46th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2003
AN ACT
RELATING TO PUBLIC FINANCE; AMENDING THE HOSPITAL FUNDING ACT AND STATUTES RELATING TO THE FINANCES OF STATE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS; DECLARING AN EMERGENCY.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
Section 1. Section 4-48B-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1981, Chapter 83, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:
"4-48B-3. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Hospital Funding Act:
A. "another political subdivision" means a political subdivision of New Mexico, including a municipality and a special hospital district organized under the Special Hospital District Act, but not including a county;
B. "class A county" means a county having a population of more than two hundred thousand persons according to the last federal decennial census;
C. "contracting hospital" means a hospital located in New Mexico that enters into a health care facilities contract with a county or counties or another political subdivision;
D. "county" means any county of the state [except a
class A county];
E. "county commissioners" means the board of county commissioners of a county;
F. "county hospital" means a hospital owned by a county;
G. "health care facilities contract" means an agreement between a hospital and a county or counties, or between a hospital and a county or counties and another political subdivision, that provides for the payment by the county or counties of all or a portion of the proceeds of a mill levy to the hospital in exchange for the agreement by the hospital to use the funds only for nonsectarian purposes and to make available the following for the sick of the county or counties:
(1) hospital facilities that admit and treat patients without regard to race, sex, religion or national origin;
(2) hospital facilities that include x-ray, laboratory services and a pharmacy or drug room;
(3) adequate emergency equipment, personnel and procedures, including:
(a) a standby emergency power system;
(b) at least one person capable and authorized to initiate immediate lifesaving measures;
(c) facilities for emergency laboratory work, including, as a minimum, urinalysis, complete blood count, blood type and cross match; and
(d) diagnostic radiographic facilities;
(4) facilities, procedures and policies for prevention, control and reporting of communicable diseases, including one or more rooms for isolation of patients having or suspected of having communicable diseases;
(5) adequate records, including, as a minimum, a daily census and a register of all births, deliveries, deaths, admissions, emergency room admissions, discharges, operations, outpatients, inpatients and narcotics; and
(6) physical facilities, personnel, equipment
and procedures that comply with the regulations promulgated by
the public health division of the [health and environment]
department of health;
H. "hospital governing board" means the board that governs a county hospital or the board of directors or trustees of a contracting hospital;
I. "mill levy" means the rate of the tax, at a rate specified in the Hospital Funding Act, in terms of dollars per thousand dollars of net taxable value of property subject to taxation within the county;
J. "municipality" means any city, town or village incorporated under a general act, special act or special charter; and
K. "equipping" or "re-equipping" means purchase or
lease of property of a character subject to the allowance for
depreciation under Section 167 of the Internal Revenue Code of
[1954 Section 167] 1986, as amended or renumbered, and
regulations promulgated [thereunder] in accordance with that
section."
Section 2. Section 4-48B-12 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1981, Chapter 83, Section 12, as amended) is amended to read:
"4-48B-12. TAX LEVIES AUTHORIZED.--
A. The county commissioners are authorized to
impose a mill levy and collect annual assessments against the
net taxable value of the property in a county to pay the cost
of operating and maintaining county hospitals or to pay to
contracting hospitals in accordance with a health care
facilities contract and in class A counties to pay for the
county's transfer to the county-supported medicaid fund
pursuant to Section [4 of the Statewide Health Care Act]
27-10-4 NMSA 1978 as follows:
(1) in class A counties as defined in Section
4-44-1 NMSA 1978, the mill levy shall not exceed a rate of six
dollars fifty cents ($6.50), or any lower maximum amount
required by operation of the rate limitation provisions of
Section 7-37-7.1 NMSA 1978 upon a mill levy imposed pursuant to
this paragraph, on each one thousand dollars ($1,000) of net
taxable value of property allocated to the county; however, if
the county uses any portion, not to exceed one dollar fifty
cents ($1.50), of the rate authorized by this paragraph to meet
the requirement of Section [4 of the Statewide Health Care Act]
27-10-4 NMSA 1978, the provisions of Section 7-37-7.1 NMSA 1978
do not apply to the portion of the rate necessary to produce
the revenues required, provided that the portion of the rate
does not exceed one dollar fifty cents ($1.50); and
(2) in other counties, the mill levy shall not exceed four dollars twenty-five cents ($4.25), or any lower maximum amount required by operation of the rate limitation provisions of Section 7-37-7.1 NMSA 1978 upon a mill levy imposed pursuant to this paragraph, on each one thousand dollars ($1,000) of net taxable value of property allocated to the county.
B. The mill levies provided in Paragraphs (1) and
(2) of Subsection A of this section shall be made at the
direction of the county commissioners, but only to the extent
that the county commissioners deem it necessary to operate and
maintain county hospitals, to pay the amounts required in the
performance of any health care facilities contracts made
pursuant to the Hospital Funding Act and to provide for a class
A county's transfer to the county-supported medicaid fund
pursuant to Section [4 of the Statewide Health Care Act]
27-10-4 NMSA 1978.
