44th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 1999

REQUESTING THE STATE ENGINEER TO NEGOTIATE, INVESTIGATE AND CORRECT ERRORS AND OMISSIONS.

WHEREAS, the office of the state engineer has the responsibility to complete the adjudication of all water rights in New Mexico; and

WHEREAS, agriculture, ranching and domestic water use are vital to the culture, history, social structure and economy of the state and its rural communities; and

WHEREAS, a water right is private property and integral to the value, use of land and its maintenance of the social, cultural and economic stability of New Mexico's communities; and

WHEREAS, it is in the best interests of the public welfare and individual citizens of the state that the adjudication of individual water rights be completed in an expeditious and fair manner and be as accurate and free from mistakes as possible; and

WHEREAS, the acequias and community ditches represent their individual members, and these associations have a vested interest in correcting errors and omissions in the water rights of their members; and

WHEREAS, it is in the best interests of the state, its citizens and judicial economy for the office of the state engineer and acequias and community ditches to discuss and implement methods to resolve disputes or conflicts over claims of errors and omissions in the adjudication of water rights through negotiation; and

WHEREAS, there is the recognition of the adjudication courts' jurisdiction over the errors and omissions process; and

WHEREAS, it is not desirable to reopen and re-litigate every subfile for which an accepted offer of judgment has been filed or a court order entered, or that is set forth in partial final decree; however, it is appropriate to do so where errors and omissions are identified by acequia associations or individuals; and

WHEREAS, the office of the state engineer recently hired an acequia liaison to assist negotiation of errors and omissions and the local government division of the department of finance and administration recently initiated a process with acequia associations to identify errors and omissions and to cooperate with the office of the state engineer to resolve errors and omissions.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the office of the state engineer be requested to increase efforts to make its officers and employees available for out-of-court negotiation, investigation and correction of errors and omissions in the adjudication of water rights; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that in the event that, after good-faith negotiations among the parities, there are still unresolved errors and omissions that have been identified by acequias and community ditches, the office of the state engineer will not oppose the rights of acequias and acequia associations to have those errors and omissions heard on their merits before the appropriate courts; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the office of the state engineer be requested to work with acequias and community ditches to develop and implement measures to resolve errors and omissions and bring closure and finality to the adjudications in New Mexico; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the office of the state engineer.