N.M. Code R. § 5.3.5.12 – Research, Public Service, and Other Special Projects

A. Line item appropriations will be recommended where appropriate for research, public service and certain other activities. In general, calculations of these recommendations will be based on justified expenditures to maintain a desirable level of program activity, minus income other than appropriations. Proposed expansion of programs or initiation of new programs will be evaluated on the basis of specific written justification. New programs, if recommended by the commission, will be submitted as separate line item appropriations requests.
B. The commission on higher education must determine when it is appropriate to recommend the expansion of existing research, public service and other special projects and the establishment of new ones. New projects should be established to meet identified statewide needs upon a finding that one of the state’s higher education institutions can most effectively meet the need. Proposed expansion must also be intended to meet identified statewide needs effectively and efficiently. All possible sources of funding should be explored before a request for state funding is made.
C. Once established, research, public service and other special projects should be subject to periodic review to determine the ongoing need for the project and the effectiveness of the project in meeting the need. Likewise, the relationship of each project to the institutional and, when appropriate, statewide priority needs should be periodically established.
D. Existing Projects:
(1) The budget of each project shall be separately identified and reported on forms provided by the commission.
(2) Each project shall be subject to a review by the commission at least once every four years. This review shall include a hearing before the commission. The hearing shall include a presentation by an institutional representative on the activities of the project, and a presentation by the commission staff of the staff findings of the review of the project. On the basis of the hearing, the commission shall decide whether or not to recommend an ongoing state appropriation for the project.
(3) Projects that receive significant revenues from sources other than the state general fund shall be evaluated using the base contribution methodology. The state contribution is considered "seed" money to encourage the continuation of the project. However, specific projects may be evaluated using an alternative method where more appropriate.
E. New projects or requests to expand existing projects:
(1) All requests for new or expanded projects shall be submitted to the commission by September 15. Each request shall include a description of the project or expansion, a statement of the need for the project or expansion, a description of alternative funding sources which were considered and a proposed budget. Each new project or expansion request should also state whether the project is to be ongoing or for a specified period of time.
(2) All new project and expansion requests from an institution shall be reported in priority order by the institution.
(3) All new projects and expansion requests will be reported to the commission for review. commission staff will prepare a summary report of the requests for consideration by the commission's finance committee. The finance committee will prepare a list of recommended projects in priority order and will report its findings to the full commission.
(4) The commission will recommend individual projects to the legislature and the executive in priority order as a part of the commissions overall funding recommendations for higher education.
[9/21/84, 6/28/85, 12/31/98; Recompiled 10/31/01]