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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR Tripp
ORIGINAL DATE
LAST UPDATED
02/04/08
HB 606
SHORT TITLE NMSU Coop Ext 4-H Youth Development
SB
ANALYST Williams
APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)
Appropriation
Recurring
or Non-Rec
Fund
Affected
FY08
FY09
$25.0
Recurring
General Fund
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
Relates to: HB 567: $10,000 for Lincoln and Otero Counties 4-H; HB 494: $25,000 for Chaves
and Eddy Counties 4-H; and HB 575: $25,000 for Lea County 4-H.
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
LFC Files
Responses Received From
Higher Education Department (HED)
Public Education Department (PED)
New Mexico State University
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
House Bill 606 appropriates $25,000 from the General Fund to the Board of Regents of New
Mexico State University for the purpose of supporting the cooperative extension service 4-H
youth development program statewide.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
The appropriation of $25,000 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the General Fund.
Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY 09 shall revert to the
General Fund.
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
NMSU indicates the funding will increase capacity and commitment to reach diverse youth
audience with programs that develop life skills and supplement the local schools with curriculum
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House Bill 606 – Page
2
that provides experiential educational programs. The university states a key strategy is “to forge
partnerships between NMSU, local schools and communities to promote life skills acquisition
that supports academic performance and work force participation" with four approaches: 1)
outreach … to enhance in-school, and out-of-school time, including after school programs; 2)
enhancing core curriculum by working with schools; 3) ensure stronger foundation for youth and
community engagement; 4) reach new audiences of underserved youth. With particular
emphasis on underserved youth, NMSU plan to provide teachers or classroom volunteers with
experiential learning lessons and activities aligned to New Mexico educational standards and
benchmarks.
An expansion proposal for this program was not submitted by NMSU to the HED for
consideration in Fall 2007. The January 2008 LFC report “Higher Education Department
Review of Selected Research and Public Service Projects" discusses best practices for funding
these types of projects.
OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES
The 4-H Youth Development Program emphasizes 35 life skills including: Leadership,
responsible citizenship, critical thinking, problem solving, decision-making, conflict resolution,
respect for others, and communication. The 4-H program is the largest youth organization in the
world with 7 million youth members and 603,000 volunteer leaders. The 4-H program is 95
years old. NMSU notes, in 2006-2007, more than 74,000 of the state’s youth were involved in 4-
H. Last year, 5,220 adult 4-H volunteers contributed over 260,000 hours of volunteer service,
with a value of $4.7 million.
A report by the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development found: “Many strengths
characterize existing community-based youth development programs. These strengths include
tradition, durability, commitment, credibility, diversity, wide-spread support and extensive
reach."
POSSIBLE QUESTIONS
1.
How would performance outcomes be measured.
AW/bb