S 72 CREATE WILDLIFE CORRIDORS FUND

Sen Mimi Stewart

Actions: SPREF [1] SCONC/SFC-SCONC [6] DP-SFC [8] DP/a - PASSED/S (37-2) [11] HTPWC/HAFC-HTPWC [14] DP-HAFC [15] DP [17] PASSED/H (49-20) SGND BY GOV (Mar. 23) Ch. 27.

Scheduled: Not Scheduled

 Senate Bill 72 (SB 72 ) amends the Wildlife Corridors Act to create the Wildlife Corridors Fund. It requires annual reporting and makes an appropriation of fifty million ($50,000,000) for that fund. 

 Senate Bill 72 (SB 72) amends the Wildlife Corridors Act (Chapter 17, Article 9 NMSA 1978) to create the Wildlife Corridors Fund which the Department of Transportation (DOT) will administer for the purpose of providing safe road crossings for wildlife and reduce wildlife-vehicle collision. It will include those projects on the Wildlife Corridors Action Plan. It specifies what costs may be covered and requires DOT to consult with the Department of Game and Fish and when necessary with Indian nations, tribes, or pueblos. SB 72 requires an annual report starting on 1 October 2024 and by 1 October of each subsequent year that includes an aggregate accounting of all monies spent from this fund and a list of projects that received the funding. 

SB 72 appropriates fifty million ($50,000,000) from the General Fund (GF) to the DOT for expenditure in Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 and subsequent FYs to fund the Wildlife Corridor Fund.  

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of a FY  will not revert to the GF.
 

 In 2019, the Wildlife Corridors Act directed the DGF to create a Wildlife Corridors Protection Plan and to prioritize a list of wildlife corridors projects. 

 2/17/23
The Senate Finance Committee amended SB 72 (SB 72A SFC) by stripping the appropriation from the title and substance of the bill.