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

SPONSOR Anderson

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/25/08

HB 426

SHORT TITLE NM Tech ICASA Program Expansion

SB

ANALYST Haug

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY08

FY09

$100.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplication

Senate Bill 233

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Higher Education Department (HED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 426 appropriates $100.0 from the general fund to the Board of Regents of New

Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology to expand the work of the Institute for Complex

Additive Systems Analysis.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $100.0 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general fund. Any

unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2009 shall revert to the

general fund.

A request was submitted by NMIMT in the amount of $647,320 to the New Mexico Higher

Education Department for review. The request is a $23,120 increase to recurring funding. The

Department’s funding recommendation for FY09 is a continuance of FY08 recurring funding in

the amount of $624,200 with no additional funding at this time.

House Bill 426 – Page

2

The HED’s evaluation table of FY09 Research and Public Service Projects provided to the LFC

classifies this project as a “would not oppose if funding available" project. Reasons for this

classification decision are not provided. (LFC Report 07-20, Higher Education Department

Review of Selected Research and Public Service Projects, January 12, 2008, Table 4, p73.)

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The HED states that the Institute for Complex Additive Systems Analysis (ICASA) will utilize

funds to:

.

provide learning opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students to enhance their

critical problem solving skills;

.

conduct applied research to analyze and understand interdependent systems;

.

utilize ICASA research to help solve issues regarding complex interdependent systems

that arise in the public and private sectors; and

.

stimulate commerce by serving as an information-age extension service for New Mexico

businesses.

According to NMT, ICASA is a research division within NMT dedicated to protecting America’s

critical infrastructure systems through the study and education of interdependent complex

systems. ICASA develops courses that look at the needs of the nation and integrates disciplines

to meet these needs. ICASA relies on departments within NMT as well as government and

commercial contractors to carry out its goals. ICASA has developed a reputation for tackling

major projects with relatively short turnaround times, which has earned it a renewal as a Center

of Excellence in Information Assurance as designated by the U.S. Department of Defense

National Security Agency.

DUPLICATION

House Bill 426 duplicates Senate Bill 233

GH/mt