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committees of the NM Legislature. The LFC does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of these reports
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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR Carraro
ORIGINAL DATE
LAST UPDATED
2-7-06
HB
SHORT TITLE Educational Impact of Federal Land Ownership in NM SJM 10
ANALYST Baca
Relates to Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
LFC Files
SUMMARY
Synopsis of SJM 10
Senate Joint Memorial 10 requests the New Mexico’s congressional delegation support and ac-
tively work for passage of H.R. 3463 and H.R. 3464, also known as the Action Plan for Public
Lands and Education Act of 2005, which would authorize western states to make selections of
public land within their borders in lieu of receiving five percent of the proceeds of the sale of
public land lying within their borders. Passage of these bills may enable New Mexico to receive
federal payments or land that will contribute to education improvement for New Mexico's school
children.
H.R. 3463 would authorize western states to make selections of public land within their borders
in lieu of receiving five percent of the proceeds of the sale of public land lying within their bor-
ders.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
SJM 10 contains no appropriation.
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
SJM 10 cites funding inadequacies in New Mexico public schools and attributes funding short
comings to large percent of federally owned lands in western states, an average of 52 percent of
the land in 13 western states compared to 4 and 1/10
th
in the other states. The bill asserts that the
federal government should compensate western states for the significant impact federal land
ownership has on the ability of western states to educate their residents and that just compensa-
tion will allow western states to be on equal footing with the rest of the nation in their efforts to
provide education for their residents. In support of this argument, SJM 10 indicates that a federal
policy change in 1977 has resulted in the western state losing an estimated $14 billion in lost
public education.