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.166280.1

SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 22

48

TH LEGISLATURE

- STATE OF NEW MEXICO -

FIRST SESSION

, 2007

INTRODUCED BY

Shannon Robinson

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING A STUDY OF INCLUDING TRIBAL LAW ENFORCEMENT, FIRE

DEPARTMENTS AND OTHER FIRST RESPONDER DEPARTMENTS AS PUBLIC

EMPLOYERS IN THE PUBLIC EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT SYSTEM.

WHEREAS, at this time, tribal governments are not included

as public employers qualified to join the public employees

retirement association; and

WHEREAS, as a result, tribal public safety officers are

not employees who are included in the Public Employees

Retirement Act; and

WHEREAS, tribal public safety operations have become a

training ground for individuals because higher net pay from

state or local police or firefighting agencies that do provide

benefits through the Public Employees Retirement Act lure

tribal public safety officers away from tribal employment; and

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.166280.1

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WHEREAS, the inequity of pay and benefits impacts every

tribal community's ability to recruit and retain first

responders, and also has an impact on the morale of tribal

community law enforcement officers, firefighters and other

first responders who respond immediately to state and local

needs on a regular basis through established mutual aid

agreements; and

WHEREAS, tribal first responders work shoulder-to-shoulder

with state and local responders in the harshest of conditions

and perform the same duties but do not enjoy the same benefits,

such as the retirement program that state law enforcement

officers enjoy through membership in the public employees

retirement association; and

WHEREAS, allowing tribal police, firefighters and other

first responders to be included in the public employees

retirement association programs would encourage employees to

remain employed by tribes and give the tribes a fighting chance

to recruit and compete for these employees; and

WHEREAS, state law would have to be changed to permit

tribal law enforcement departments, fire departments and

emergency medical services to join the public employees

retirement association; and

WHEREAS, in 2004, the state of Arizona adopted legislation

allowing tribal law enforcement departments to participate in

its state public safety personnel retirement system; and

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.166280.1

WHEREAS, the Arizona legislation has benefited not only

tribal public service personnel, but the state of Arizona as

well, by ensuring that there are law enforcement, firefighting

and emergency medical services personnel in the most rural and

remote areas of the state;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE

STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the public employees retirement

association be requested to determine the feasibility,

including costs and benefits, of including tribal law

enforcement, tribal fire departments and other tribal first

responder agencies as public employers in the public employees

retirement association and report its findings and

recommendations for legislation to the second session of the

forty-eighth legislature; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be

transmitted to the governors of the nineteen pueblos in New

Mexico, the president of the Navajo Nation, the president of

the Jicarilla Apache Nation, the president of the Mescalero

Apache Tribe and the executive director of the public employees

retirement association.

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