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AN ACT

RELATING TO TAXATION; CREATING THE SPORTS AND RECREATION

FACILITY FINANCING ACT; PROVIDING A MECHANISM TO GENERATE

FUNDS TO DESIGN, CONSTRUCT, EQUIP, FURNISH, LANDSCAPE, OPERATE

AND MAINTAIN A SPORTS AND RECREATION FACILITY; 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

"Sports and Recreation Facility Financing Act".

Section 2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Sports and

Recreation Facility Financing Act:

A. "local governing body" means the governing body

of a qualified municipality authorized pursuant to the

provisions of the Sports and Recreation Facility Financing Act

to impose sports and recreation facility fees;

B. "lodging facility" means a hotel, motel or

motor hotel; a bed and breakfast facility; an inn; or any

other facility offering rooms for payment of rent or other

consideration;

C. "qualified municipality" means an incorporated

municipality with a population of more than one thousand but

less than one thousand one hundred that is located in a class

B county with a population of greater than fourteen thousand

but less than fifteen thousand according to the most recent

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federal decennial census;

D. "room" means a unit of a lodging facility, such

as a hotel room;

E. "sports and recreation facility fee" means the

fee imposed by a local governing body pursuant to the Sports

and Recreation Facility Financing Act on vendees for the use

of lodging facilities;

F. "vendee" means a person who rents or pays

consideration to a vendor for use of a room; and

G. "vendor" means a person or the person's agent

who furnishes rooms for occupancy for consideration.

Section 3. AUTHORIZATION--SPORTS AND RECREATION

FACILITY FEE IMPOSITION--LOCAL GOVERNING BODY.--A local

governing body may impose a sports and recreation facility fee

if the local governing body has enacted an ordinance to impose

a sports and recreation facility fee and the ordinance has

been approved by referendum as required in the Sports and

Recreation Facility Financing Act.

Section 4. IMPOSITION OF SPORTS AND RECREATION FACILITY

FEE--USE OF PROCEEDS--REFERENDUM.--

A. A local governing body may impose by ordinance

a fee on the use of a room located within a qualified

municipality. The fee may be referred to as the "sports and

recreation facility fee". The amount of the sports and

recreation facility fee shall not exceed two and four-tenths

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percent of the gross room charge for each day the room is

occupied by a vendee. The sports and recreation facility fee

shall be imposed for a period of not more than twenty years

from the effective date of the ordinance imposing the sports

and recreation facility fee.

B. An ordinance imposing the sports and recreation

facility fee shall go into effect only after a referendum on

the question of imposing the sports and recreation facility

fee is held and a majority of the qualified electors voting on

the question votes in favor of imposition of the sports and

recreation facility fee.

C. The local governing body shall adopt a

resolution calling for an election, to be held within seventy-

five days of the date the ordinance is adopted, on the

question of imposing the sports and recreation facility fee.

D. The question of imposing the sports and

recreation facility fee may be submitted to the voters as a

separate question at a general election or at a special

election called for that purpose by the local governing body.

If a special election is called, it shall be called, conducted

and canvassed in substantially the same manner as provided by

law for municipal elections. If a majority of the voters

voting on the question approves the question to impose the

sports and recreation facility fee, the ordinance shall become

effective in accordance with applicable law. If the question

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of imposing the sports and recreation facility fee fails, the

local governing body shall not again propose the imposition of

the sports and recreation facility fee for a period of one

year from the date of the election.

E. The question of imposing the sports and

recreation facility fee shall include the uses for which the

fee will be used.

F. A sports and recreation facility fee imposed

pursuant to this section shall be reviewed by the local

governing body annually.

G. A local governing body shall not decrease the

sports and recreation facility fee while revenue bonds to

which the revenue of the sports and recreation facility fee is

pledged remain outstanding.

H. A local governing body shall dedicate the

revenue from the sports and recreation facility fee at the

time that the ordinance imposing the fee is enacted and limit

the use of the revenue generated by the fee to the following:

(1) the design, construction, equipping,

furnishing, landscaping and other costs associated with the

development of a sports and recreation facility located within

the qualified municipality;

(2) payments of principal, interest or prior

redemption premiums due in connection with and any other

charges pertaining to revenue bonds authorized by the Sports

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and Recreation Facility Financing Act, including payments into

a sinking fund or reserve fund required by the revenue bond

ordinance;

(3) costs of collecting and otherwise

administering the sports and recreation facility fee; provided

that the administrative costs shall not be paid if there are

current payments due pursuant to Paragraph (2) of this

subsection, and provided that no more than ten percent of the

revenue collected in a fiscal year shall be used to pay

administrative costs;

(4) operation costs of the sports and

recreation facility designed, constructed, equipped,

furnished, landscaped or otherwise developed with funding

generated pursuant to the Sports and Recreation Facility

Financing Act; and

(5) payments into a capital reserve fund

established for the future payment for capital maintenance and

improvements and equipment replacement costs of the sports and

recreation facility located within the qualified municipality;

provided that no payments shall be made pursuant to this

paragraph if there are current payments due pursuant to

Paragraph (2) of this subsection.

