HOUSE BILL 232
52nd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2015
INTRODUCED BY
William "Bill" R. Rehm
AN ACT
RELATING TO LAW ENFORCEMENT; INCREASING THE DISTRIBUTIONS FROM THE LAW ENFORCEMENT PROTECTION FUND; TRANSFERRING THE BALANCE OF THE FUND TO THE PUBLIC EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT ASSOCIATION FOR THE UNFUNDED LIABILITY OF THE MUNICIPAL POLICE PLAN; DECLARING AN EMERGENCY.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
SECTION 1. Section 29-13-4 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1993, Chapter 179, Section 6, as amended by Laws 2002, Chapter 78, Section 5 and by Laws 2002, Chapter 92, Section 3) is amended to read:
"29-13-4. DETERMINATION OF NEEDS AND RATE OF DISTRIBUTION.--
A. Annually on or before April 15, the division shall consider and determine the relative needs as requested by tribal, municipal and university police and county sheriff's departments for money in the fund pursuant to the provisions of Subsection C of this section.
B. As necessary during the year, the division shall transfer an amount from the [law enforcement protection] fund to the peace officers' survivors fund that enables the balance of the peace officers' survivors fund to be maintained at a minimum balance of three hundred fifty thousand dollars ($350,000).
C. The division shall determine the rate of distribution of money remaining in the fund to each tribal, municipal and university police and county sheriff's department as follows:
(1) all municipal police and county sheriff's departments shall be rated by class pursuant to this paragraph in accordance with populations established by the most recently completed decennial census; provided that the population of any county shall not include the population of any municipality within that county that has a municipal police department. The rate of distribution to which a municipal police or county sheriff's department is entitled is the following:
CLASS POPULATION AMOUNT
1 0 to 20,000 [$20,000] $30,000
2 20,001 to 160,000 [30,000] 45,000
3 160,001 to 1,280,000 [40,000] 60,000;
(2) university police departments shall be entitled to a rate of distribution of [seventeen thousand dollars ($17,000)] twenty-five thousand five hundred dollars ($25,500);
(3) tribal police departments shall be entitled, unless allocations are adjusted pursuant to the provisions of Subsection [C] D of this section, to [six hundred dollars ($600)] nine hundred dollars ($900) for each commissioned peace officer in the tribe. To be counted as a commissioned peace officer for the purposes of this paragraph, a commissioned peace officer shall have been assigned to duty and have worked in New Mexico for no fewer than two hundred days in the calendar year immediately prior to the date of payment. Payments shall be made for only those divisions of the tribal police departments that perform services in New Mexico. [No] A tribal police department shall not be eligible for any disbursement under the fund if commissioned peace officers cite non-Indians into the tribal court for civil or criminal citations; and
(4) municipal and university police and county sheriff's departments shall be entitled, unless allocations are adjusted pursuant to the provisions of Subsection D of this section, to [six hundred dollars ($600)] nine hundred dollars ($900) for each police officer or sheriff's deputy employed full time by [his] the deputy's department who has been certified by the New Mexico law enforcement academy as a police officer or has been authorized to act as a New Mexico peace officer pursuant to the provisions of Section 29-1-11 NMSA 1978.
D. After distributions are determined in accordance with [Subsection A, Subsection B and Paragraphs (1) and (2) of Subsection] Subsections B and C of this section, if the balance in the fund is insufficient to permit the total allocations provided by Paragraphs (3) and (4) of Subsection C of this section, the division shall reduce that allocation to the maximum amount permitted by available money."
SECTION 2. TEMPORARY PROVISION--TRANSFER OF LAW ENFORCEMENT PROTECTION FUND BALANCE TO THE EMPLOYER'S ACCUMULATION FUND OF THE PUBLIC EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT ASSOCIATION.--The provisions of Section 29-13-3 NMSA 1978 notwithstanding, for fiscal year 2016, any balance of the law enforcement protection fund on June 30, 2016, after distributions and the required one-hundred-thousand-dollar ($100,000) set aside, shall be transferred by the state treasurer to the employer's accumulation fund of the public employees retirement association to reduce the unfunded liability of the municipal police division within the association's total fund. No part of the transferred balance shall be used to offset either an employer's or an employee's contribution.
SECTION 3. EMERGENCY.--It is necessary for the public peace, health and safety that this act take effect immediately.
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