0001|                    SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 7
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0002|     42ND LEGISLATURE - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - FIRST SPECIAL
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0003|     SESSION, 1996
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0004|                         INTRODUCED BY
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0005|                           JOHN PINTO
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0006|     
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0007|                                
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0008|     
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0009|     
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0010|     
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0011|                             AN ACT
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0012|     SUPPORTING THE NAVAJO NATION'S REQUEST FOR THE UNITED STATES
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0013|     CONGRESS TO INCLUDE FIVE MILLION DOLLARS ($5,000,000) IN THE
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0014|     FISCAL YEAR 1997 INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE BUDGET FOR THE PHASE III
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0015|     STAFFING OF SEVENTY-TWO FULL-TIME-EQUIVALENT EMPLOYEES FOR THE
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0016|     NORTHERN NAVAJO MEDICAL CENTER IN SHIPROCK.
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0017|     
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0018| WHEREAS, the construction of the northern Navajo medical
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0019|     center was completed in the fall of 1994, and the center opened
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0020|     for operation in February 1995, having been in the planning
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0021|     stages for many years; and
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0022|       WHEREAS, the northern Navajo medical center was funded and
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0023|     constructed to replace a smaller, crowded and old facility and
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0024|     to meet the growing demands for health and medical care in its
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0025|     service area that has a current population of forty-five
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0001|     thousand people but which is increasing annually at a rate of
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0002|     three percent; and
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0003|       WHEREAS, the northern Navajo medical center opened with the
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0004|     same level of staff as the old facility, although additional
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0005|     staff had been approved, the effect of which was to allow use of
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0006|     fifty beds out of the seventy-five available, solely due to
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0007|     staff limitations; and
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0008|       WHEREAS, the United States congress and the Indian health
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0009|     service agreed to phase in three hundred fifty-seven additional
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0010|     full-time-equivalent staff positions over three fiscal years,
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0011|     specifically 1995, 1996 and 1997; and
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0012|       WHEREAS, although funds were appropriated in fiscal year
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0013|     1995 for one hundred seventy full-time-equivalent positions and
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0014|     in fiscal year 1996 for one hundred fifteen full-time-equivalent
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0015|     employees, with current budget reductions expected within all
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0016|     federal programs, the likelihood of funding for all three
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0017|     hundred fifty-seven additional positions is minimal;
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0018|       NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE
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0019|     STATE OF NEW MEXICO that it support the Navajo nation's request
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0020|     for the United States congress to include five million dollars
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0021|     ($5,000,000) in the fiscal year 1997 Indian health service
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0022|     budget for the phase III staffing of seventy-two full-time-equivalent employees for the northern Navajo medical center in
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0023|     Shiprock; and
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0024|       BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be
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0025|     transmitted to the United States congress.
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