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





SPONSOR: Rodarte DATE TYPED: 02-02-00 HB
SHORT TITLE: NM Works Act Training & Employment Program SB 319
ANALYST: Taylor


APPROPRIATION



Appropriation Contained
Estimated Additional Impact
Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY00 FY01 FY00 FY01
$ 200.0 $ $ $ Recurring General Fund



Duplicates/Conflicts with/Companion to/Relates to None



SOURCES OF INFORMATION



Labor Department

LFC Files



SUMMARY



Synopsis of Bill



Senate Bill 319 appropriates $200.0 from the state's general fund to the New Mexico Labor Department in FY00 for the purpose of contracting with Los Alamos national laboratory to implement a training and employment program for participants of the New Mexico Works Act program. The bill would allow the appropriation to be spent in both FY00 and FY01. The bill stipulates that the appropriation must not be spent for any purpose that would jeopardize its classification as maintenance of effort (MOE) for the temporary assistance to needy families (TANF) block grant.



The bill carries an emergency clause.



Significant Issues



The labor department notes that it cannot use federal funds to administer TANF, and they may have to use part of the appropriation to cover its administrative costs. They suggest that instead of using the appropriation for TANF MOE, it might be better to appropriate the funds as state match to the department's welfare-to-work grant, which can absorb the administrative costs.



The Human Services Department has identified sufficient MOE money for the TANF program for FY00 and FY01. The labor department is still working to identify state match for its second welfare-to-work grant.





FISCAL IMPLICATIONS



The direct fiscal implication for the bill is the $200.0 general fund appropriation. The money appropriated in the bill would also enable the state to count the money towards its TANF MOE requirement.



BT/gm