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SPONSOR: |
Duran |
DATE TYPED: |
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HB |
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SHORT TITLE: |
Amend Soil & Water Conservation Districts |
SB |
412 |
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ANALYST: |
L. Baca |
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APPROPRIATION
Appropriation
Contained |
Estimated
Additional Impact |
Recurring or
Non-Rec |
Fund Affected |
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FY03 |
FY04 |
FY03 |
FY04 |
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NFI |
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(Parenthesis
( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
Similar to HB 153aa
Responses
Received From
New
Mexico Department of Agriculture (NMDA)
Office
of the State Engineer (OSE)
New
Mexico Attorney General’s Office (AGO)
SUMMARY
Synopsis
of Bill
House Bill 153 amends
numerous sections of the Water and Soil Conservation District Act,
(73-20-25 through
73-20-48, NMSA 1978).
Significant
Issues
HB 153 “streamlines” the role and administration
of the Soil and Water Commission (SWC).
The bill expands eligibility to vote in a district election from
landowners to registered voters, clarifies the powers and duties of the of the
SWC, revises balloting procedures to allow the use of modern technology and
voting methods, removes provisions for the dissolution of districts and
standardizes the date for election of supervisors. The bill also provides that owners of
non-agricultural lands will no longer be able to petition the district to be
deleted from the district tax assessment rolls.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
HB 153 has no fiscal
impact.
ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS
According to the NMDA
analysis, SB 412 enhances SWC administration by correcting conflicting
statements in the current statute and will make administration of districts
more straightforward.
NMDA reports the bill
contains two methods for filling a vacant the unexpired term of an appointed
supervisor in 73-20-37C (pg. 20) and 70-20-38D ((pg. 23).
SB 412 Duplicates HB
153, Amend Soil and Water Conservation Districts,
and
Relates
to HB 153aa, which clarifies language pertaining to the role of SWC in
elections for supervisors and to determine district geographic boundaries.
NMDA reports that soil and water conservation
districts do not follow county lines.
Consequently the stipulation that county canvassing boards determine the
results of a district election
will require that the canvassing board be
comprised from all the counties, which constitute the district. ((73-20-38, pg.
21, line 21). NMDA recommends the bill
contain language, which allows the establishment of a canvassing board specifically
for district elections, which will represent all constituent counties in a soil
and water conservation district.
ALTERNATIVES
NMDA recommends rewording page 23, line 11, to
read:
“A
vacant unexpired term of the office of an elected supervisor shall be filled by
appointment by the remaining supervisors of the district.”
LRB/njw