45th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2002

RELATING TO ADULT SERVICES; ENACTING THE SENIOR TRUST ACT; CREATING THE SENIOR CITIZEN AND DISABLED ADULT TRUST FUND; MAKING APPROPRIATIONS; DECLARING AN EMERGENCY.

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

Section 1. SHORT TITLE.--This act may be cited as the "Senior Trust Act".

Section 2. LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS.--The legislature finds that:

A. the settlement between the Indian gaming nations, tribes and pueblos in New Mexico and the state to resolve the issues in State of New Mexico v. Jicarilla Apache Tribe has provided the state with a nonrecurring distribution to the general fund of close to ninety million dollars ($90,000,000); and

B. the population of senior citizens will increase substantially as more of the "baby-boomer" generation enter their fifties and soon enter their sixties, increasing the demand for services and funding and requiring that a plan be established now to ensure that adequate funding is available to serve the needs of this burgeoning population.

Section 3. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Senior Trust Act:

A. "corpus" means the part of the fund that is not appropriated to the state agency on aging for distribution or use pursuant to the provisions of the Senior Trust Act comprised of appropriations to the fund from the legislature, donations, grants, bequests, unexpended or unencumbered balances from previous fiscal years or earnings that are not current fiscal year earnings; and

B. "fund" means the senior citizen and disabled adult trust fund.

Section 4. FUND--CREATION--PURPOSE.--

A. The "senior citizen and disabled adult trust fund" is created in the state treasury as a permanent trust fund.

B. The purpose of the fund is to provide money to the state agency on aging to develop and operate programs and services to benefit senior citizens and disabled adults who are residents of New Mexico by providing grants to area agencies on aging to implement programs, including senior citizen center meal programs, homebound meal programs, senior grandparent programs, senior volunteer programs, retired senior volunteer programs, adult daycare programs, in-home health care programs, respite care and independent living support services, and by providing grants to other programs that provide services to senior citizens or disabled adults.

C. The money appropriated and available for use by the state agency on aging from the fund pursuant to the Senior Trust Act shall not supplant annual appropriations from the legislature to fund senior programs, the state agency on aging or programs for disabled adults.

D. No money in the fund shall be expended for capital improvements or capital projects.

Section 5. FUND--ADMINISTRATION--APPROPRIATIONS.--

A. The fund shall be administered by the state agency on aging.

B. Donations, grants and bequests from private sources and grants from other government sources for programs and services for senior citizens and disabled adults shall be deposited in the fund.

C. Interest and other earnings from investment of the money in the fund shall be credited to the fund.

D. Unexpended or unencumbered balances in the fund shall not be transferred to the general fund, but shall be included in the corpus of the fund on June 30 of each fiscal year. Earnings credited to the fund and ten percent of the corpus of the fund on June 30 of any year are appropriated to the state agency on aging to be used in the following fiscal year for purposes set forth in the Senior Trust Act.

E. No more than ten percent of the earnings received from investment of the fund in a fiscal year may be used in the following fiscal year by the state agency on aging for administration of the fund and to administer programs and services receiving grants from the fund.

F. Disbursements from the fund shall be made only upon warrants drawn by the secretary of finance and administration pursuant to vouchers signed by the director of the state agency on aging.

Section 6. APPROPRIATION.--Twenty-five million dollars ($25,000,000) is appropriated from the general fund to the senior citizen and disabled adult trust fund for expenditure in fiscal year 2002 and subsequent fiscal years for the purpose of establishing the corpus of that fund in the state treasury. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of a fiscal year shall not revert to the general fund.

Section 7. EMERGENCY.--It is necessary for the public peace, health and safety that this act take effect immediately.