Section 5. EXCEPTIONS.--The sports and recreation

facility fee shall not apply:

A. if the local governing body by ordinance

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exempts lodging facilities whose maximum daily room charge is

less than an amount stated in the ordinance;

B. to rooms at institutions of the federal

government, the state or any political subdivision of the

federal government or the state;

C. to rooms at religious, charitable, educational

or philanthropic institutions or other nonprofit

organizations, including rooms at summer camps operated by

such organizations;

D. to clinics, hospitals or other medical

facilities;

E. to privately owned and operated convalescent

homes or homes for the aged, infirm, indigent or chronically

ill; or

F. if the vendor does not offer at least three

rooms at the vendor's lodging facility.

Section 6. COLLECTION OF SPORTS AND RECREATION FACILITY

FEE.--

A. A vendor providing rooms in a qualified

municipality in which the local governing body has imposed a

sports and recreation facility fee shall collect the fee on

behalf of the local governing body and shall remit the fees

collected to the local governing body on or before the twenty-

fifth day of the month following the month in which the fees

are collected along with the occupancy tax also collected.

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B. The sports and recreation facility fee shall be

collected by a vendor from vendees as a room surcharge at the

time that rent is collected by the vendor and shall be

accounted for separately from the rent fixed by the vendor for

the rooms.

Section 7. AUDIT OF VENDORS.--A local governing body

imposing a sports and recreation facility fee shall include

verification of the collection of the correct sports and

recreation facility fee in any audit of a vendor conducted

pursuant to Section 3-38-17.1 NMSA 1978.

Section 8. FINANCIAL REPORTING.--The chief financial

officer of a local governing body assessing a sports and

recreation facility fee shall report to the local government

division of the department of finance and administration on a

quarterly basis any expenditure of sports and recreation

facility funds.

Section 9. ENFORCEMENT.--An action to enforce the

Sports and Recreation Facility Financing Act may be brought

by:

A. the municipal attorney of the qualified

municipality, or a person designated by the qualified

municipality, as approved by the local governing body; or

B. a vendor who is collecting the proceeds of a

sports and recreation facility fee in the county in which the

qualified municipality is located.

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Section 10. COLLECTION OF DELINQUENCIES.--

A. A local governing body shall by ordinance

provide that a vendor is liable for the payment of the

proceeds of sports and recreation facility fees that the

vendor failed to remit to the local governing body. Failure

of the vendor to collect the fee is not cause for the local

governing body to forgive sports and recreation facility fees

due and owed by the vendor. The ordinance shall provide for a

civil penalty for each occurrence of failure to remit sports

and recreation facility fees in the amount due. The civil

penalty shall be an amount equal to the greater of ten percent

of the amount that was not duly remitted to the local

governing body or one hundred dollars ($100).

B. The local governing body may bring an action in

the district court of the judicial district in which the

qualified municipality is located for collection of amounts

due, including, without limitation, interest on the amounts

due on the unpaid principal at a rate not exceeding one

percent per month, the costs of collection and reasonable

attorney fees incurred in connection with the court action to

collect the delinquent sports and recreation facility fees.

Section 11. LIEN FOR SPORTS AND RECREATION FACILITY FEE

PAYMENT--CERTIFICATE OF LIEN.--

A. The sports and recreation facility fee assessed

by a local governing body constitutes a lien in favor of that

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local governing body upon the personal and real property of

the vendor providing lodging facilities in that qualified

municipality. The lien may be enforced as provided in

Sections 3-36-1 through 3-36-7 NMSA 1978.

B. Under process or order of the court, a person

shall not sell the property of a vendor without first

ascertaining from the clerk or treasurer of the qualified

municipality in which the vendor is located the amount of

sports and recreation facility fees due. Sports and

recreation facility fees due to the local governing body shall

be paid from the proceeds of the sale consistent with the lien

priorities set forth in Sections 3-36-1 through 3-36-7 NMSA

1978.

