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

SPONSOR Nava

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

02/22/07

HB

SHORT TITLE Expand Energy & Energy Conservation Learning

SB SM 31

ANALYST Hanika Ortiz

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

NFI

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Public Education Department (PED)

Energy, Minerals & Natural Resources Department (EMNRD)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Memorial 31 encourages teachers to take advantage of the opportunities in New Mexico

to expand students’ awareness of energy and energy efficiency.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

PED comments that BP America Inc. is currently offering $500,000 in grants for New Mexico

teachers to develop programs about energy and energy conservation.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The memorial provides the following:

•

New Mexico has abundant natural resources, including oil, gas, coal, sunlight and wind

that make it the perfect energy laboratory.

•

New Mexico is in the forefront of revolutionary thinking on energy, including innovative

state programs that encourage development of renewable energy and innovative energy

research at two national laboratories.

Senate Memorial 31 – Page

2

•

Issues regarding the state's environment, natural resources, energy and energy technology

must increasingly become part of the basic curriculum in New Mexico's schools so that

children have the educational foundation they need for future employment.

•

New Mexico students need to improve their mathematics and science performance, and

studying energy and energy conservation issues may help them improve their perform-

ance.

•

Teachers across New Mexico need and can use additional resources to implement new

programs for students while also meeting their professional requirements.

•

Equipping and educating teachers, who are responsible for inspiring young minds, is an

essential part of academic success.

•

Various grants, guest instructors and other programs give students and teachers a chance

for additional exposure to subject matter that can help them make sense of the world

around them.

•

Strong public-private partnerships among companies, nonprofit organizations and educa-

tional institutions can help enrich the education programs of New Mexico's schools.

•

Teachers who inspire learning in their students and capture the spirit of innovation by

creating exciting and memorable experiences around the subject of energy and energy

conservation enrich the lives of their students.

The memorial and the New Mexico State Senate resolve that New Mexico teachers be encour-

aged to take advantage of the myriad opportunities to expand the horizons of their students in the

areas of energy and energy conservation.

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

This memorial supports the PED’s efforts to fully implement the standards and benchmarks in

science. In the New Mexico Science Content Standards, Benchmarks, and Performance Stan-

dards (2003), Standard II, Strand I (Physical Science) states: “Understand the structure and prop-

erties of matter, the characteristics of energy, and the interactions of matter and energy." There

are Performance Standards at every grade level that address content related to sources of energy,

energy transfer, transformation, transmission and conservation. Energy is a fundamental concept

of science.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

The Energy Conservation and Management Division (ECMD) notes that the memorial is consis-

tent with several objectives of the EMNRD. ECMD currently has programs in place, such as

Schools for Sol and several Clean Energy Grant projects which could provide the basis for in-

cluding energy issues in curriculums in K-12 schools. EMNRD also currently operates an En-

ergy Education Program using Oil and Gas Conservation Tax proceeds with similar objectives.

This Memorial could serve as further direction for that effort.

New Mexico has significant resources of renewable energy, in the areas of wind and solar, and

promoting knowledge of the technologies available, and burgeoning, to use those resources will

not only prepare our youth to be receptive to their use, but also to be potential scientists, inven-

tors, engineers, installers, and retailers of renewable energy products.

Senate Memorial 31 – Page

3

Similarly, energy efficiency can be illustrated through sustainable buildings built through the

Governor’s Green Building Executive Order and with the help of the proposed Sustainable

Building Tax Credit. Education in this arena will reinforce an ethic of energy conservation and

support technological advances for better design and building practices.

WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL

Teachers will not be encouraged by the Senate to take advantage of educational opportunities

related to energy and energy conservation.

AHO/nt