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

SPONSOR Leavell

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/12/2007

HB

SHORT TITLE NM Tech Cave & Karst Research Institute

SB 762

ANALYST McOlash

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$36.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Higher Education Department (HED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 762 appropriates $36,000 from the General Fund to the NM Tech Regents for

expenditure in FY 2008 for Tech’s National Cave and Karst Research Institute to restore

previous cuts and provide the appropriate matching funds as required by the U.S. National Park

Service.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $36,000 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 National Cave and Karst Research Institute in Carlsbad, NM was created by an Act of

Congress in 1998 to further the research, education, and wise management of cave/karst

formations throughout the United States and around the world. While the National Park Service

Senate Bill 762 – Page

2

was designated as the lead agency for establishing the organization, the Institute is a diverse

entity comprised of a broad base of partners including the City of Carlsbad, and NM Tech.

The National Cave and Karst Research Institute serves as a research center to determine

influences of and relationships to petroleum and water extraction. Karsts are small pocket

formations that are expanding and will eventually become large caves. Caves and karsts serve as

experimental settings in which research staff at NM Tech conduct testing to better understand the

roles of oil and water and interdependence upon each other and formations beneath the ground’s

surface.

This request was submitted by NM Tech to HED for review of additional funds to the base

funding in the amount of $35,600 in FY08. The Department’s funding recommendation for

FY08 is a continuance of FY07 recurring funding in the amount of $429,300 with no additional

funding at this time.

CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP OR RELATIONSHIP

SB 2/HB 7 (General Appropriation Acts) appropriate $429,300 for Cave and Karst research.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

The word “karst" refers to a type of terrain, usually formed on carbonate rock (limestone and

dolomite) where groundwater has solutionally enlarged openings to form a subsurface drainage

system. A mild carbonic acid produced from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, particularly the

soil atmosphere, is primarily responsible for the solvent power of groundwater on carbonate

rocks.

BM/csd