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

SPONSOR Martinez

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/27/2008

HB

SHORT TITLE Spanish & Mexican Land Grant Boundaries

SB 422

ANALYST Moser

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY08

FY09

$40

Non-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

$4.0

Recurring State Road

Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

NM Department of Transportation (NMDOT)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 422 appropriates $40 thousand from the general Fund to NMDOT for the purpose of

placing signs on state highways identifying the boundaries of Spanish and Mexican land grants.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $40 thousand contained in this bill is a non-recurring expense to the general

fund. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY09 shall revert to the

general fund.

Senate Bill 422 – Page

2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

NMDOT indicates that the amount appropriated provides for the manufacturing and installation

costs of approximately 88 signs. NMDOT is aware of at least 24 Spanish and Mexican land

grants that are registered with the New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office.

In Fiscal Year 08, NMDOT provided signage for the Mora land grant. Sixteen signs were

required at locations where vehicles entered the boundaries of the land grant on state highways.

If this number of signs is indicative of the amount required to delineate the entrance boundaries

to most other land grants, then the appropriation would allow for signing of approximately 5 land

grants.

In addition, the signs were only provided in the direction where vehicles entered the land grant

boundaries. Duplicate signs on the opposite side of the roadway were not provided for vehicles

exiting the land grant boundaries. If signage is required in both directions, the appropriation

will cover the costs to provide signs for 2-3 land grants.

No maintenance costs for the signs have been provided in this bill. Sign faces last approximately

10 years; however, numerous signs are knocked down or vandalized each year and will require

replacement. Because the NMDOT prioritizes sign replacement based on safety and regulatory

issues, these signs will not be the highest priority for maintenance and replacement in future

years.

NMDOT does not have a sign maintenance budget available to cover land grant sign

replacements.

The bill does not address the issue of how to prioritize which land grants will be signed with the

proposed appropriation. The bill should identify the specific Spanish and Mexican land grant

boundaries that are to be signed.

GM/bb