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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR HHGAC
ORIGINAL DATE
LAST UPDATED
1/22/07
3/15/07 HB CS/75/SFl
SHORT TITLE GSD Telecommunication Service Authority
SB
ANALYST Propst
ESTIMATED ADDITIONAL OPERATING BUDGET IMPACT (dollars in thousands)
FY07
FY08
FY09 3 Year
Total Cost
Recurring
or Non-Rec
Fund
Affected
Total
Unknown Recurring Various
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
Duplicates SB 351
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
LFC Files
Responses Received From
General Services Department-Communications Division (GSD)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of SFl Amendment
The Senate Floor Amendment makes an editorial correction that eliminates redundancy in the
bill.
Synopsis of Original Bill
GSD reports that HB 75 clarifies that the authority of the Communications Division (CD) of
GSD is limited to providing telecommunications services (telephone, data and broadband) to
those entities authorized in Section 15-5-1 NMSA 1978, and that such authorization does not
extend to any political subdivisions of the state, except as necessary to facilitate state mandated
programs (e.g. distance education, telehealth or school-based health center programs). It would
require GSD to prepare an agency plan before expanding or upgrading a state
telecommunications network (voice, data or video) that includes an assessment of the potential
impact on local telecommunications service providers and rate payers. Also, GSD would be
required to conduct an assessment of the impact on local telecommunications service providers
as part of any proposed lease of excess radio communications network capacity and. The phrase
“executive, legislative, judicial, institutional and other state governmental offices" contained in
Section 15-5-1 NMSA 1978 is otherwise defined to exclude from CD’s jurisdiction any
pg_0002
CS/House Bill 75/aSFl – Page
2
municipality, county, school district or two-year public post-secondary educational institutions.
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
HB 75 defines “executive, legislative, judicial, institutional and other state governmental offices"
to mean any of the “branches, agencies, departments, institutions or boards of the state of New
Mexico" but not to include “a municipality, county, school district or two-year public post-
secondary educational institution." HB 75 would allow GSD to provide services to “branches,
agencies, department, institutions or boards of the state of New Mexico."
HB 75 requires that GSD report to the Legislative Finance Committee on the use of excess
capacity being leased and an assessment of how the lease will affect public sector uses “and local
telecommunications service providers."
GSD reports that HB 75 clarifies the jurisdictional reach of the Communications Division of the
General Services Department and provides various safeguards for local telecommunication
companies. To the extent the bill requires CD to prepare an agency plan before expanding or
upgrading a state telecommunications network (voice, data or video), including an assessment of
the potential impact on local telecommunications service providers and rate payers, the rates that
telecommunication service providers charge consumers are regulated by the New Mexico Public
Regulation Commission (PRC). Those rates involve complex formulas of overall earnings
compared to operating expenses and other industry factors. The necessary information to
perform the assessment may not all be available to GSD and GSD may have to project the
potential impact on regulated entities.
CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP
HB 959 and SB 979 (duplicate bills) create the Department of Information Technology (DOIT),
which would, among other things, combine CD and the Information Systems Division of GSD
with the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO), along with the Information Technology
Commission (ITC). HB 959 / SB 979 contain some of the same provisions as c/s HB 75 and c/s
SB 351.
WEP/nt:csd