SENATE BILL 172

50th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2012

INTRODUCED BY

Mark Boitano and Conrad D. James

AN ACT

RELATING TO PUBLIC OFFICIALS; PROHIBITING PUBLIC PROPERTY OR PUBLICLY FUNDED PROGRAMS TO BE NAMED AFTER LIVING PERSONS OR PUBLIC OFFICIALS WHILE THEY ARE IN OFFICE; REQUIRING A PROCESS FOR NAMING PUBLIC PROPERTY.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     SECTION 1. PUBLIC OFFICIALS--PROHIBITION AGAINST PUBLIC PROPERTY OR PROGRAMS BEING NAMED AFTER THEM DURING TERM OF OFFICE.--The state or any of its agencies, branches, boards, commissions, committees, institutions or instrumentalities or any political subdivision of the state, including home rule municipalities and including any of their institutions or instrumentalities, shall not name, whether officially or unofficially, any portion or the whole of real or personal public property or any publicly funded program after a public official during the public official's term of office, regardless of the funding source for the public property or program.

     SECTION 2. PUBLIC BUILDINGS AND PROGRAMS--NAMING PROCEDURES.--

          A. Public buildings are not required to be named after a person. No public building built in whole or in part with public money shall be named after or in honor of a living person.

          B. For any public building built in whole or in part with state funding, the procedures provided in this section shall apply.

          C. For a state building under the control of the property control division of the general services department, the secretary of general services shall appoint a naming committee to develop a list of at least three names for review by the secretary and the governor.

          D. For a state building under the control of the cultural affairs department, department of game and fish, department of transportation, state fair commission, state armory board, state land office, state parks division of the energy, minerals and natural resources department, public employees retirement association, educational retirement board, border authority, state educational institutions specified in Article 12, Section 11 of the constitution of New Mexico, regional education cooperatives, the public school facilities authority, the economic development department for property acquired pursuant to the Statewide Economic Development Finance Act, the judicial branch or the legislative branch, the secretary, director, board, commission or other final decision-maker shall appoint a naming committee to develop a list of at least three names for review by the final decision-maker.

          E. For a public building that is not a state building, the executive head of the political subdivision that owns the public building shall appoint a naming committee to develop a list of at least three names for review by the person designated as the final decision-maker.

          F. In developing the list, the naming committee may propose descriptive or associative names, names honoring a place, object or event or names honoring a person who made a major contribution to New Mexico history, culture, administration or development.

          G. If the naming committee considers listing a person for consideration, it shall conduct extensive research and solicit input from the state historian and community in which the public building is located.

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