Roadrunner Capitol Reports
Legislation Detail

HB 188 LAND GRANT REVOLVING LAND FUND

Rep Kristina Ortez

Actions: [2] HRDLC/HAFC-HRDLC

Scheduled: Not Scheduled

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Summary:
 House Bill 188 (HB 188) amends the Land Grant Support Act. It creates the Land Grant-Merced Revolving Land Fund and provides for administration and rulemaking. It amends the Land Grant-Merced Assistance Fund and provides for distributions for loan repayments. HB 188 appropriates eight million dollars ($8,000,000). 
Legislation Overview:
 House Bill 188 (HB 188) adds definitions for assistance fund; land fund; qualified land grant-merced; and real property to Section 49-11-2 NMSA 1978 of the Land Grant Support Act. It charges the council with creating a list of qualified land grants-mercedes, including noting those who are in arrears of a loan from the land fund, that is sent to the Department of Finance and Administration.  Qualified land grants-mercedes must comply with the Audit Act and other statutory provisions to be qualified to receive funds. 
HB 188 creates a formula in Land Grant-Merced Assistance Fund (Section 49-11-6 NMSA 1978) for an annual distribution that started in FY 2024 to qualified land grants-mercedes based on each one’s annual revenue with tiers starting at fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) getting a full distribution; two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000), getting fifty percent of the full distribution; and five hundred thousand ($500,000) getting twenty-five percent. 
HB 188 creates the non-reverting Land Grant-Merced Revolving Land Fund that the council will administer with the purpose of making loans to a qualified land grant-merced for the purchase of real estate with certain conditions such as limitations on transferability, interest rates and repayment schedules, and other provisions to ensure stability to the land fund.
It appropriates eight million dollars ($8,000,000) from the General Fund (GF) to the Land Grant-Merced Revolving Land Fund for expenditure for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 and subsequent FYs for the purpose of the act. 

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of a FY will not revert to the GF. 
 
Current Law:
 There is no funding source for land grants-mercedes to buy land using loans from the state.