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committees of the NM Legislature. The LFC does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of these reports
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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR Wirth
ORIGINAL DATE
LAST UPDATED
1/27/2005
1/27/06 HB 417
SHORT TITLE 1
st
Judicial Staff Attorney
SB
ANALYST McSherry
APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)
Appropriation
Recurring
or Non-Rec
Fund
Affected
FY06
FY07
$103.4
Recurring
General Fund
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
House Bill 417 is a companion bill to Senate Bill 304 and duplicates the HAFC recommendation
for the General Appropriation Act.
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
LFC Files
Responses Received From
Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
House Bill 417, appropriates $103,400 from the general fund to the first judicial district court for
the purpose of funding a full-time associate staff attorney.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
The appropriation of $103,400 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general fund.
Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2007 shall revert
to the general fund.
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
The funds for this purpose were recommended to be added to the LFC recommendation during
HAFC.
pg_0002
House Bill 417 – Page 2
According to the staffing study, when all 1
st
Judicial District employees are considered, the dis-
trict is more than 100 percent fully staffed (see attached).
The judiciary’s interpretation of the staffing study results in the 1
st
Judicial district with a 94.4
percent staffing level; this interpretation does not count all the court’s employees (see attached).
PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS
A staff attorney would assist the 1
st
Judicial District in research for complex cases and likely
would lessen the workload per case for the District’s judges.
ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS
Additional personnel increase the administrative workload of both the court and AOC.
CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP
House Bill 417 is a companion bill to Senate Bill 304 and duplicates an appropriation included in
the HAFC recommendation for the agency.
WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL
The 1
st
Judicial District will likely still gain a staff attorney because it was the court’s first prior-
ity “add” in HAFC.
POSSIBLE QUESTIONS
1.
What size should a court be before gaining a staff attorney. Is there a staff attor-
ney/caseload ideal ratio. Does any court in the state meet this ratio. What district has the
best attorney/caseload ratio and what is the ratio.
2.
What other districts would qualify for a staff attorney under the ratio of staff attor-
ney/caseload that the 1
st
District would have with the proposed addition.
EM/mt