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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR Ortiz y Pino
DATE TYPED 2/16/05
HB
SHORT TITLE Low-Income Resident Credit Union
SB 498
ANALYST Hadwiger
APPROPRIATION
(in $000s)
Appropriation Contained Estimated Additional Impact Recurring
or Non-Rec
Fund
Affected
FY05
FY06
FY05
FY06
$200.0
Recurring General Fund
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
LFC Files
Responses Received From
Department of Finance and Administration (DFA)
Human Services Department (HSD)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
Senate Bill 498 appropriates $200,000 from the general fund to the Department of Finance and
Administration (DFA) to develop a credit union for low-income residents of New Mexico.
Significant Issues
According to DFA, one of the primary reasons for the creation of credit unions is to make credit
available to people of modest means. To fulfill this mission the National Credit Union Associa-
tion (NCUA) has established special operational policies for federal credit unions that serve low-
income groups and underserved areas. A low-income credit union is defined in Section 701.34
of the NCUA Rules and Regulations as one where a majority of its members either earn less than
80% of the average for all wage earners as established by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, or
whose annual household income falls at or below 80% of the median household income for the
nation. The term "low-income" also includes members who are full-time or part-time students in
a college, university, high school or vocational school.
pg_0002
Senate Bill 498 -- Page 2
DCA reported that the president of the State Employees Credit Union, stated that there were at
least two low-income credit unions that were established and doing business in New Mexico—
New Mexico Central Credit Union and Rio Grande Credit Union. The New Mexico Industry
Manager for Credit Unions stated that existing credit unions could obtain a designation as a
“low-income” credit union by forwarding a request for the designation to the regional director of
the NCUA along with appropriate documentation supporting the request. An existing credit un-
ion can also perform a loan or membership survey for another credit union to determine if the
credit union is primarily serving low-income members.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
The appropriation of $200,000 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general fund.
Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY06 would revert to the
general fund.
ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS
The DFA Local Government Division (LGD) does not administer any type of program related to
the operation, feasibility or establishment of a credit union. Therefore, the LGD could only act
within the procurement policy in providing oversight for contractual services.
ALTERNATIVES
DFA offered the following alternatives:
1.
A request could be issued to an existing credit union to conduct a low-income survey to
determine if 80% of the people served in the area are of low-income. A determination of
low-income would qualify the credit union as a "low-income" credit union by the NCUA.
2.
A request to open a branch could be issued to an existing credit union to serve a specific
underserved area or low-income area of Albuquerque.
3.
Low-income individuals can continue to bank at conventional banks that are required to
operate under the “Community Reinvestment Act” which requires all banks to operate
under guidelines to serve the needs of individuals in that community.
DH/lg