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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

2/1/2006

HB 543

SHORT TITLE Municipal Court Automation Fund Uses

SB

ANALYST McOlash

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

NFI

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC)

Department of Finance and Administration. (DFA)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 543 amends Section 34-9-12 NMSA 1978 to expand the use of the municipal court

automation fund from the purchase and maintenance of the court automation system, to include

the operation of the system and the use of temporary personnel costs as needed to comply with

Section 35-14-12 NMSA 1978.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The AOC indicates the municipal court automation fund has sufficient revenue to pay for opera-

tional costs.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

Municipalities receive reimbursements from the Municipal Court Automation Fund for expendi-

tures related to automation support for their respective municipal courts. In order to be able to

report DWI convictions, municipal courts must install, maintain, and operate computer equip-

ment. Without the expansion in the language to operate the computer-based systems, municipal

House Bill 543 - Page 2

courts will have difficulty in complying with Section 35-14-12 NMSA 1978 - requiring courts to

have the capability of providing timely electronic records for tracking DWI convictions. Court

staff is needed to input court records and transmit them electronically to the Administrative Of-

fice of the Courts Central Repository.

WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL

If the language in the existing statutes is not expanded, municipal courts will not be reimbursed

from the Municipal Court Automation Fund for system operating costs, including temporary

staff for data entry and electronic reporting.

BMC/nt