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

SPONSOR Cravens

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/30/2007

2/27/2007 HB

SHORT TITLE School Volunteer Background Checks

SB 96/aSEC

ANALYST Aguilar

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$500.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

ESTIMATED ADDITIONAL OPERATING BUDGET IMPACT (dollars in thousands)

FY07

FY08

FY09 3 Year

Total Cost

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

Total

$11.0

Recurring General

Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to SB 210

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Public Education Department (PED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of SEC Amendment

The Senate Education Committee amendment to Senate Bill 96 makes language changes to

provide for background checks for all volunteers to public schools and adds charter schools as

well.

Synopsis of Original Bill

Senate Bill 96 appropriates $500 thousand from the general fund to the Public Education

Department for the purpose of paying the costs of background checks for parent volunteers in

public schools.

Senate Bill 96/sSEC – Page

2

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $500 thousand contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general

fund. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2008 shall

revert to the general fund.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The Public Education Department notes the following for consideration by the Legislature:

•

The fund is only for “parent volunteers" in public schools. Conceivably, not all

volunteers are “parents". Some may be grandparents while others may be individuals or

groups who simply wish to volunteer in a public school. The wording of SB 96 would

limit funds to only “parent volunteers".

•

Given that pursuant to the School Personnel Act the PED only conducts background

checks of applicants for initial licensure, this bill requires the PED to administer a fund

for individuals it does not license or conduct background checks for. This raises the

question whether the PED is to reimburse school districts after they have advanced

background check fees. To avoid violating the Anti-Donation Clause of the New Mexico

Constitution, the PED could not pay the money to the volunteers directly but could

reimburse their expenditures after either they or the school districts had made them.

•

By using the words “pay the costs of background checks," it is not clear if this wording

rules out a school district’s claim for administrative costs to process receiving

background checks and reviewing criminal history reports received from the FBI.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

The Public Education Department notes that the Legislature may wish to consider the following:

Line 11, strike from “background" through “volunteers" on Line 12 and insert thereof

“unsupervised volunteer background checks"

Line 18, strike “the costs of background checks" and insert thereof “fingerprint background

check fees".

PA/nt:csd