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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR Altamirano
ORIGINAL DATE
LAST UPDATED
1/23/2007
HB
SHORT TITLE UNM Resource Center for RAZA Planning
SB 128
ANALYST McOlash
APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)
Appropriation
Recurring
or Non-Rec
Fund
Affected
FY07
FY08
$220.0
Recurring
General Fund
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
Duplicates HB 66..
LFC Files
Responses Received From
New Mexico Higher Education Department (HED)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
Senate Bill 128 appropriates $220,000 from the General Fund to the Board of Regents of the
University of New Mexico for expenditure in FY 2008 for the expansion of the Resource Center
for Raza Planning.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
The appropriation of $220,000 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
The Resource Center for Raza Planning (RCRP), established in 1996, is in the Community and
Regional Planning Program within the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of
New Mexico. The goal of RCRP is to contribute to the sustainability and survivability of tradi-
tional New Mexico communities. The core membership of Resource Center for Raza Planning is
pg_0002
Senate Bill 128 – Page
2
drawn from New Mexico graduate students in the Community and Regional Planning program at
the University of New Mexico.
The RCRP has four main objectives:
1.
Produce research and policy analysis of planning issues affecting traditional commu-
nities.
2.
Partner with other organizations to promote effective strategies for community devel-
opment.
3.
Produce, compile, and distribute educational material.
4.
Generate and nurture a pipeline of individuals interested in planning and development
issues and planning education.
This expansion request for $95,000 was submitted to HED. The Department notes that the
$95,000 was intended to be added to its recurring FY07 funding of $127,800 – a total request of
$222,800.
The New Mexico Higher Education Department's Executive recommendation for FY08 is
$127,800.
ALTERNATIVES
Higher Education Department
Higher education institutions receive indirect cost revenues from federal contracts
and grants. This money is unrestricted in the sense that the governing board of the
institution has the flexibility to choose which projects are supported with these
funds. A great deal of this money is used as seed money to develop new research
and public services projects at institutions. A portion of the indirect cost revenue,
or earned overhead, is used to support items such as the salaries of the account-
ants responsible for monitoring the contracts and grants, or for paying utilities and
other expenses required to maintain the space where the contract and grant activi-
ties are housed.
The higher education funding formula allows institutions to retain 100% of this
indirect cost revenue. One of the purposes of retaining these funds is to provide
seed money and matching funds for projects such as the one proposed in this bill.
BM/mt