HOUSE BILL 386
53rd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2017
INTRODUCED BY
Patricio Ruiloba and William "Bill" R. Rehm and Sander Rue
AN ACT
RELATING TO LAW ENFORCEMENT; PROVIDING FOR A DISTRIBUTION FROM THE LAW ENFORCEMENT PROTECTION FUND TO THE LAW ENFORCEMENT TRAINING AND RECRUITING FUND FOR USE BY THE NEW MEXICO LAW ENFORCEMENT ACADEMY TO SUPPORT LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES STATEWIDE WITH PLANNING, TRAINING, EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES; MAKING AN APPROPRIATION.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
SECTION 1. Section 29-7-12 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1981, Chapter 114, Section 12, as amended) is amended to read:
"29-7-12. CHARGES--FUND CREATED--USE.--
A. The division shall not charge local public bodies or New Mexico Indian tribes or pueblos for any expenses associated with providing basic law enforcement training programs to applicants for certification seeking commission pursuant to the provisions of the Law Enforcement Training Act. The division may charge state agencies and institutions and federal agencies and shall charge civilian participants for the cost of providing basic law enforcement training programs, which charges shall be specified in a tuition and fee schedule promulgated by the board and shall not exceed the actual cost of providing the training programs.
B. The division may charge state agencies and institutions, local public bodies, New Mexico Indian tribes and pueblos and federal agencies and shall charge civilian participants for the cost of providing advanced training programs, which charges shall be specified in a tuition and fee schedule promulgated by the board and shall not exceed the actual cost of providing the training programs.
C. The division may charge for the rental or other use of the academy's facility, personnel and equipment, which charges shall be specified in a tuition and fee schedule promulgated by the board and shall not exceed the actual cost of the facility, personnel or equipment.
D. The "law enforcement training and recruiting fund" is created in the state treasury. Money received by the division for activities specified in this section and distributions from Section 29-13-6 NMSA 1978 shall be deposited in the fund. The department of public safety shall administer the fund, and money in the fund is appropriated to the division to offset the operational costs of the division, except that money distributed to the fund from the law enforcement protection fund pursuant to Section 29-13-6 NMSA 1978 shall be accounted for separately and used on a statewide basis only for planning, training, equipment and supply purposes as provided in Paragraphs (1) through (3) of Subsection A of Section 29-13-7 NMSA 1978. Money in the fund shall be nonreverting. Money shall be expended on warrants issued by the secretary of finance and administration upon vouchers signed by the secretary of public safety or the secretary of public safety's authorized representative.
E. As used in this section, "local public body" means all political subdivisions of the state and their agencies, instrumentalities and institutions."
SECTION 2. Section 29-13-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1983, Chapter 289, Section 2, as amended) is amended to read:
"29-13-2. PURPOSE OF ACT.--The purpose of the Law Enforcement Protection Fund Act is to provide for the equitable distribution of money to municipal police, university police, tribal police and county sheriff's departments for use in the maintenance and improvement of those departments in order to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of law enforcement services, to provide resources for planning, training, equipment and supplies to the academy to support law enforcement agencies statewide and to sustain at a reasonable level the payments available to the surviving eligible family members of a peace officer killed in the line of duty."
SECTION 3. 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 the academy, a municipality, university, tribe or a county;
[D.] E. "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.] F. "tribe" means an Indian nation, tribe or pueblo located wholly or partly in New Mexico; and
[F.] G. "university" means a four-year post-secondary educational institution listed in Article 12, Section 11 of the constitution of New Mexico."
SECTION 4. 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 the academy and tribal, municipal and university police and county sheriff's departments 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', New Mexico mounted patrol members' and reserve police officers' survivors fund that enables the balance of the peace officers', New Mexico mounted patrol members' and reserve police 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) 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) 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, or by a regional law enforcement training facility in the state certified by the director of the 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) of Subsection C of this section, if the balance in the fund is insufficient to permit the total allocations provided by Paragraphs (3) and (4) of Subsection C of this section, the division shall reduce that allocation to the maximum amount permitted by available money.
E. After distributions are determined in accordance with Subsection A, Subsection B and Paragraphs (1) and (2) of Subsection C of this section, if no reduction in allocation is required pursuant to Subsection D of this section and there is a balance in the fund in excess of five million one hundred thousand dollars ($5,100,000), the academy shall be entitled to a distribution of two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) from the excess money or as much of that amount as is permitted by available excess money."
SECTION 5. 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 the academy and each affected municipal police, university police, tribal police and county sheriff's department of its determination of money to be distributed pursuant to the provisions of Section 29-13-4 NMSA 1978. Any affected [department] governmental entity 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 6. Section 29-13-6 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1983, Chapter 289, Section 6, as amended by Laws 2002, Chapter 78, Section 6 and by Laws 2002, Chapter 92, Section 4) is amended to read:
"29-13-6. DISTRIBUTION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT PROTECTION FUND.--
A. Annually on or before July 31, the state treasurer shall distribute from the fund the amounts certified by the division to be distributed to governmental entities and [the transfer shall distribute money from the law enforcement protection fund] to the peace officers', New Mexico mounted patrol members' and reserve police officers' survivors fund as required in Section 29-13-4 NMSA 1978. Payments shall be made to the treasurer of the appropriate governmental entity or fund, and in the case of the academy to the law enforcement training and recruiting fund, unless otherwise specified in Subsection C of this section.
B. The state treasurer is authorized to redirect a distribution to the New Mexico finance authority in an amount certified by the division, pursuant to an ordinance or a resolution passed by the municipality or county and a written agreement of the municipality or county and the New Mexico finance authority.
C. Annually on or before July 31, the state treasurer shall distribute from the money in the fund money certified by the division to be distributed to tribes. Payment shall be made to the chief financial officer of the tribe. If necessary, the fund may be decreased below the level of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) to enable payment to the tribes. If insufficient money remains in the fund to fully compensate the tribes, a report shall be made to the [New Mexico office of] Indian affairs department and to an appropriate interim committee of the legislature that reviews issues having impact on tribes by September 1 of the year of the shortfall."
SECTION 7. 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 for the academy to which only Paragraphs (1) through (3) of this subsection apply, amounts distributed from the fund shall be expended only for the following:
(1) the repair and purchase of law enforcement apparatus and equipment and supplies, 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', New Mexico mounted patrol members' and reserve police 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] C of Section 29-13-4 NMSA 1978 participating in basic law enforcement training.
B. Amounts distributed from the fund shall be expended only pursuant to approved budgets and upon duly executed vouchers approved as required by law."
SECTION 8. Section 29-13-9 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1983, Chapter 289, Section 9, as amended) is amended to read:
"29-13-9. EXPENDITURES OF MONEY DISTRIBUTED FROM THE LAW ENFORCEMENT PROTECTION FUND--WRONGFUL EXPENDITURE.--
A. Amounts distributed from the fund shall be expended only for the specific purposes for which they are distributed and shall not be distributed for accumulation, except as provided for the peace officers', New Mexico mounted patrol members' and reserve police officers' survivors fund and the law enforcement training and recruiting fund.
B. Any person who expends or directs or permits the expenditure of any money distributed from the fund for purposes other than those expressly authorized by the Law Enforcement Protection Fund Act shall be personally liable to the state for the amount of money wrongfully expended and interest and costs. An action to recover the amount of any wrongful expenditure may be commenced by the attorney general or the district attorney upon the filing with that officer of a verified statement describing the wrongful expenditure."
SECTION 9. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 2017.
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