City, Anthony

Celebrezze, the first Italian American member of a presidential cabinet, and Antonin

Scalia, the first Italian American to become a United States Supreme Court Justice politi-

cal figure, have all made contributions to the United States political process;

•

Senator Pete Domenici is the longest serving Italian American Senator ever to serve in

the United States Senate as well as the longest-serving New Mexico Senator;

•

During the early period of Italian immigration to the United States, many Italian immi-

grants worked in the mining industry and were instrumental in its development and

growth in New Mexico, and

•

There have been and continue to be contributions to the politics, culture and economy of

New Mexico from its Italian American population.

AG/nt