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committees of the NM Legislature. The LFC does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of these reports

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

SPONSOR

Rawson

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/17/08

2/5/08 HB

SHORT TITLE

Additional Dona Ana Magistrate

SB

9a/SJC

ANALYST

Sanchez

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY08

FY09

$17.85 Non-Recurring

General

$53.049 Recurring

General

(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

$0 $51.55

$51.55 Recurring General

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC)

Commission on Higher Education (NMHED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of SJC Amendment

The Senate Judiciary amendment to SB 9

on page 2, strikes lines 1 through 4.

The amendment strikes language that requires a judge to be a member of the New Mexico bar and

practiced law in New Mexico for a period of at least three years.

Synopsis of Original Bill

Senate Bill 9 appropriates $70.9 thousand from the general fund to the Administrative Office of

the Courts (AOC) for the purpose of creating a magistrate judge in Dona Ana County.

Senate Bill 9/aSJC – Page

2

The bill requires that the person elected or appointed to the office of magistrate for division 6 be

a member of the New Mexico State bar and must have practiced law for at least three years.

The bill provides for the magistrate to be appointed by the governor. The magistrate shall serve

until succeeded by a qualified magistrate elected at the general election in 2010.

The bill provides for an appropriation of $70,899 thousand for salaries and benefits and furniture,

supplies and equipment for the additional judge and support staff.

The effective date of the Act is January 1, 2009.

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

to the general fund.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

There is sufficient funding for the new magistrate to start on January 1, 2009. The appropriation

only covers 50 percent of salaries and benefits since due to the judicial election cycle the new

judge will only serve for half the fiscal year. After FY09 the recurring costs will be $104.6

thousand.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

In July 2007, the New Mexico Sentencing Commission published a report commissioned by the

National Center for State Courts (NCSC) that examined case filing data to determine the need for

judges as well as related staff in the offices of the district attorneys and the public defenders. The

study shows need for six magistrates statewide. See spreadsheet below. The Unified Budget

request seeks to partly address the gap by seeking the creation of two magistrates, including this

one.

This proposed magistrate is reflected the judiciary’s unified budget.

The bill requires the new judge to be an attorney. The judiciary believes this is a legislative

decision and therefore takes no position on this issue.

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

FY 08 is the fifth year that the courts are participating in performance based budgeting. This bill

may have an impact on the measures of the district in the following areas:

•

cases disposed as a percent of cases filed (district and magistrate)

•

percent change in case filings by case type (district)

•

clearance rate

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

The primary long-term administrative effect on the courts upon passage of this bill could be

more efficient and expeditious disposal of cases in the district court.

Senate Bill 9/aSJC – Page

3

WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL

Potential consequences of not funding Senate Bill 9 are that the increase in current

caseloads would result in a backlog of cases and may result in some of those being dropped.

POSSIBLE QUESTIONS

Is there a large enough pool of qualified lawyers interested in filling this position.

Currently the University of New Mexico School of Law (located in Albuquerque) is the only law

school in the state. About 350 students attend the school with approximately 115 enrolled in the

first year class. According to the school, the majority of individuals, however who take the bar

each year are not from the University of New Mexico School of Law. On average, latest figures

indicate roughly 85 individuals who took the bar were from the school while over 100 were not.

CS/mt