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(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Revenue Decreases)

Companion to Senate Bill 18

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Tourism Department

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

The bill appropriates about $18.5 million and staff to the Tourism Department to operate state parks including 256 FTE for the state parks program and 9 FTE to provide state parks administrative services.

Significant Issues

Proponents of this bill indicate that the proposal to move the State Parks Division from the Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD) is a means of promoting economic development in rural New Mexico. Economic developers often distinguish urban, rural, and frontier communities in New Mexico, the latter including those communities which are very small with almost no retail or manufacturing establishments and which are located far from metropolitan areas. A state park located near these frontier communities is often an important source of economic activity for the area. By moving state parks under the Tourism Department, the bill's proponents hope that agency administrators will take a more proactive role in promoting the state parks to attract additional visitors and increased economic activity in frontier communities. This would be an innovative approach toward combining the expertise of two agencies to promote rural/frontier economic development. Although the Tourism Department currently mentions state parks in state promotional materials, this reorganization would encourage the Tourism Department to bring a marketing perspective to the operation of state parks without losing the expertise of the current State Parks Division.

There has been support for this bill from New Mexico citizens and camping organizations (Good Sams and Zia Roadrunners) due to concerns that EMNRD has not been a good steward of the state park system and that EMNRD is not sufficiently attentive to the wishes of New Mexicans in making decision about the state park system. These individuals have expressed concerns about steep increases in camping fees, elimination of a popular annual camping pass and the transfer and/or closure of five state parks. There have also been concerns about the lack of public hearings on park closures and nonresponsiveness of EMNRD to public comments on the fee increases.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

According to the Tourism Department, that agency would require an additional 20 employees to provide administrative services to the new division at an additional cost to that included in this bill of about $393.4.

CONFLICT/DUPLICATION/COMPANIONSHIP/RELATIONSHIP

This bill is the companion of SB18 which would authorize the transfer of the State Parks Division from EMNRD to the Tourism Department.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

The source of the appropriation of $393.0 from the "administrative services division of the energy, minerals and natural resources department" is not clear. Is this intended to be a portion of that division's general fund appropriation for FY00? If so, it would be easier to appropriate directly from the general fund for this purpose and make offsetting reductions in the EMNRD general fund appropriation to the administrative services division.

It must be noted that these appropriation may change as appropriations are made during the 1999 Special Session.

MW/prr