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





SPONSOR: Knauer DATE TYPED: 02/12/01 HB 607
SHORT TITLE: Corinne Wolfe Children's Law Center SB
ANALYST: Gilbert


APPROPRIATION



Appropriation Contained
Estimated Additional Impact
Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY01 FY02 FY01 FY02
$ 200.0 Recurring General Fund



(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)



Duplicates Senate Bill 553



SOURCES OF INFORMATION



LFC Files

Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC)



SUMMARY



Synopsis of Bill



House Bill 607 appropriates $200.0 to the University of New Mexico (UNM) to pay the operating expenses of the Corinne Wolfe Children's Law Center at the UNM Institute of Public Law.



Significant Issues



This bill provides funding for salaries and benefits for a director, a staff attorney, and administrative support staff for the Corinne Wolfe Children's Law Center. This appropriation also supports training, technical assistance, research assistance, and information dissemination in the areas of child abuse and neglect.



The Corinne Wolfe Children's Law Center provides services to volunteers, attorneys, and professionals who work with the child abuse and neglect issues and the juvenile justice system.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS



The appropriation of $200.0 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general fund. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY02 shall revert to the general fund.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES



According to the Administrative Office of the Courts, the Court Improvement Project Task Force recommended the creation of the children's law center to increase the effectiveness of civil and criminal proceedings related to child abuse and neglect and other proceedings under the New Mexico Children's Code by improving the skills of the professionals involved in these cases. The children's law center will accomplish this by providing relevant, issue-driven, state-of-the-art training to attorneys and other professionals involved in legal proceedings under the Children's Code. Training will focus on the most pressing needs and best interests of children as established by on-going needs assessments.



The following is provided for information only. It is not intended as a commentary on the merits of the program/project.



A request for this appropriation was not included in UNM's budget request to the UNM Board of Regents, it was not approved by the UNM Board of Regents, and it was not submitted by UNM to the Commission on Higher Education (CHE) for review. The CHE did not recommend funding this program.



LG/njw:ar