HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 19

53rd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2017

INTRODUCED BY

Antonio "Moe" Maestas and Daymon Ely

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE LEGISLATIVE FINANCE COMMITTEE TO NAME A SUBCOMMITTEE TO STUDY THE PROLIFERATION OF EARMARKED FUNDS AND STATUTORY AND AGENCY-CREATED ADMINISTRATIVE FUNDS.

     WHEREAS, earmarked funds are those funds that direct revenue to specific state agencies or government programs while circumventing the merit-based or competitive funds allocation process of the general appropriation act; and

     WHEREAS, earmarks in the corporate world are a reasonable way of organizing and allocating money, but they are not a reasonable way of allocating government funding; and

     WHEREAS, starting from the basic premise that it is the legislature's sole power and duty to make public policy, including funding, earmarking takes away future legislative discretion to determine the relative needs of all state agencies and programs by granting a source of funding for some agencies or programs outside the general fund; and

     WHEREAS, particularly when the state is facing a fiscal crisis, earmarking is a limiting stranglehold on legislative authority and, at the very least, the legislature should undertake a study of the efficacy of continuing the earmarked funds that exist in the state treasury; and

     WHEREAS, in the same vein, the allocation of administrative and other fees, with or without statutory authority, to state agencies for their own uses is a short-sighted measure that takes money from the general fund and funding decisions away from the legislature; and

     WHEREAS, some accountants and fiscal analysts believe it is more efficient to have "enterprise agencies" or "self-appropriating agencies", but such a belief does not take into account the function of government, the importance of separation of powers and the need to protect the legislature's appropriating power and its duty to provide as equitably as possible for the needs of all state government; and

     WHEREAS, all money collected by the state is state money; there is no such thing as "agency money" if it was raised from state taxpayers;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the legislative finance committee be requested to name a subcommittee to study the issues of earmarked funds, administrative fees kept by state agencies and other matters pertaining to state money received from the public and accounted for separately from the general fund; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the subcommittee:

          A. consider whether earmarked or other special funds should retain the income from investment of funds or the money should go to the general fund;

          B. study the revenue sources, management and efficiency of earmarked funds;

          C. assess the costs and benefits of these separate funds, including whether the need for an earmarked fund still exists;

          D. study statutory fees and state agency-created administrative fees, how they are accounted for, their uses and whether they are subject to appropriation by the legislature;

          E. assess the practice of allowing state agencies to keep and budget fees rather than depositing them in the general fund; and

          F. consider any other matter concerning earmarked funds, administrative fees and public money; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the subcommittee report to the full legislative finance committee by November 1, 2017, including recommendations for legislative action; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the chair of the legislative finance committee, the state treasurer and the secretary of finance and administration.

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