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

SPONSOR Gonzales

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1-21-06

HB 150

SHORT TITLE Taos Wildfire Responder Guide

SB

ANALYST Woods

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

NFI

$45.0

Non-Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD)

Department of Finance and Administration (DFA)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 150 makes an Appropriation for a Wildfire Responder Guide for Taos County and

seeks to appropriate $45,000 from the general fund to the Forestry Division of the Energy, Min-

erals and Natural Resources Department for expenditure in fiscal year 2007 to prepare a wildfire

responder guide for Taos County. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the

end of fiscal year 2007 shall revert to the general fund.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD) notes that the physical loca-

tion identified in this legislation is included in the New Mexico Fire Plan as one of the state's

communities most at risk from wildland fire. The Forestry Division currently provides technical

support as well as state and federal grant funds and other resources to a variety of entities for fire

protection and fuels reduction projects to reduce fire risk and increase public safety in this area.

The Forestry Division also oversees the expenditure of state emergency funds for wildfire

suppression, often in Taos County.

House Bill 150 – Page

2

EMNRD adds that the appropriation would be used to prepare a local area response plan that

would assist local wildland fire entities, including municipal and local fire departments, and state

and federal wildland fire management agencies, in the response to and suppression of wild land

fire. The response plan would be a component of an overarching community wildfire protection

plan designed to address all community protection needs regarding risk from catastrophic wild-

fire. EMNRD suggests that the appropriation would benefit the Forestry Division’s objective of

protecting communities from wildland fire, while concurrently enhancing the safety and effec-

tiveness of responding firefighting resources.

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

The Department of Finance and Administration notes that this legislation will aid EMNRD in

achieving the Healthy Forests Program performance measure with respect to "mitigation and

protecting communities from the effects of catastrophic wildfires."

BW/yr