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

SPONSOR Rawson

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/3/2006

2/5/06 HB

SHORT TITLE Colorado River Litigation

SB 403

ANALYST McOlash

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

$1,000.0 Non-Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to: SB 402

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Office of the State Engineer (OSE)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 403 appropriates $1,000,000 from the General Fund to the Office of the Attorney

General (AGO) for expenditure in FY 2007 and subsequent fiscal years to prepare litigation on

disputes over the Colorado River and the Colorado River Compact.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of a fiscal year shall not revert

to the General Fund.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES (OSE)

New Mexico has been actively involved in negotiations relating to potential litigation among the

seven states that are parties to the Colorado River Compact. These issues are very contentious

and could evolve into active litigation with little advanced notice. The litigation would involve a

Senate Bill 403 – Page 2

conflict between upper basin states of New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and Utah and the lower

basin states of Arizona, Nevada and California. The lower basin states have extensive financial

resources with which to fund litigation. Their current levels of growth also provide strong incen-

tive to them to initiate litigation to protect their current and future water supplies. This appropri-

ate will provide important funding to support potential interstate litigation.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

The OSE/ISC will coordinate the interstate litigation activities with the Attorney General’s of-

fice.

RELATIONSHIP

Senate Bill 402 appropriates $3,000,000 to the Interstate Stream Commission to address surface

water and ground water management issues in the lower Rio Grande basin and to protect the

state’s entitlement to waters under the Colorado River Compact and the Rio Grande Compact

BMC/mt