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

SPONSOR Picraux

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/31/2007

HB 385

SHORT TITLE UNM Manufacturing Engineering Program

SB

ANALYST McOlash

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$390.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Economic Development Department (EDD)

Higher Education Department (HED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 385 appropriates $390,000 from the General Fund to the Regents of UNM for

expenditure in FY 2008 to expand the Manufacturing Engineering Program.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $390,000 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the General Fund.

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY 2008 shall revert to the

General Fund.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

According to HED, funds will be utilized for the Manufacturing Training and Technology Center

(MTTC) clean room Phase II operations and auxiliary faculty. The MTTC clean room requires

additional personnel, maintenance, and supplies consistent with the enhanced Phase-II facilities

just built.

House Bill 385 – Page

2

The UNM Manufacturing Engineering Program (MEP) is a multi-disciplinary Masters-level

academic program that prepares students for real-world manufacturing and management. The

graduate program covers modern manufacturing methods across computer, mechanical,

electronic, and business disciplines. The program integrates manufacturing theory with

manufacturing practice by bringing industry experts into the classroom and by giving students

actual industry projects. In addition, MEP supports state-of-the-art hands-on laboratories, world-

class research, and novel training programs.

This proposal for additional funding was not submitted to the HED by UNM for review and was

not included in HED’s funding recommendation for FY08.

CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP

The General Appropriation Act (HB 7/SB 2) appropriates $641,700 for the MEP.

BM/nt