Fiscal impact reports (FIRs) are prepared by the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) for standing finance

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

if they are used for other purposes.

Current FIRs (in HTML & Adobe PDF formats) are a vailable on the NM Legislative Website (legis.state.nm.us).

Adobe PDF versions include all attachments, whereas HTML versions may not. Previously issued FIRs and

attachments may be obtained from the LFC in Suite 101 of the State Capitol Building North.

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

SPONSOR Papen

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

01/21/08

HB

SHORT TITLE NMSU Food Products Testing Center

SB 26

ANALYST Escudero

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY08

FY09

$650.0.

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates To SB25

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Higher Education Department (HED)

New Mexico Department of Agriculture (NMDA)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 26, NMSU Food Products Testing Center appropriates $650.0.0 from the general

fund to the Board of Regents of New Mexico State University.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

Senate Bill 26 appropriates $650.0 and 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.

According to HED the request is not included in the FY09 Executive recommendation.

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

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, p76.)

Senate Bill 26 – Page

2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

NMSU states that we have a unique opportunity to leverage this appropriation into a more

efficient, and centralized program which can better serve the needs of the state and nation in the

animal health, food safety and bio-security arena.

The center consolidates the collective efforts of existing programmatic activities to better support

the interaction between research sponsors and NMSU faculty and staff. The center’s goal is to

increase NMSU’s competitiveness in obtaining funding for research, enhance interdisciplinary

ongoing food safety programs, and foster collaborative partnerships with federal and state

agencies and the food industry/ private sector.

The center’s mission is to contribute through research and outreach to the safety and security of

agriculture in New Mexico and to significantly strengthen NMSU’s ability to anticipate and

respond to emerging agriculture threats, both nationally and globally, and to advance knowledge

for practical application by the agriculture industry.

The center is starting with the combined technical, financial, and personnel resources from the

following key programmatic activities at NMSU and will grow by leveraging the combined

capabilities with opportunities of the private sector, federal and state agencies, and universities:

Animal Health

•

Evaluation of biochemical, physiological and behavioral mechanisms of parasites

influencing animal health production and transmission of pathogenic agents to animals.

Food Safety

•

Applied research for the food and drug administration (FDA) includes test and evaluation

of rapid microbial detection methods of food pathogens and detection of chemicals in

foods. This program is well recognized for improvements to FDA laboratory methods

and for its role in the investigation into illness outbreaks from lettuce and spinach in 2006

and 2007.

•

Developing methods to control and detect for pathogenic food borne microorganisms and

parasites in raw, minimally processed, or inadequately processed and preserved foods.

Bio-Security

•

National training programs have been developed and approved by the department of

homeland security to increase the awareness and response capabilities to agro-terrorism

and natural disasters.

•

Supply chain integrity, import examination, and product surety program.

•

Agriculture emergency management plan.

RELATIONSHIP

Relates in language and request; however there is a $10.0. difference in the appropriation for

Food Processing and Product Development. SB25 budget request is for $640.0.

PME /mt