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

SPONSOR Garcia, MP

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/16/08

HB 14

SHORT TITLE State Historian Digital History Project

SB

ANALYST Ortiz

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY08

FY09

$25.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

ESTIMATED ADDITIONAL OPERATING BUDGET IMPACT (dollars in thousands)

FY08 FY09 FY10 3 Year

Total Cost

Recurring or

Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

Total

$5.0*

$5.0*

$10.0.0

Recurring General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

* Costs to the agency to administer the contracts, review research and digitize documents for this project averages to about $5.0

per year.

Duplicates S4, H18, H69, H82

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Commission of Public Record (CPR)

Attorney General’s Office (AGO)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 14, making an appropriation to the state commission of public records for the state

historian’s digital history project, appropriates $25 thousand from the GENERAL FUND to

Commission of Public Records for the purpose of the state historian’s land grant digital history

project.

This bill will allow the Commission of Public Records to contract with qualified researchers,

archivists or historians to research land grant records located at the State Records Center and

House Bill 14 – Page

2

Archives and to digitize original documents, and also to transcribe and translate these documents

and make them more accessible through the New Mexico Digital History Project (NMDHP).

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $25 thousand contained in this bill is a RECURRING expense to the

GENERAL FUND. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of 2010

shall revert to the GENERAL FUND.

Additional operating expenses include indirect costs such as the time necessary to establish and

review the contracts, time spent reviewing deliverables, and IT support. While the Commission

fully supports the NMDHP it is concerned about the agency's ability to absorb additional

administrative responsibilities. The resources of both the Office of the State Historian and

administrative services division are already stretched; additional administrative staff and IT

support to maintain the website may be necessary if the agency is to administer the NMDHP

effectively.

It should also be noted that HAFC adopted the LFC budget recommendation, which included an

expansion for $18.3 thousand and

0.5 FTE to convert an existing 0.5 FTE to full time. The

position would provide administrative support to the Office of the State Historian and relieve the

state historian and the deputy historian of administrative duties.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

According the Attorney General’s Office,

The title of the bill and the appropriation do not reference

the same project.

The New Mexico State Historian is implementing a “New Mexico Digital

History Project". See

http://newmexicohistory.org/digital_history.php

. The title of the bill refers

to that project. However, this bill states that the appropriation is for the “Land Grant Digital

History Project".

The state historian notes that one of the most pressing policy issues of the 20

th

century in New

Mexico has been the question of land tenure following the U.S. annexation of New Mexico in

1848. Full understanding and appreciation of the issue can only be found through detailed

examination and research of the written record. These records include original land grants,

which were made to individuals and communities during the Spanish (1598-1821) and Mexican

(1821-1846) periods of New Mexico’s history. Following the annexation and in accord with the

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the archival records also include extensive documentation

produced by the office of the United States Surveyor General of New Mexico and the United

States Court of Private Land Claims. Collectively, these records are held at the State Records

Center and Archives. While there are approximately 300 land grants, the appropriation will

allow the agency to begin the process of digitizing the 120 active New Mexico Land Grants. By

digitizing a portion of these land grant records, valuable documentation will be made more

accessible to land grant heirs, scholars working on these records, students and educators.

The Commission of Public Records and the Office of the State Historian have already developed

the website and maintenance for the website (which is hosted off-site) is incorporated into the

operating budget. However the agency has limited resources to provide the necessary manpower

to research and produce the historical essays that are necessary to provide a context for digitized

documents, maps, video and photographs.

House Bill 14 – Page

3

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

The Office of the State Historian's New Mexico History Digital project is identified in the

Commission of Public Record's FY 08 strategic plan as follows:

I

NITIATIVE

#2: B

UILD

A

WARENESS OF

A

GENCY

R

ESOURCES AND

S

ERVICES

Strategy 2.1: Improve on-line access to agency resources and services.

Action Step 2.1.4

. Expand and enhance NM history website.

•

Provide access to Phase 1 of the history website by target date of 6/30/08.

•

Create 25 content units and make them available through the New Mexico History

website.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

The bill would appropriate $25.0 to the agency for the purposes identified above. The intent of

the appropriation is three-fold: first, to employ consultants to conduct the research, second to

publish the research information on-line, and third to digitize original land grant documents and

place them online through the New Mexico Digital History website. The appropriation will

allow the agency to contract with 2 to 5 consultants to conduct research and translate and

transcribe documents based on direction from the State Historian. Resources will also be

required to upload the information on to the History website and to scan original documents

housed at the State Records Center and Archives.

CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP

Duplicates S4, H18, H69, H82

WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL

Without the appropriation, access to land grant documents will be limited to on-site visits to the

State Records Center and Archives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

POSSIBLE QUESTIONS

What is the distinction between the digital history project and the land grant digital history

project.

EO/mt