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

SPONSOR SFC

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/22/07

3/2/07 HB

SHORT TITLE Law Enforcement Employee Benefits

SB 186/SFCS

ANALYST Peery-Galon

ESTIMATED ADDITIONAL OPERATING BUDGET IMPACT (dollars in thousands)

FY07

FY08

FY09 3 Year

Total Cost

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

Total

Unknown Unknown Unknown Recurring Various

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

Responses Received From

General Services Department (GSD)

No Responses Received From

State Personnel Office (SPO)

Department of Public Safety (DPS)

Municipal League

Association of Counties

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

The Senate Finance Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 186 requires the state and any political

subdivision of the state to provide life insurance in the amount of at least $250,000 for

employees during any period of employment when an employee is working as an undercover

agent. The Department of Public Safety is required to adopt rules to determine the eligibility of

undercover agents for paid life insurance. The substitute defines an undercover agent as a law

enforcement officer who is actively involved in the investigation of alleged violations of state or

federal law and whose identity as a law enforcement officer is being concealed, and defines a

law enforcement officer as a state or municipal police officer, county sheriff, deputy sheriff,

conservation officer, motor transportation enforcement officer or other state employee authorized

by state law to enforce criminal statutes.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

GSD’s Risk Management Division states it does not know how many employees would be

covered by this life insurance requirement. GSD reports the cost for a 500 member group would

Senate Bill 186/SFCS – Page

2

be $750 thousand annually and would be charged to the employing agencies.

SPO points out that there is no appropriation to provide “paid" life insurance.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

SPO states the term “at least" relating to the amount of coverage could be problematic across

jurisdictions. Also, SPO reports it is not clear if the life insurance will be in “addition to" or “in

lieu of" basic and/or supplemental life insurance already provided to employees.

GSD states pursuant to Section 15-7-2 NMSA 1978 the Risk Management Division of the

department provides employee benefits insurance for DPS employees and would purchase the

coverage.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

SPO states that a state agency’s or political subdivision’s benefits coordinator should be able to

administer this benefit with minimal administrative impact.

RPG/nt