HOUSE BILL 589
52nd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2015
INTRODUCED BY
Patricio Ruiloba
AN ACT
RELATING TO LAW ENFORCEMENT; PROVIDING FOR A DISTRIBUTION FROM THE LAW ENFORCEMENT PROTECTION FUND TO CERTIFIED REGIONAL LAW ENFORCEMENT TRAINING FACILITIES AND THE NEW MEXICO LAW ENFORCEMENT ACADEMY FOR TRAINING.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
SECTION 1. Section 29-13-2.1 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1993, Chapter 179, Section 4, as amended) is amended to read:
"29-13-2.1. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Law Enforcement Protection Fund Act:
A. "academy" means the New Mexico law enforcement academy;
[A.] B. "division" means the local government division of the department of finance and administration;
[B.] C. "fund" means the law enforcement protection fund;
[C.] D. "governmental entity" means a municipality, university, tribe or a county;
E. "regional facility" means a certified regional law enforcement training facility within the state certified by the director of the academy pursuant to the Law Enforcement Training Act;
[D.] F. "tribal police department" means the police department of a tribe that has entered into an agreement with the department of public safety pursuant to Section 29-1-11 NMSA 1978;
[E.] G. "tribe" means an Indian nation, tribe or pueblo located wholly or partly in New Mexico; and
[F.] H. "university" means a four-year post-secondary educational institution listed in Article 12, Section 11 of the constitution of New Mexico."
SECTION 2. Section 29-13-4 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1993, Chapter 179, Section 6, as amended by Laws 2002, Chapter 78, Section 5 and by Laws 2002, Chapter 92, Section 3) is amended to read:
"29-13-4. DETERMINATION OF NEEDS AND RATE OF DISTRIBUTION.--
A. Annually on or before April 15, the division shall consider and determine the relative needs as requested by tribal, municipal and university police [and], county sheriff's departments and regional facilities for money in the fund pursuant to the provisions of Subsection C of this section.
B. As necessary during the year, the division shall transfer an amount from the [law enforcement protection] fund to the peace officers' survivors fund that enables the balance of the peace officers' survivors fund to be maintained at a minimum balance of three hundred fifty thousand dollars ($350,000).
C. The division shall determine the rate of distribution of money remaining in the fund to each tribal, municipal and university police and county sheriff's department as follows:
(1) all municipal police and county sheriff's departments shall be rated by class pursuant to this paragraph in accordance with populations established by the most recently completed decennial census; provided that the population of any county shall not include the population of any municipality within that county that has a municipal police department. The rate of distribution to which a municipal police or county sheriff's department is entitled is the following:
CLASS POPULATION AMOUNT
1 0 to 20,000 $20,000
2 20,001 to 160,000 30,000
3 160,001 to 1,280,000 40,000;
(2) university police departments shall be entitled to a rate of distribution of seventeen thousand dollars ($17,000);
(3) the academy and each regional facility shall be entitled to a rate of distribution of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000);
[(3)] (4) tribal police departments shall be entitled, unless allocations are adjusted pursuant to the provisions of Subsection [C] D of this section, to six hundred dollars ($600) for each commissioned peace officer in the tribe. To be counted as a commissioned peace officer for the purposes of this paragraph, a commissioned peace officer shall have been assigned to duty and have worked in New Mexico for no fewer than two hundred days in the calendar year immediately prior to the date of payment. Payments shall be made for only those divisions of the tribal police departments that perform services in New Mexico. [No] A tribal police department shall not be eligible for any disbursement under the fund if commissioned peace officers cite non-Indians into the tribal court for civil or criminal citations; and
[(4)] (5) municipal and university police and county sheriff's departments shall be entitled, unless allocations are adjusted pursuant to the provisions of Subsection D of this section, to six hundred dollars ($600) for each police officer or sheriff's deputy employed full time by [his] a department who has been certified by the [New Mexico law enforcement] academy as a police officer or has been authorized to act as a New Mexico peace officer pursuant to the provisions of Section 29-1-11 NMSA 1978.
D. After distributions are determined in accordance with Subsection A, Subsection B and Paragraphs (1), [and] (2) and (3) of Subsection C of this section, if the balance in the fund is insufficient to permit the total allocations provided by Paragraphs [(3)] (4) and [(4)] (5) of Subsection C of this section, the division shall reduce that allocation to the maximum amount permitted by available money."
SECTION 3. Section 29-13-5 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1983, Chapter 289, Section 5, as amended) is amended to read:
"29-13-5. DETERMINATION OF NEEDS--REVIEW.--No later than May 1 of each year, the division shall notify in writing each affected municipal police, university police, tribal police [and], county sheriff's department, regional facility and the academy of its determination of money to be distributed pursuant to the provisions of Section 29-13-4 NMSA 1978. Any affected department, regional facility or the academy may appeal that determination by filing a notice of appeal with the secretary of finance and administration no later than May 15. If an appeal is filed, the secretary of finance and administration shall review the determination of the division in an informal and summary proceeding and shall certify the result of the appeal to the division no later than June 30, and the division shall adjust its determination accordingly. If no appeal is filed, the original determination of the division shall be final and binding and not subject to further review."
SECTION 4. Section 29-13-7 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1983, Chapter 289, Section 7, as amended) is amended to read:
"29-13-7. EXPENDITURE LIMITATION--CONTROL.--
A. Except as provided for regional facilities and the academy in Subsection B of this section, amounts distributed from the fund shall be expended only for the following:
(1) the repair and purchase of law enforcement apparatus and equipment, including the financing and refinancing thereof, that meet minimum nationally recognized standards;
(2) the purchase of law enforcement equipment, including protective vests, for police dogs;
(3) expenses associated with advanced law enforcement planning and training;
(4) maintaining the balance of the peace officers' survivors fund at a minimum amount of three hundred fifty thousand dollars ($350,000);
(5) complying with match or contribution requirements for the receipt of federal funds relating to criminal justice programs; and
(6) no more than fifty percent of the replacement salaries of municipal and county law enforcement personnel of municipalities or counties rated as Class 1 in Paragraph (1) of Subsection B of Section 29-13-4 NMSA 1978 participating in basic law enforcement training.
B. For regional facilities and the academy, amounts distributed from the fund shall be expended only for providing basic, advanced or in-service law enforcement training and for the purchase of equipment directly related to that training.
[B.] C. Amounts distributed from the fund shall be expended only pursuant to approved budgets and upon duly executed vouchers approved as required by law."
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