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

SPONSOR Nunez

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/21/08

HB 77

SHORT TITLE NMSU Weed Management

SB

ANALYST Haug

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY08

FY09

$250.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Higher Education Department (HED)

New Mexico Department of Agriculture (NMDA)

Energy, Minerals & Natural Resources Department (EMNRD)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 77 appropriates

$250.0

from the general fund to the Board of Regents of New Mexico

State University to support the New Mexico Department of Agriculture’s coordination of

cooperative weed management areas’ efforts to control noxious weeds.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of

$250.0

contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general fund. Any

unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2009 shall revert to the

general fund.

The HED states that this request was submitted by NMSU to the New Mexico Higher Education

Department for review, but is not included in the Department’s funding recommendation for

FY09.

The HED’s evaluation table of FY09 Research and Public Service Projects provided to the LFC

classifies this project as a “would not oppose if funding available" project. Reasons for this

House Bill 77 – Page

2

classification decision are not provided. (LFC Report 07-20, Higher Education Department

Review of Selected Research and Public Service Projects, January 12, 2008, Table 4, p75.)

NMDA states that Allocation of these funds would be used by cooperative weed management

areas (CWMAs) as matching funds for a variety of state, federal and private grants. This funding

will also be used to leverage additional funding from local, state, and federal government

agencies.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

NMDA states that the detrimental economic and environmental impact of noxious weeds in New

Mexico has increased significantly since the New Mexico noxious weed management act (76-

7D-1 to 76-7D-6 NMSA 1978) was passed in 1998. According to federal estimates,

approximately 4,000 acres of land are lost daily to noxious weed infestations in the United

States. Noxious weed species have negative impacts on wildlife habitat, rangeland and cropland

productivity, and overall watershed health.

According to NMDA, this legislation would provide funding that cooperative weed management

areas (CWMAs) would be eligible to receive through a competitive grant process. A CWMA is

a partnership of federal, state, and local government agencies, tribes, individuals, and various

interested groups to manage noxious weeds in a defined area. CWMAs integrate available

private, state, local, tribal and federal noxious weed management resources across governmental

jurisdictional boundaries. These resources are shared among all of the CWMA partners in order

to benefit the local communities which they serve. Currently there are 13 CWMAs in the state.

These CWMAs cover 17 counties. Each CWMA is locally led and receives no direct funding

from the state. Many of the CWMAs have been in existence for several years and have

maximized all of the resources available through their partnerships and various grant sources.

The need, at the local level, to implement more comprehensive noxious weed control efforts has

been expressed to the New Mexico department of agriculture (NMDA).

NMDA also says that unfortunately the program needs exceed the current available resources.

This legislation would give CWMAs financial resources to bolster and expand the future efforts

of the CWMA partners, and control the spread of noxious weeds in New Mexico. Over the past

two years the number of CWMAs has more than doubled. This funding would allow New

Mexico’s CWMAs to become more self-sufficient, while expanding their noxious weed

information/education and management efforts statewide. This would allow NMDA’s state

noxious weed coordinator to focus increased energy on the coordination of existing state and

federal noxious weed management resources. Such an approach will allow NMDA to maximize

existing staff hours, increase the efficiency of existing noxious weed management resources, and

better serve New Mexico’s citizens.

The EMNRD comments that this bill will benefit the Forestry Division’s efforts to restore the

health of forest ecosystems. Eradicating noxious weeds may reduce the risk of wildfires in some

areas because oftentimes invasive noxious weeds are more flammable than healthy native

vegetation.

GH/mt