Contact: Erika Martinez
(505)986-4263
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 18, 2014
Lottery Solvency Bill Passes Senate Floor
Santa Fe, NM – Senate Bill 347 (SB 347) has passed the Senate Floor and continues to gain momentum as it heads to the House for a vote. The bill is one of several proposed bills introduced this session aiming to resolve New Mexico’s Lottery Scholarship solvency issue. SB 347 creates a recurring revenue source for the scholarship fund.
Lottery ticket sales have declined and university tuition has risen, thus resulting in depleting funds, which could rob current and future students the assistance they may need to continue or begin their higher education. The bill appropriates $11 million from the general fund that should provide sufficient funding to cover 100 percent of tuition for the current academic year. The budget, passed earlier today by the Senate, added $11.5 million to the budget for fiscal year 2015.
A 39 percent diversion of liquor excise taxes will be implemented for fiscal year 2016. The diversion does not affect distribution to DWI local programs and is not a tax increase. The $18.5 million that will be generated annually as a result of the diversion would have otherwise gone into the state’s general fund.
Under the bill, students will be eligible for the lottery scholarship for seven semesters instead of eight, except for current juniors and seniors; full funding will be available for incoming freshmen and sophomores; students must take 15 hours per semester, except legacy and community college students who can take 12 hours; any necessary reductions will be uniformly and proportionately applied to non-legacy juniors and seniors (semesters 4 through 7) according to 3 types of institutions (research, comprehensive, and community college); and GPA qualifications will continue to stay at 2.5.
“Obtaining a higher education is one of the single most important steps that anyone can take on their way to securing a future in the workforce,” said Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez (D-29-Bernalillo &Valencia). “I whole-heartedly believe that this scholarship is vital to New Mexico’s students and I will continue to advocate for them as they are the future of New Mexico’s economic stability.”
Currently, about 14,000 New Mexico college students depend on the lottery scholarships and more than 90,000 have been recipients of the scholarship since the program started back in 1996.
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