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





SPONSOR: Romero DATE TYPED: 02/21/01 HB
SHORT TITLE: Public Info Access Via Cable Access Channels SB 588
ANALYST: Gilbert


APPROPRIATION



Appropriation Contained
Estimated Additional Impact
Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY01 FY02 FY01 FY02
$ 10.0 Recurring General Fund



(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)



Relates to Senate Joint Memorial 3, House Bill 44 and Senate Bill 585



SOURCES OF INFORMATION



LFC Files



SUMMARY



Synopsis of Bill



Senate Bill 588 appropriates $10.0 to the Board of Regents of the University of New Mexico (UNM) to support efforts in outreaching and coordinating access to public, educational and government information via cable access channels.



FISCAL IMPLICATIONS



The appropriation of $10.0 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.



CONFLICT/DUPLICATION/COMPANIONSHIP/RELATIONSHIP



Senate Joint Memorial 3 relates to this bill. It states that the New Mexico coalition of community access television providers should be requested to advise local governments with regard to access for existing and emerging communication technology through the coordinated efforts of New Mexico public, educational and governmental access channels, and that copies of HJM3 memorial be distributed to the director of the New Mexico coalition for community access television providers for appropriate distribution. The appropriation in this bill could further this cause.

House Bill 44 and Senate Bill 585 appropriate $2.3 million from the general fund to the Educational Television Equipment Replacement Fund to provide digital equipment at the state's three public television stations: KNME-TV (Albuquerque), KENW-TV (Portales) and KRWG-TV (Las Cruces).



OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES



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



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

LG/ar