The bill amends the Water Project Finance Act to establish criteria for prioritizing water projects and allows the New Mexico Finance Authority to fund these projects from the Water Project Fund without legislative approval until December 31, 2029. A new section is added that outlines specific criteria for project prioritization, including urgency of need, availability of matching contributions, project readiness, regional impacts, and efforts to mitigate health and safety concerns. The board is required to develop a weighted scoring system to evaluate and rank applications for loans and grants, with a ten-point score increase for emergency situations.

Additionally, the bill amends existing sections to clarify the duties of the board and the authority regarding the administration of the Water Project Fund. It specifies that the board must adopt rules prioritizing projects based on the new criteria and that the authority will provide staff support and develop application procedures for qualifying entities. The amendments also detail the allocation of funds within the Water Project Fund, including a dedication of a percentage of funds for water rights adjudications and the authority's ability to issue revenue bonds to replenish the fund.

Statutes affected:
introduced version: 72-4A-5, 72-14-45, 72-4A-9
Final Version: 72-4A-5, 72-14-45, 72-4A-9