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

SPONSOR Martinez, R.

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/26/08

HB

SHORT TITLE

AOC Municipal Court Support Division

SB 213

ANALYST C. Sanchez

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY08

FY09

$500.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

ESTIMATED ADDITIONAL OPERATING BUDGET IMPACT (dollars in thousands)

FY08

FY09

FY10 3 Year

Total

Cost

Recurring

or Non-

Rec

Fund

Affected

Total

Indeterminable

Recurring General

Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 89 appropriates $500,000 from the general fund to the administrative office of the

courts (AOC) for expenditure in FY 2009 to form a municipal court support division within the

AOC. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance at the end of FY 09 shall revert to the general

fund.

Senate Bill 213 – Page

2

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The proposed budget of the municipal court support division is:

LFC expects the proposed division’s budget to rise by over 3 percent a year. The proposed

division would also impact the AOC’s budget which has grown an average of 3.5 percent a year

since 2002.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The appropriation will be used to hire an attorney to serve as director, three auditors and an

administrative assistant to provide support for all municipal judges throughout the state. Funding

is also requested for administrative costs (primarily and for contractual expenses. The Supreme

Court has superintending control over all courts within the State of New Mexico and is seeking

to create this division within the AOC to assist the court in assuring that all municipal judges are

aware of and are following proper rules and procedures, as well as sound fiscal and human

resources practices. The request is expanded from last year to include a division director and a

staff attorney in recognition of the variety of legal issues faced by municipal judges.

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

The courts are participating in performance-based budgeting. It is unknown if enactment of this

bill would impact performance measures as they relate to judicial budgeting.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

The enactment of this bill will enable the AOC to provide assistance to municipal courts

statewide in administrative operations within these courts.

WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL

If this bill is not enacted, the Supreme Court will be limited in its ability to provide support for

municipal courts.

CS/nt

Municipal Court Division Director

(attorney)

123,700

Salary for 3 Auditors

241,845

Administrative Assistant

60,286

Administrative costs

59,169

Contractual

15,000

Total Budget:

500,000