HOUSE LOCAL GOVERNMENT, ELECTIONS, LAND GRANTS AND CULTURAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR

HOUSE BILL 205

53rd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2017

AN ACT

RELATING TO RURAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT; ENACTING THE VACANT RURAL BUILDING ACT; DIRECTING THE ADOPTION OF A BUILDING CODE VARIANCE PROCEDURE APPLICABLE TO THE OCCUPANCY OF A VACANT COMMERCIAL BUILDING BY A SMALL BUSINESS THAT WILL REDUCE COMPLIANCE COSTS, ENCOURAGE RURAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND PROTECT PUBLIC SAFETY; PROVIDING POWERS AND DUTIES.

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

     SECTION 1. [NEW MATERIAL] SHORT TITLE.--This act may be cited as the "Vacant Rural Building Act".

     SECTION 2. [NEW MATERIAL] DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Vacant Rural Building Act:

          A. "commission" means the construction industries commission;

          B. "division" means the construction industries division of the regulation and licensing department;

          C. "rural municipality" means an incorporated city, town or village, whether incorporated under general act, special act or special charter, having fifty thousand or fewer inhabitants as of the last federal decennial census;

          D. "small business" means a for-profit or not-for-profit business entity, including its affiliates, that is independently owned and operated and employs fifty or fewer full-time employees; and

          E. "vacant commercial building" means a building used primarily for commercial purposes that has not been occupied for three or more months.

     SECTION 3. [NEW MATERIAL] COMMISSION, DIVISION AND RURAL MUNICIPALITY POWERS AND DUTIES.--

          A. By or before January 1, 2018, the commission and division or the governing body of a rural municipality may adopt rules to:

                (1) provide a procedure to grant a variance from strict compliance with building code requirements for vacant commercial buildings, as issued by the division, that have no impact on the safe use and occupancy of a vacant commercial building by a small business if the circumstances of the occupancy make strict compliance with code requirements impossible, impracticable or infeasible, including consideration for the financial cost of strict compliance;

                (2) require a property owner or small business intending to occupy a vacant commercial building in a rural municipality to remedy only those conditions in the vacant commercial building that are determined by a state or local code official to affect life and safety; and

                (3) provide for certification that a small business's new occupancy of a vacant commercial building in a rural municipality qualifies for and is subject to the rules adopted pursuant to the Vacant Rural Building Act.

          B. In developing the rules required by Subsection A of this section, the commission and division or the governing body of a rural municipality and the certified building official of the rural municipality shall consider:

                (1) the standards and compliance requirements applicable to historic buildings pursuant to the 2015 New Mexico Existing Building Code as a model for compliance requirements applicable to the occupancy of a vacant commercial building in a rural municipality by a small business; and

                (2) building code compliance costs to small businesses in bringing vacant commercial buildings in rural municipalities up to code and, insofar as practicable, make efforts to reduce such costs.

          C. Nothing in this section shall be interpreted to undermine the division's or a rural municipality's duty to promote the general welfare of the people of New Mexico by providing for the protection of life and property.

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