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

SPONSOR:	Silva		DATE TYPED:	3/16/03		HB	881/aHJC
SHORT TITLE:		SHTD Name Change				SB
					ANALYST:		Reynolds-Forte

APPROPRIATION

Appropriation Contained		Estimated Additional Impact		Recurring or Non-Rec	Fund Affected
FY03	FY04	FY03	FY04
			Minimal	Recurring	State Road Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to HB534 which also removes the expenditure cap on funds State Highway and Transportation Department can spend for mass transit.

SUMMARY

Synopsis of HJC Amendment

House Judiciary Committee Amendment to HB881 changes “State Highway Engineer” to “Secretary of Transportation” throughout the bill.

Synopsis of Original

Bill

HB 881does the following:

1. Changes the name of the State Highway Commission to the State “Transportation” Commission, following adoption of a constitutional amendment. As requested by the Department, it changes the name of the State Highway and Transportation Department to the “Department of Transportation” throughout the statues. Further, it changes the name of the cabinet secretary from Secretary of Highway and Transportation to the “Secretary of Transportation”, and,

2. Section 68 of the bill removes the $50.0 per fiscal year expenditure cap on State Highway and Transportation Department funds that can be expended for purposes of the Public Mass Transportation Act.

HB 881 has a July 1, 2003 effective date.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

There will be some costs for changing stationery, placards on vehicles, signage, software programs, and notices.

HB881 removes the $50.0 cap that currently limits the funds the State Highway and Transportation Department may spend on the Public Mass Transportation Act. Such funds could be used to leverage additional federal dollars if such funds are available.

The General Appropriation Act for FY04 has appropriated funds based on the current $50.0 cap; if HB534 were implemented and the Department wanted to increase funds for this purpose for FY04, funds would need to be moved/adjusted from other areas/programs within the Department budget as allowed.

RELATIONSHIP

HB881 relates to HB534 that also removes the $50.0 per fiscal year expenditure cap on State Highway and Transportation Department funds that can be expended for purposes of the Public Mass Transportation Act.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

The State Highway and Transportation Department notes that previous titles for the secretary of highway and transportation, to be changed in this bill to secretary of transportation, were “state highway engineer” and “chief highway administrator”. These terms are no longer used, but still appear in some older statutory provisions, and may create some confusion. See Section 67-2-4 NMSA 1978. This bill does update the title of “state highway engineer” to “secretary of transportation”, but not in all cases. Compare, e.g., section 31 of this bill with sections 30 and 45 of this bill. The title “chief highway administrator” currently only appears twice in the entire NMSA, once in definitions at Section 67-2-4 NMSA 1978, and once in Section 67-3-43 NMSA 1978.

PRF/njw