HOUSE BILL 428

56th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2023

INTRODUCED BY

Dayan Hochman-Vigil and Harry Garcia and Cathrynn N. Brown and Patricia A. Lundstrom and Jason C. Harper

AN ACT

RELATING TO TRANSPORTATION; CREATING THE TRANSPORTATION TRUST FUND, WHICH SHALL MAKE ANNUAL DISTRIBUTIONS TO THE STATE ROAD FUND FOR CERTAIN PROJECTS PRIORITIZED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION; MAKING AN APPROPRIATION.

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

     SECTION 1. [NEW MATERIAL] TRANSPORTATION TRUST FUND CREATED.--

          A. The "transportation trust fund" is created as a nonreverting fund in the state treasury. The fund consists of distributions, appropriations, gifts, grants and donations. Income from investment of the fund shall be credited to the fund. Money in the fund shall be expended only as provided in this section.

          B. The state investment officer, subject to the approval of the state investment council, shall invest money in the transportation trust fund:

                (1) in accordance with the prudent investor rule set forth in the Uniform Prudent Investor Act; and

                (2) in consultation with the state treasurer.

          C. The state investment officer shall report quarterly to the legislative finance committee and the state investment council on the investments made pursuant to this section. Annually, a report shall be submitted no later than October 1 each year to the legislative finance committee, the revenue stabilization and tax policy committee and any other appropriate interim committees.

          D. On July 1, 2024, a distribution shall be made from the transportation trust fund to the state road fund in the amount of twenty million dollars ($20,000,000) and on each July 1 thereafter, a distribution shall be made from the transportation trust fund to the state road fund in an amount equal to the greater of five percent of the average of the year-end market values of the fund for the immediately preceding three calendar years or thirty million dollars ($30,000,000). Money distributed pursuant to this subsection shall be expended only for projects prioritized by a cooperative and comprehensive process of the department of transportation that incorporates federally required performance measures and national planning goals, aligns with the department's long-range plans and addresses the multimodal needs of New Mexico's transportation customers.

          E. In addition to the distribution pursuant to Subsection D of this section, money in the transportation trust fund may be expended in the event that general fund balances, including all authorized revenues and transfers to the general fund and balances in the general fund operating reserve, the appropriation contingency fund, the tobacco settlement permanent fund, the state-support reserve fund and the tax stabilization reserve, will not meet the level of appropriations authorized from the general fund for a fiscal year. In that event, to avoid an unconstitutional deficit, the legislature may appropriate from the transportation trust fund to the general fund only in the amount necessary to meet general fund appropriations for that fiscal year and only if the legislature has authorized transfers from the appropriation contingency fund, the general fund operating reserve, the tax stabilization reserve and the tobacco settlement permanent fund that exhaust those fund balances.

     SECTION 2. APPROPRIATION.--Two hundred million dollars ($200,000,000) is appropriated from the general fund to the transportation trust fund for expenditure in fiscal year 2024 and subsequent fiscal years to provide initial funding to the fund. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of a fiscal year shall not revert to the general fund.

     SECTION 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the

provisions of this act is July 1, 2023.

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