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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

2/14/07

3/01/07 HB 1103

SHORT TITLE

REPEAL DWI PROGRAM FUND

SB

ANALYST Propst

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$600.0

Non-Recurring Other State Funds

(DWI Program Fund)

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Department of Finance and Administration (DFA)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 1103 repeals section 6-4-8 NMSA 1978, ending the "DWI program fund" which was

created to fund State agency DWI prevention efforts. HB 1103 also appropriates the fund

balance to DFA for two statewide purposes: 1) to purchase equipment and fund undercover

operations for DWI law enforcement; and, 2) to study DWI-drug court cost-effectiveness and

recidivism rates and to make recommendations for Drug Court improvement.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The $600.0 DWI program fund balance will be allocated to DFA to expend on DWI purposes in

FY08 and FY09. Any balance will revert to the general fund at the end of 2009.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

DFA reports that it supports this bill. The DWI program fund is a non-reverting fund. With the

exception of 1993, this section of law has never been used by the Legislature to fund State

agencies or programs. The Legislature has not appropriated additional funds to this fund. Nor has

House Bill 1103 – Page

2

it appropriated the non-reverting fund balance amount from 1993 for expenditure on DWI.

The Administrative Office of the Courts notes that the “DWI program fund" was created by

statute in 1993 as a non-reverting source of funds for various agencies’ DWI programs and

initiatives. DFA reports that the fund has a balance of approximately $600.0, and has not been in

use for much of its history. HB 1103 does not indicate how much of the fund balance will be

directed towards each of the two stated purposes. This analysis will focus just on the second

purpose, evaluations of the state’s DWI-drug court programs, as the other purpose does not

directly affect the judiciary.

There are five DWI-drug court programs in New Mexico, four at the magistrate court level in

Dona Ana, Eddy, McKinley, and Valencia counties; and one at Bernalillo County Metropolitan

Court. The programs vary widely in age and size. The oldest (Dona Ana Magistrate) was started

in 1994, while the youngest (Valencia Magistrate) is just getting started. The program at

Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court is easily the largest program, with upwards of 350

concurrent participants, while the others work with between 30 and 70 participants at a time.

They also range from highly urban (Metro Court in Albuquerque) with significant court

resources to very rural (Eddy Magistrate in Carlsbad) with limited court resources.

Most drug court programs, nationwide and in New Mexico, got their start through federal grant

funds. Such grants generally require a program evaluation be performed using some of the grant

funds. The older DWI-drug court programs (Dona Ana Magistrate and Metro Court) were

evaluated in the late 1990s using grant funds, but federal money for drug courts has become

extremely limited in the last several years, and our newer drug courts have had to start up

without federal funds. This means that several have not had a formal program evaluation

performed, though the McKinley County Magistrate program has just completed a process and

outcome evaluation using state funds.

The judiciary has sought evaluation funds unsuccessfully from the legislature several times in the

last few legislative sessions, and would welcome the opportunity provided through this bill to

develop and conduct evaluations appropriate to several (if not all, depending on the amount of

the funds appropriated for such evaluations) of the state’s DWI-drug court programs. Newer

programs would benefit from process evaluations that would help ensure they are operating

consistently with national and state standards, as well as with their own program policies and

procedures. The rest would benefit from outcome evaluations that could suggest ways to improve

the already significant services they provide in support of public safety in their community. And

the state would benefit from a better understanding of the effectiveness and cost savings of these

programs, to guide and possibly increase its future investment.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

HB 1103 appropriates the remaining balance of the “DWI program fund" to the department of

finance and administration. The Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC), in conjunction with

the Supreme Court’s Drug Court Advisory Committee, oversees the state’s 30 drug court

programs and has been involved with several past program evaluations. It would be highly

beneficial to the effectiveness and comprehensiveness of any DWI-drug court program

evaluations to have the AOC directly involved in their design and implementation. The judiciary

has requested that the evaluation funds appropriated by this bill go directly to the AOC, as it may

be in the best position to work with the contracted evaluation team(s) in developing and

House Bill 1103 – Page

3

executing evaluations specific to the different programs (see Significant Issues above), while

maintaining consistency with national research and statewide requirements. If that is not

possible, the Local Government Division of DFA is the entity within DFA with the greatest

experience with DWI programs and evaluation criteria, and would also be effective in

administering the evaluation funds. In any event, the judiciary believes it is very important that

the AOC be directly involved in all aspects of such program evaluations (from design, to RFP, to

scheduling, administration, and execution) regardless of what entity receives the evaluation

funds.

WEP/mt