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

SPONSOR Lovejoy

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

01/28/08

01/29/08 HB

SHORT TITLE Internet to the Hogan Initiative

SB 364

ANALYST Weber

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY08

FY09

$3,831.2

Uncertain

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Indian Affairs Department (IAD)

Public Education Department (PED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 364 appropriates $3.8312 million from the general fund to the Indian Affairs

Department for the purpose for New Mexico's portion of phase two of the internet to the Hogan’s

initiative, a statewide intergovernmental collaborative designed to ensure that no New Mexico

Hogan is left behind in the evolving digital world. The funds shall be used for operations

infrastructure for telecommunications and telehealth for the state's fifty-two Navajo chapter

houses, schools, libraries and rural hospitals.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

It is uncertain if the appropriation of $3.8312 million contained in this bill is a recurring expense

to the general fund. It is unclear if this is an operational or capital expenditure. Any unexpended

or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY09 shall not revert to the general fund.

It appears there is a mixture of capital and operational funding in the appropriation.

Consideration should be given to dividing the two with capital going to a capital bill and the

balance included in a recurring appropriation.

Senate Bill 364 – Page

2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The Indian Affairs Department notes:

The bill appropriates funding for Phase Two of the Internet to the Hogans Initiative; an initiative

to develop an internet infrastructure on the Navajo Nation and provide internet access to one of

New Mexico’s most remote and economically disadvantaged populations. This initiative is a

statewide, collaborative project that began in 2005 and it is designed to enable the Navajo people

to use the “engine of the world’s technology" to potentially move people from the “basement to

the top floor in the economic high rise".

1

Participants in past collaborative meetings have

included many agencies of the Navajo Nation government, Navajo Chapter governments, Navajo

Technical College, private sector technology specialists, and relevant offices within the

University of New Mexico.

According to officials at Navajo Technical College, Phase One of the Initiative would create a

wireless infrastructure by constructing wireless transmitting towers between the Albuquerque

area and Navajo Technical College, located in Crownpoint.

2

Groundbreaking of Phase One took

place on January 29, 2007

3

and was slated to be completed by October 2007.

4

Phase Two funding of the initiative extends wireless internet connectivity from Navajo Technical

College to schools, medical clinics, hospitals, police departments, fire houses and homes within a

15 to 30 mile radius of each of the fifty-two Navajo Chapter Houses located in New Mexico. In

addition, a second wireless pipeline would be built between Albuquerque and Crownpoint to

serve as a backup system to the already constructed tower network. Funding from this bill would

also cover the network’s ongoing operational expenses.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

During FT06 and FY07 a total of $2.85 million of capital funding was provided for the Internet

Hogan initiative. Indian Affairs Department records show that to date the $1.05 million

appropriated in FY07 still does not have a scope of work reported or any contracts let. It may be

prudent to delay additional funding until at least a scope of work is developed for prior years’

appropriation.

MW/bb

1

Navajo Nation Technical College. “Navajo Technical College Begins Bridging Digital Divide." Press Release,

January 10, 2007. Retrieved 1/23/08,

http://205.242.219.103/docs/releases/release.html

.

2

From 2007 Conversation with Todd Romero, Navajo Technical College, 786-4197:

www.navajotech.edu/docs/releases /release

3

Ibid., Navajo Nation Technical College, Press Release Jan. 2007.

4

Pratt, Mary. “The Navajo Nation Connects its People to the Internet." ComputerWorld, October 22, 2007.

Retrieved 1/23/08,

www.computerworld.com

.