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

SPONSOR Cervantes

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/23/2008

HB 143

SHORT TITLE NMSU National Security and Diplomacy Program SB

ANALYST Baca

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY08

FY09

$300.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

New Mexico State University (NMSU)

Department of Higher Education (HED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 143 appropriates $300,000 from the general fund to the Board of Regents of New

Mexico State University (NMSU) for expenditure in FY09 to develop curricula for a national

security and diplomacy studies program.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $300,000 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general fund.

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY09 shall revert to the

general fund.

A request in the amount of $200,000 was submitted by New Mexico State University to the New

Mexico Higher Education Department for review, but is not included in the Department’s

executive funding recommendation for FY09.

House Bill 143 – Page

2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

NMSU notes the university has a rare opportunity to become a leading provider of graduates

who are scientifically educated professionals for the United States Government (USG) in the

areas of national security and diplomacy. The vision for the NSDS marries the most pressing

needs of the USG in the areas of intelligence and foreign policy with the needs of New Mexico

State University (NMSU) to expand its academic curriculum and obtain more resources to

enlarge graduate-level research and studies. The proposed program intends to combine both

national security and diplomacy studies making it the first ever-such program for NMSU and the

nation. This program will ultimately include bachelors, masters, and doctoral

degrees.

The HED analysis concurs with the NMSU observations.

LRB/mt