AN ACT
RELATING TO UNCLAIMED PROPERTY;
AMENDING SECTIONS OF THE NMSA 1978 TO EXCLUDE CHILD, SPOUSAL OR MEDICAL SUPPORT
PAYMENTS FROM THE DEFINITION OF PROPERTY UNDER THE UNIFORM UNCLAIMED PROPERTY
ACT (1995).
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF
THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
Section 1. Section 7-8A-1 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1997,
Chapter 25, Section 1) is amended to read:
"7-8A-1. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Uniform
Unclaimed Property Act (1995):
(1) "administrator" means the taxation
and revenue department, the secretary of taxation and revenue or any employee
of the department who exercises authority lawfully delegated to him by the
secretary;
(2) "apparent owner" means a person
whose name appears on the records of a holder as the person entitled to
property held, issued, or owing by the holder;
(3) "business association" means a
corporation, joint stock company, investment company, partnership,
unincorporated association, joint venture, limited liability company, business
trust, trust company, land bank, safe deposit company, safekeeping depository,
financial organization, insurance company, mutual fund, utility, or other
business entity consisting of one or more persons, whether or not for profit;
(4) "domicile" means the state of
incorporation of a corporation and the state of the principal place of business
of a holder other than a corporation;
(5) "financial organization" means a
savings and loan association, building and loan association, savings bank,
industrial bank, bank, banking organization or credit union;
(6) "holder" means a person obligated
to hold for the account of, or deliver or pay to, the owner property that is
subject to the Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (1995);
(7) "insurance company" means an
association, corporation or fraternal or mutual benefit organization, whether
or not for profit, engaged in the business of providing life endowments,
annuities or insurance, including accident, burial, casualty, credit life,
contract performance, dental, disability, fidelity, fire, health,
hospitalization, illness, life, malpractice, marine, mortgage, surety, wage
protection and workers' compensation insurance;
(8) "mineral" means gas; oil; coal;
other gaseous, liquid and solid hydrocarbons; oil shale; cement material; sand
and gravel; road material; building stone; chemical raw material; gemstone;
fissionable and nonfissionable ores; colloidal and other clay; steam and other
geothermal resource; or any other substance defined as a mineral by the law of
New Mexico;
(9) "mineral proceeds" means amounts
payable for the extraction, production or sale of minerals, or, upon the
abandonment of those payments, all payments that become payable thereafter. The term includes amounts payable:
(i) for the acquisition and
retention of a mineral lease, including bonuses, royalties, compensatory
royalties, shut-in royalties, minimum royalties and delay rentals;
(ii) for the extraction,
production or sale of minerals, including net revenue interests, royalties,
overriding royalties, extraction payments and production payments; and
(iii) under an agreement or
option, including a joint operating agreement, unit agreement, pooling
agreement and farm-out agreement;
(10) "money order" includes an express
money order and a personal money order, on which the remitter is the
purchaser. The term does not include a
bank money order or any other instrument sold by a financial organization if
the seller has obtained the name and address of the payee;
(11) "owner" means a person who has a
legal or equitable interest in property subject to the Uniform Unclaimed
Property Act (1995) or the person's legal representative. The term includes a depositor in the case of
a deposit, a beneficiary in the case of a trust other than a deposit in trust
and a creditor, claimant or payee in the case of other property;
(12) "person" means an individual;
business association; financial organization; estate; trust; government;
governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality; or any other legal or
commercial entity;
(13) "property" means tangible property
described in Section 7-8A-3 NMSA 1978 or a fixed and certain interest in
intangible property that is held, issued, or owed in the course of a holder's
business, or by a government, governmental subdivision, agency, or
instrumentality, and all income or increments therefrom, but excludes child,
spousal or medical support received by the child support enforcement division
of the human services department, the New Mexico IV-D agency. The term includes property that is referred
to as or evidenced by:
(i) money, a check, draft,
deposit, interest or dividend;
(ii) credit balance, customer's
overpayment, gift certificate, security deposit, refund, credit memorandum,
unpaid wage, unused ticket, mineral proceeds or unidentified remittance;
(iii) stock or other evidence
of ownership of an interest in a business association or financial
organization;
(iv) a bond, debenture, note or
other evidence of indebtedness;
(v) money deposited to redeem
stocks, bonds, coupons or other securities or to make distributions;
(vi) an amount due and payable
under the terms of an annuity or insurance policy, including policies providing
life insurance, property and casualty insurance, workers' compensation
insurance or health and disability insurance; and
(vii) an amount distributable
from a trust or custodial fund established under a plan to provide health,
welfare, pension, vacation, severance, retirement, death, stock purchase,
profit sharing, employee savings, supplemental unemployment insurance or
similar benefits;
(14) "record" means information that is
inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other
medium and is retrievable in perceivable form;
(15) "state" means a state of the United
States, the District of Columbia, the commonwealth of Puerto Rico or any
territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United
States; and
(16) "utility" means a person who owns
or operates for public use any plant, equipment, real property, franchise, or
license for the transmission of communications or the production, storage,
transmission, sale, delivery or furnishing of electricity, water, steam or
gas."
Section 2. Section 27-2-27 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1981,
Chapter 90, Section 1, as amended) is amended to read:
"27-2-27. SINGLE STATE AGENCY--POWERS AND DUTIES.--
A. The department is designated as the single
state agency for the enforcement of child and spousal support obligations
pursuant to Title IV D of the federal act with the following duties and powers:
(1) establish the paternity of a child in the
case of the child born out of wedlock with respect to whom an assignment of
support rights has been executed in favor of the department;
(2) establish an order of support for children
receiving aid to families with dependent children and, at the option of the
department, for the spouse or former spouse with whom such children are living,
but only if a support obligation has been established with respect to such
spouse or former spouse, for whom no order of support currently exists and seek
modification, based upon the noncustodial parent's ability to pay, of existing
orders in which the support order is inadequate to properly care for the child
and the spouse or former spouse with whom the child is living;
(3) enforce as the real party in interest any
existing order for the support of children who are receiving aid to families
with dependent children or of the spouse or former spouse with whom such
children are living;
(4) provide services to non-aid families with
dependent children in the establishment and enforcement of paternity and child
support obligations, including locating the absent parent. For these services, the department is
authorized to establish and collect fees, costs and charges permitted or
required by federal law or by regulations adopted pursuant to that federal law;
and
(5) adopt regulations for the
disposition of unclaimed child, spousal or medical support payments.
B. In all cases handled by the department
pursuant to the provisions of this section, the child support enforcement
division of the department and any attorney employed by the division represent
the department in establishing, modifying and enforcing support
obligations."
HB 536
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