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

SPONSOR Nunez

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/9/2007

HB 899

SHORT TITLE Pink Bollworm Control Program

SB

ANALYST Moser

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$85.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Higher Education Department (HED)

New Mexico Department of Agriculture (NMDA)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 899 appropriates $85,000 from the General Fund to the Regents of NMSU for

expenditure in FY 2008 for the NMDA to support pink bollworm control districts’ expenditures

pursuant to the Pink Bollworm Act.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $85,000 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.

Continuing control is necessary since poor area wide management of pink bollworm could

reduce production value by $3 million or more and impede control efforts in adjacent states.

House Bill 899 – Page

2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

NMDA Analysis

Pink bollworm, an insect pest that feeds directly within cotton bolls, is now

found in all cotton production areas of New Mexico (approximately 70,000

acres). It is an economic pest in Luna, Sierra, and Eddy counties

(approximately 26,000 cotton acres). Prior to eradication efforts in Doņa Ana

county, pink bollworm was a significant economic pest in Doņa Ana county.

Because of the importance of area-wide management of pink bollworm, as

opposed to individual producer management, cotton producers in Doņa Ana,

Luna and Sierra counties voted to create a pink bollworm control district. The

control district is currently working with the United States department of

agriculture, animal and plant health inspection service and cotton producers in

west Texas and northern Mexico on an area-wide eradication program. After

four years of eradication efforts in south central New Mexico, Doņa Ana,

Sierra and Luna counties pink boll worm populations have decreased

approximately 99.6 percent. These efforts have resulted in an increase in

cotton production and have helped restore a margin of profitability that existed

prior to the establishment of pink bollworm in the area. Similar eradication

programs have been successful in Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Missouri,

and California.

This proposal was not submitted to the HED by NMSU and was not included in the

Department’s funding recommendation for FY08.

GM/nt