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

SPONSOR Leavell

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

01/29/08

HB

SHORT TITLE NMSU Agricultural Education

SB 441

ANALYST Escudero

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY08

FY09

$30.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to HB239, HB289, HB403, and SB363.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Higher Education Department (HED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 441 appropriates $30.0 to the Board of Regents at New Mexico State University for

expenditure in FY09 to support a position of the agricultural education program coordinator in

the cooperative extension office.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $30.0 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general fund. Any

unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY09 shall revert to the genera

fund.

This request was not submitted by NMSU to the New Mexico Higher Education Department for

review and is not included in the Departments funding recommendation for FY09. However, a

request (SB363 Tribal Extension) in the amount of $747,000 was submitted by NMSU to the

New Mexico Higher Education Department for review, which is an increase of $500,000 to

FY08 recurring funding. The Departments executive funding recommendation for FY09 is a

continuance of FY08 recurring funding in the amount of $247,000 from HB2 and SB611.

Senate Bill 441 – Page

2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

According to HED, the New Mexico State University Cooperative Extension Service serves a

unique role throughout the state. NMSU is the state's land grant university, and as mandated by

its charter, is the "leading object" for agriculture, business, engineering, health sciences, and

home economics, as well as educational programs in the liberal arts and natural sciences.

NMSU's uniqueness arises from its vision of teaching and learning, research, and cooperative

extension functions -- interdependent, mutually supportive, and central to carrying out its land

grant mission.

NMSU's University-wide Cooperative Extension Service provides New Mexico's citizenry and

communities with effective leadership and collaboration to foster economic, educational, and

community development. Decisions on what educational programs are conducted in

communities across the state are largely determined by local advisory committees and

stakeholder groups. These educational programs are delivered by county-, area-, and state-level

NMSU Extension faculty from throughout the university who specialize in an area of concern to

New Mexicans.

PME/bb