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

SPONSOR Picraux

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/25/08

1/29/08 HB 317/aHJC

SHORT TITLE UNM Pamela Minzner Endowed Chair

SB

ANALYST Haug

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY08

FY09

$1,500.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Higher Education Department (HED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of HJC Amendment

The House Judiciary Committee amendment adds the middle initial “B." so that the text reads

“Pamela B. Minzner" on lines 12 and 19.

Synopsis of Original Bill

House Bill 317 appropriates $1,500.0 from the general fund to the Board of Regents of the

University of New Mexico for the establishment of the Pamela Minzner endowed chair at the

School of Law. The appropriation is for expenditure in Fiscal Year 2009 and subsequent fiscal

years.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $1,500.0 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general fund.

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of any fiscal year shall not

revert to the general fund.

The HED states that this appropriation was not submitted by UNM to the Higher Education

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

FY09.

House Bill 317/aHJC – Page

2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The HED states:

Justice Pamela B. Minzner graduated from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio in 1965 and

Harvard Law School in 1968. She practiced law in Massachusetts before moving to New

Mexico, where she was in private practice before joining the faculty of the University of New

Mexico School of Law from 1973 to 1984. At UNM, she was loved by students and fellow

professors and received the highly esteemed Faculty Award in 1977 and 1981.

Justice Minzner was appointed to the New Mexico Court of Appeals by Governor Toney Anaya

in 1984, where she served for a decade and was the Chief Judge from 1993 to 1994.

Justice Pamela Minzner was appointed to the New Mexico Supreme Court by Governor Bruce

King in 1994, and was elected to serve an eight year term in the general election of 2002. In

January 1999, Justice Minzner was the first woman elected by her colleagues to the position of

Chief Justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court. She served as Chief Justice until January, 2001

and continued to serve as Senior Justice until her death, August 31, 2007.

Justice Minzner was one of the most highly respected and admired members of New Mexico’s

legal community and received many awards and honors, including the State Bar of New

Mexico’s Outstanding Judicial Service Award in 1992 and the State Bar of New Mexico’s

Professionalism Award in 2007, an award given to a judge or attorney who most exemplifies the

qualities of professionalism.

CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP

Senate Bill 182 appropriates an amount equal to the appropriation in House Bill 317 but to match

an equal amount in donations for the establishment of the Pamela Minzner professorship at the

College of Law rather than the direct establishment of the endowed chair in House Bill 317.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

The HED notes that current funding allows institutions to secure state funds as a match after

raising 50% of the endowed professorship. Adoption of this bill could undermine that process

and encourage other institutions to seek funded chairs and professorships.

GH/nt:bb