BILL ANALYSIS AND FISCAL IMPACT REPORT	Page 1 of  1

DATE: February 26, 2001	Submitted by: TAXATION AND REVENUE DEPT.
	T. GLENN ELLINGTON, SECRETARY
BILL NUMBER: HB-673

SPONSOR: Representative Miera

BILL SHORT TITLE: Authorizing Motorcycle Registration Plates for Armed Forces Veterans

CONFLICTS, DUPLICATES, COMPANIONS: HB-672

DESCRIPTION: This measure would require the Taxation and Revenue Department's Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) to issue special motorcycle registration plates for armed forces veterans and individuals retired from the national guard and military reserves. A recurring annual fee of $15, in addition to regular motorcycle registration fees would be charged for the plates. The veterans would be offered decals to be placed at the top of the special registration plates. The decals would be purchased in exchange for a "reasonable charge" set by the TRD secretary. The proposal requires a range of decals to be issued, ranging from Navajo code talker to silver star recipient. Of the $15 fees charged for the special plates, $7 would be retained by the Department and appropriated for the purpose of paying for the plates. The remaining $8 would be transferred to the Armed Forces Veterans License Fund to finance  expenditures by the Director of Veterans Affairs to expand services to the rural areas of New Mexico.

EFFECTIVE DATE:  July 1, 2001

FISCAL IMPACT (Thousands of dollars):  		Note: Parenthesis ( ) indicate a revenue loss:
		Recurring or		
	Estimated Impact on Revenues	Nonrecurring	Funds 	
	FY 2002	Full Year  	     Impact     t     	                       Affected                      .	
	*	*	Recurring	Armed Forces Veterans License Fund	
*depends on the number of plates issued. Approximately 28,000 motorcycle registrations are issued annually in New Mexico. Approximately 900,000 passenger car plates are in circulation. Of these, approximately 12,000 are veterans plates. Hence veterans plates comprise roughly 1.3 percent of the total number of passenger car plates issued. If a similar fraction of military plates were purchased for motorcycles, roughly 160 veterans plates would be sold annually to New Mexico veterans. At $15 per plate, total fees charged would be $2,400. About $1,120 would be appropriated to the Department to defray costs of issuing the plates, while an additional $1,280 would fund services for veterans in rural portions of New Mexico.

APPROPRIATION IMPACT (Thousands of dollars):
			Recurring or		
	Estimated Impact on Appropriations	Nonrecurring	Funds 	
	  FY 2000 0 	  FY 2001  11  	    Impact   t	     Affected    d 	
	*	*	Recurring	General Fund	
ADMINISTRATIVE I	MPACT:
Since the fees would approximate the cost of issuing them no significant net increase in cost of administering the Motor Vehicle Code would result. First year fees may be short of plate production costs, but would reach them in a few years. Computer systems changes would impose opportunity costs to other system initiatives and enhancements.

TECHNICAL ISSUES: Retired National Guard is listed on page 1, lines 24 and 25, but National Guard is not included in the list of veteran-designated decals in subsection D.

OTHER IMPACTS AND ISSUES: none