BILL ANALYSIS AND FISCAL IMPACT REPORT	Page 1 of  1

DATE: February 22, 2001	Submitted by: TAXATION AND REVENUE DEPT.       
	T. GLENN ELLINGTON, SECRETARY
BILL NUMBER:  HB-210 as amended by the House Government and Urban Affairs Committee (2/16/2001)

SPONSOR:  Representative Lujan

BILL SHORT TITLE:  County and Municipal Gasoline Tax Distribution

CONFLICTS, DUPLICATES, COMPANIONS:  

DESCRIPTION:  The requirement that gasoline taxes distributed to local governments be placed in a separate road fund and spent only for construction, improvement or maintenance of public roads would be waived for municipalities with a population of less than 3,000 and for counties with a population of less than 4,000.

The HGUAC amendment revised the county population threshold from 3,000 to 4,000.

EFFECTIVE DATE:  Not specified – assume 90 days following adjournment (approx. June 15, 2001)

FISCAL IMPACT :  No state or local government revenue impact.  Allowing gasoline tax distributions to be placed in a local jurisdiction’s general fund may result in budget and expenditure adjustments.  The June 2001 distribution of May 2001 gasoline tax revenues would probably not reach local governments until after the effective date of this bill, but that timing is uncertain.

TECHNICAL ISSUES:
1)	The bill does not specify how the local jurisdiction’s population is to be certified, or whether the latest decennial census or the latest population estimate is to be used.  Administration of that certification should probably fall to the Local Governments Division of the Department of Finance and Administration.

2)	Subsection B specifies calculation of the amount of the distributions.  Subsection C gives instructions on how to pay the amount and to limit the purposes for which the distribution may be spent.  The new language –   “Except as provided in Subsection D of this section” (on page 2, lines 1 & 2) – more properly belongs at the start of Subsection C (page 2, line 16).

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPACT:  No administrative impact on the department.

OTHER IMPACTS AND ISSUES:

•	Laws 1999, Chapter 212 required that the “two cent” share of gasoline tax (10.38% of net receipts) be placed in a separate road fund and used for road purposes only.  Prior to August 1999 this local government revenue source had been used for general purposes or for any special purpose.

•	County government jurisdictions with populations under 4,000 include:

					1990 Census		1999 Estimate
	Catron County			    2,563		     2,862
	De Baca County		    2,252		     2,359
	Harding County			       987		        854
	Union County			    4,124		     3,903

Approximately 65 municipalities were estimated to have populations under 3,000 as of July, 1998.

•	Guadalupe County had a population of 4,156 in 1990 and an estimated population of 4,023 as of 1999.