C. The clerk or treasurer of the qualified

municipality shall furnish a certificate of lien to a person

applying for a certificate showing the amount of all liens in

the records of the qualified municipality against any vendor

pursuant to the Sports and Recreation Facility Financing Act.

Section 12. ORDINANCE REQUIREMENTS.--The ordinance

imposing a sports and recreation facility fee or any ordinance

amending the imposition of a sports and recreation facility

fee:

A. shall state:

(1) the rate of the sports and recreation

facility fee to be imposed;

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(2) the time, place and method for the

payment of the sports and recreation facility fee proceeds to

the local governing body;

(3) the accounts and other records to be

maintained in connection with the sports and recreation

facility fee;

(4) a procedure for making refunds and

resolving disputes relating to the sports and recreation

facility fee;

(5) the procedures for preservation,

destruction, inspection and investigation of records;

(6) vendor audit requirements;

(7) applicable civil penalties;

(8) a procedure for liens and sales to

satisfy those liens;

(9) that the ordinance is not effective

until the imposition of the sports and recreation facility fee

has been approved pursuant to a referendum in which a majority

of voters voting within the qualified municipality votes in

favor of imposition of the sports and recreation facility fee;

and

(10) that the sports and recreation facility

fee shall be imposed for a period not exceeding twenty years

from the effective date of the ordinance imposing the sports

and recreation facility fee; and

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B. shall provide other rights, privileges, powers,

immunities and details relating to the collection of the

sports and recreation facility fee and the remittance of the

proceeds of that fee to the local governing body.

Section 13. REVENUE BONDS.--

A. Revenue bonds may be issued at any time by a

qualified municipality that has imposed a sports and

recreation facility fee to defray wholly or in part the costs

authorized by the Sports and Recreation Facility Financing

Act. The revenue bonds may be payable from, and payment may

be secured by, a pledge of and lien on the revenue derived

from:

(1) the proceeds of the sports and

recreation facility fee of the qualified municipality

dedicated to the payment of revenue bonds for a sports and

recreation facility in the qualified municipality;

(2) a sports and recreation facility to

which the bonds pertain, after provision is made for the

payment of the operation and maintenance expenses of the

sports and recreation facility;

(3) that portion of the proceeds of the

occupancy tax of the qualified municipality available for

payment of revenue bonds pursuant to Section 3-38-23 NMSA

1978;

(4) any other legal available revenues of

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the qualified municipality; or

(5) a combination of revenues from the

sources designated in this subsection.

B. The bonds shall bear interest at a rate or

rates as authorized in the Public Securities Act, and the

first interest payment may be for any period authorized in the

Public Securities Act.

C. Except as otherwise provided in the Sports and

Recreation Facility Financing Act, revenue bonds authorized

pursuant to that act shall be issued in accordance with the

provisions of Sections 3-31-2 through 3-31-6 NMSA 1978.

Section 14. REFUNDING BONDS.--

A. A qualified municipality having issued revenue

bonds may issue refunding bonds payable from pledged revenues

authorized for the payment of the revenue bonds at the time of

the refunding or at the time of the issuance of the bonds

being refunded, as the local governing body may determine,

regardless of whether the revenue sources or the pledge of the

revenues or both are modified at the time of the refunding.

B. Refunding bonds may be issued for the purpose

of refinancing, paying and discharging all or a part of

outstanding bonds of one or more outstanding bond issues:

(1) for the acceleration, deceleration or

other modification of the payment of the obligations,

including capitalization of interest that is in arrears or

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about to become due for any period not exceeding one year from

the date of the refunding bonds;

(2) for the purpose of reducing interest

costs or effecting other economies;

(3) for the purpose of modifying or

eliminating restrictive contractual limitations pertaining to

the issuance of additional bonds or otherwise concerning the

outstanding bonds; or

(4) for any combination of the purposes set

forth in this subsection.

C. The interest on a bond refunded shall not be

increased to a rate in excess of the rate authorized in the

Public Securities Act and shall be paid as authorized in that

act.

D. Refunding bonds for any other purpose permitted

by the Sports and Recreation Facility Financing Act may be

issued separately or issued in combination in one series or

more.

E. Except as otherwise provided in the Sports and

Recreation Facility Financing Act, refunding bonds authorized

in that act shall be issued in accordance with the provisions

of Sections 3-31-10 and 3-31-11 NMSA 1978.

Section 15. EMERGENCY.--It is necessary for the public

peace, health and safety that this act take effect

immediately.