The proposed legislation, known as the "Land Grant-Merced and Acequia Infrastructure Act," establishes a framework for funding infrastructure projects related to land grants and acequias in New Mexico. It creates two dedicated funds: the Land Grant-Merced Infrastructure Project Fund and the Acequia Infrastructure Project Fund, both of which will receive annual distributions from the newly created Land Grant-Merced and Acequia Infrastructure Trust Fund. The act outlines the roles and responsibilities of the Land Grant Council and the Interstate Stream Commission in administering these funds, including the provision of grants and loans for qualified infrastructure projects. Additionally, the act mandates annual reporting to legislative committees on the expenditures and progress of funded projects.

Key provisions of the bill include the establishment of definitions for terms such as "acequia," "land grant-merced," and "qualified project," as well as the creation of rules governing the application and evaluation processes for funding. The act also specifies the allocation of bonding capacity for land grant-merced and acequia infrastructure projects, ensuring that a portion of the state's bonding capacity is dedicated to these initiatives. Furthermore, the legislation includes a delayed repeal of certain provisions effective July 1, 2032, and sets an effective date for the act's provisions to begin on July 1, 2026.

Statutes affected:
introduced version: 7-27-10.1