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





SPONSOR: Aragon DATE TYPED: 3/08/99 HB
SHORT TITLE: Office of International Technical Cooperation SB 647
ANALYST: Pacheco-Perez


APPROPRIATION



Appropriation Contained
Estimated Additional Impact
Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY99 FY2000 FY99 FY2000
$ 175.0 Recurring GF

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Revenue Decreases)



Relates to HB2; Duplicates HB569

SOURCES OF INFORMATION



Commission on Higher Education (CHE)



SUMMARY



Synopsis of Bill



This bill appropriates $175.0 to the Board of Regents of the University of New Mexico for the purpose of funding the Latin American Institute.



Significant Issues



According to the CHE, the project proposed in this bill was not included in the list of eleven special project requests made by the institution.



FISCAL IMPLICATIONS



The appropriation of $175.0 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general fund. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY00 shall revert to the general fund.



CONFLICT/DUPLICATION/COMPANIONSHIP/RELATIONSHIP



This bill relates to House Bill 2. An amount of $72.9 has been included for the OITEC program which administers the Latin American Institute. This bill duplicates House Bill 569.



OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES



According to the CHE, the state higher education funding formula allows institutions to retain 100% of earned overhead on federal grants and contracts for the purpose of providing seed money and matching funds for projects such as that proposed in this bill. Of this indirect cost revenue, a portion is used to support salaries of administrative persons monitoring the contracts, utilities and other overhead expenses required to maintain the activities of the contract. However, a great deal of the indirect cost revenues is available to develop new research and public service projects as well as to expand academic departments. The revenue is unrestricted in the sense that the governing board of the institution has the flexibility to chose which projects are supported with these funds.



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