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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR Varela
ORIGINAL DATE
LAST UPDATED
1/23/07
HB 225
SHORT TITLE
Making an Appropriation to Contract for the
Provision of a Science and Engineering Fair in
Albuquerque; Declaring an Emergency
SB
ANALYST Propst
APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)
Appropriation
Recurring
or Non-Rec
Fund
Affected
FY07
FY08
$1,200.0
Non-recurring
General Fund
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
Duplicates Senate Bill 131. The Executive recommendation includes $100.0 for the Science and
Supercomputing Challenge.
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
Responses Received From
Public Education Department (PED)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
Making an Appropriation to Contract for the Provision of a Science and Engineering Fair in
Albuquerque; Declaring an Emergency.
House Bill 225 appropriates $1,200.0 in general fund to the Department of Finance and
Administration to provide for the International Science and Engineering Fair that will be held in
May, 2007 in Albuquerque. The legislation has an emergency funding clause. Any unexpended
or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY2008 reverts to the general fund.
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
The Public Education Department reports that this legislation supports the Intel International
Science and Engineering Fair. The 2007 competition will attract 1,500 top high school students
representing all 50 U.S. states and 47 countries, territories and regions. They will bring their
cutting-edge research in areas such as nanotechnology, genetics, fuel efficiency, engineering,
pg_0002
House Bill 225 – Page
2
medicine and much more to the Albuquerque Convention Center on May 13-19, 2007 to
compete for over $4 million in prizes. In addition, over 5,000 New Mexico students and their
teachers will visit the Fair during the two public days where they will have the opportunity to
interact with the student finalists as well as participate in hands-on inquiry science and
engineering activities (
www.intelisef2007.org
). (Registration for New Mexico school groups to
visit the event began on 01/17/07 and by 01/19/07 almost 4,000 students were registered.)
Science fairs have served students, teachers and parents in New Mexico since 1959. Science
fairs require students to engage in scientific research and demonstrate understanding of concepts
and principles in science, mathematics and engineering (
www.unm.edu/~scifair
).
This event will be one of the largest conventions to be held in Albuquerque, both in size and
financial impact. More than 5,000 world visitors who will travel to this event and contribute to
the state’s economy before, during and after the Fair. Nearly all of the 16,000 hotel room nights
that were reserved for this event have been booked. The total cost of hosting this event is about
$2,400.0; approximately 30% of this cost has been committed by sponsors including Sandia
National Laboratories, PNM, Northrop Grumman, UNM, McCune Charitable Foundation, NM
Tech, CNM and others.
This program was funded by the New Mexico legislature for $500,000 for FY07 in HB02 p. 226,
lines 13-14
.
ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS
Staff from the PED’s Math and Science Bureau is involved in the planning of the ISEF and will
attend the event.
CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP
Duplicates Senate Bill 131. Relates to the Executive recommendation of $100.0 for the Science
and Supercomputing Challenge.
TECHNICAL ISSUES
Due to the timing of the event, funding must be allocated for FY07 under the emergency clause.
OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES
Rio Rancho Public Schools is acting as the fiscal agent for Inquiry Facilitators, the 501(c)3 non-profit
organization that won the bid to bring the International Science and Engineering Fair to NM.
WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL
The International Science and Engineering Fair organizers would have to seek funds from other
sources. If adequate funds are not found, the quality of this international event may suffer.
WEP/mt:csd