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AN ACT

RELATING TO FINANCE; AMENDING THE STATEWIDE ECONOMIC

DEVELOPMENT FINANCE ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE NEW MEXICO FINANCE

AUTHORITY TO FORM, OPERATE OR OWN A COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

ENTITY AND OTHERWISE PARTICIPATE IN THE FEDERAL NEW MARKETS

TAX CREDIT PROGRAM.

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

Section 1. Section 6-25-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2003,

Chapter 349, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:

"6-25-3. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Statewide

Economic Development Finance Act:

A. "authority" means the New Mexico finance

authority;

B. "department" means the economic development

department;

C. "community development entity" means an entity

designed to take advantage of the federal new markets tax

credit program;

D. "economic development assistance provisions"

means the economic development assistance provisions of

Subsection D of Article 9, Section 14 of the constitution of

New Mexico;

E. "project revenue bonds" means bonds, notes or

other instruments authorized in Section 6-25-7 NMSA 1978 and

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issued by the authority pursuant to the Statewide Economic

Development Finance Act on behalf of eligible entities;

F. "economic development goal" means:

(1) assistance to rural and underserved

areas designed to increase business activity;

(2) retention and expansion of existing

business enterprises;

(3) attraction of new business enterprises;

or

(4) creation and promotion of an environment

suitable for the support of start-up and emerging business

enterprises within the state;

G. "economic development revolving fund bonds"

means bonds, notes or other instruments payable from the fund

and issued by the authority pursuant to the Statewide Economic

Development Finance Act;

H. "eligible entity" means a for-profit or not-

for-profit business enterprise, including a corporation,

limited liability company, partnership or other entity,

determined by the department to be engaged in an enterprise

that serves an economic development goal and is suitable for

financing assistance;

I. "federal new markets tax credit program" means

the tax credit program codified as Section 45D of the Internal

Revenue Code, as that section may be amended or renumbered,

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and regulations issued pursuant to that section;

J. "financing assistance" means project revenue

bonds, loans, loan participations or loan guarantees provided

by the authority to or for eligible entities pursuant to the

Statewide Economic Development Finance Act;

K. "fund" means the economic development revolving

fund;

L. "mortgage" means a mortgage, deed of trust or

pledge of any assets as a collateral security;

M. "opt-in agreement" means an agreement entered

into between the department and a qualifying county, a school

district and, if applicable, a qualifying municipality that

provides for county, school district and, if applicable,

municipal approval of a project, subject to compliance with

all local zoning, permitting and other land use rules, and for

payments in lieu of taxes to the qualifying county, school

district and, if applicable, qualifying municipality as

provided by the Statewide Economic Development Finance Act;

N. "payment in lieu of taxes" means the total

annual payment, including any state in-lieu payment, paid as

compensation for the tax impact of a project, in an amount

negotiated and determined in the opt-in agreement between the

department and the qualifying county, the school district and,

if applicable, the qualifying municipality, which payment

shall be distributed to the county, municipality and school

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district in the same proportion as property tax revenues are

normally distributed to those recipients;

O. "standard project" means land, buildings,

improvements, machinery and equipment, operating capital and

other personal property for which financing assistance is

provided for adequate consideration, taking into account the

anticipated quantifiable benefits of the standard project, for

use by an eligible entity as:

(1) industrial or manufacturing facilities;

(2) commercial facilities, including

facilities for wholesale sales and services;

(3) health care facilities, including

hospitals, clinics, laboratory facilities and related office

facilities;

(4) educational facilities, including

schools;

(5) arts, entertainment or cultural

facilities, including museums, theaters, arenas or assembly

halls; and

(6) recreational and tourism facilities,

including parks, pools, trails, open space and equestrian

facilities;

P. "project" means a standard project or a state

project;

Q. "qualifying municipality or county" means a

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municipality or county that enters into an opt-in agreement;

R. "quantifiable benefits" means a project's

advancement of an economic development goal as measured by a

variety of factors, including:

(1) the benefits an eligible entity

contracts to provide, such as local hiring quotas, job

training commitments and installation of public facilities or

infrastructure; and

(2) other benefits such as the total number

of direct and indirect jobs created by the project, total

amount of annual salaries to be paid as a result of the

project, total gross receipts and occupancy tax collections,

total property tax collections, total state corporate and

personal income tax collections and other fee and revenue

collections resulting from the project;

S. "school district" means a school district where

a project is located that is exempt from property taxes

pursuant to the Statewide Economic Development Finance Act;

T. "state in-lieu payment" means an annual

payment, in an amount determined by the department, that will

be distributed to a qualifying county, a school district and,

if applicable, a qualifying municipality in the same

proportion as property tax revenues are normally distributed

to those recipients;

U. "state project" means land, buildings or

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infrastructure for facilities to support new or expanding

eligible entities for which financing assistance is provided

pursuant to the economic development assistance provisions;

and

V. "tax impact of a project" means the annual

reduction in property tax revenue to affected property tax

revenue recipients directly resulting from the conveyance of a

project to the department."

Section 2. A new section of the Statewide Economic

Development Finance Act, Section 6-25-6.1 NMSA 1978, is

enacted to read:

"6-25-6.1. NEW MEXICO FINANCE AUTHORITY--ADDITIONAL

POWERS--FEDERAL NEW MARKETS TAX CREDIT PROGRAM.--In addition

to other powers granted to the authority, the authority may

form, operate, own or co-own one or more nonprofit or for-

profit qualified community development entities for the

purpose of participation in the federal new markets tax credit

program, and pursuant to participation in the federal new

markets tax credit program may:

A. apply for and obtain one or more allocations of

new markets tax credits;

B. market and sell qualified equity investments;

C. make qualified low-income community

investments; and

D. take all actions necessary or convenient to

carry out the purposes of the qualified community development

entity or to participate in the federal new markets tax credit

program." HB 277

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