C. In the event that the mill levy provided for in
Paragraph (1) of Subsection A of this section is not authorized
by the electorate [and] or the resulting mill levy proceeds are
not remitted to the entity operating the hospital within a
reasonable time period, any lease for operation of the hospital
between a county and a state educational institution named in
Article 12, Section 11 of the constitution of New Mexico
[shall] may, at the option of the state educational
institution, be terminated immediately. Except as provided in
Subsection D of this section, in the event that the mill levy
provided for in Paragraph (1) of Subsection A of this section
is authorized, an amount not less than the amount that would be
produced by a mill levy at the rate of four dollars ($4.00), or
any lower amount that would be required by operation of the
rate limitation provisions of Section 7-37-7.1 NMSA 1978 upon
this rate, on each one thousand dollars ($1,000) of net taxable
value of property allocated to the county shall be provided
from the proceeds of the mill levy to the state educational
institution operating the hospital for hospital purposes unless
the institution determines that the amount is not necessary.
D. A class A county imposing the mill levy provided
for in Paragraph (1) of Subsection A of this section may enter
into a mutual agreement with a state educational institution
named in Article 12, Section 11 of the constitution of New
Mexico operating the hospital permitting the transfer to the
county-supported medicaid fund by the county pursuant to
Section [4 of the Statewide Health Care Act] 27-10-4 NMSA 1978
of not to exceed the amount that would be produced by a mill
levy at a rate of one dollar fifty cents ($1.50) applied to the
net taxable value of property allocated to the county for the
prior property tax year and also not to exceed the amount that
would be produced by imposition of the county health care gross
receipts tax.
E. The distribution of the mill levy authorized at the rates specified in Subsection A of this section shall be made to county and contracting hospitals as authorized in the Hospital Funding Act."
Section 3. Section 6-17-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1939, Chapter 177, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:
"6-17-3. CONDITIONS OF INCOME-PRODUCING PROJECT BONDS.--[Such] County, independent rural, union high and municipal
boards of education or boards of regents may issue bonds or
other evidence of indebtedness for the securing of the
repayment of any and all money as borrowed, which shall not run
for a longer period than forty years from their date and which
shall bear interest at a rate not to exceed a net of six
percent per [annum] year, interest payable semiannually, and
which bonds or other evidence of indebtedness shall irrevocably
pledge for the prompt payment of the principal and interest
thereof, as and when due and payable, the net income from any
[such] dormitory, auditorium, dining hall, refectory, stadium,
swimming pool or any type of building, improvement or facility
or any group of buildings, improvements or facilities for the
purchase, erection, alteration, improvement, repair, furnishing
or equipment of which [such] the money is borrowed. The form
of [such] the bonds or other evidence of indebtedness, the time
for which same shall run and times when payment of principal
thereof shall be made, which shall be in yearly amounts as to
payment of principal beginning not later than two years from
and after the time when [such] the money is borrowed and
continuing to the end of the time for which the same shall run,
and the manner and amount for which the same shall be sold and
whether to be sold at public or private sale and the amount
which is to be so borrowed for each specific purpose shall be
approved by the state board of finance [of the state of New
Mexico] or the state board of education in the case of county,
independent rural, union high and municipal boards of
education. Despite anything elsewhere contained in this [act]
article, any such bonds may be sold at any price which does not
result in an actual net interest cost to maturity, computed on
the basis of standard tables of bond values, in excess of six
percent.
[Such] County, independent rural, union high and municipal
[board] boards of education or boards of regents [is] are
hereby further authorized to execute a purchase-money mortgage
or deed of trust or other security instrument constituting a
purchase-money mortgage to further secure payment of any bonds
issued under the provisions of this [act] article for the
purchase of any income-producing property. [Such] The
purchase-money mortgage, deed of trust or other security
instrument constituting a purchase-money mortgage shall limit
the mortgagee for the satisfaction of the indebtedness secured
solely to the property subject to the [said] purchase-money
mortgage, deed of trust or other security instrument.
The terms and conditions of any [such] purchase-money
mortgage, deed of trust or other security instrument
constituting a purchase-money mortgage herein authorized shall
be approved by the state board of finance [of the state of New
Mexico] in the case of a board of regents or by the state board
of education in the case of a [county, independent rural, union
high or municipal] board of education.
A state educational institution operating a county hospital pursuant to the Hospital Funding Act may, in connection with the issuance of bonds in accordance with the provisions of this article, execute a mortgage, deed of trust or other security instrument covering the state educational institution's ownership or leasehold interest in all or any part of the county hospital and other related health care facilities operated by the state educational institution to further secure payment of bonds issued under the provisions of this article to finance or refinance the purchase, erection, expansion, alteration, improvement, repair, furnishing or equipping of such county hospital or other related health care facilities. The mortgage, deed of trust or security instrument shall limit the right of the mortgagee or other secured party to seek a deficiency judgment against the state educational institution."
Section 4. Section 6-17-12 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1939, Chapter 177, Section 11, as amended) is amended to read:
"6-17-12. DEBT AGAINST STATE NOT TO BE CREATED BY INCOME-PRODUCING PROJECT BONDS.--No obligation created [hereunder]
under this article shall ever be or become a charge or debt
against the state [of New Mexico], but all such obligations,
including principal and interest, shall be payable solely from
the net income derived from the buildings, facilities and
improvements as in this [act] article specified; provided,
however, that:
A. any purchase-money mortgage, deed of trust or
other security instrument constituting a purchase-money
mortgage may be foreclosed against [said] the buildings,
facilities or improvements so pledged without the right to a
deficiency judgment; and
B. any mortgage, deed of trust or other security instrument given by a state educational institution operating a county hospital pursuant to the Hospital Funding Act may be foreclosed against the buildings, facilities or improvements so pledged without the right to a deficiency judgment."
Section 5. EMERGENCY.--It is necessary for the public
peace, health and safety that this act take effect immediately.