HOUSE BILL 356

51st legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2014

INTRODUCED BY

Carl Trujillo

AN ACT

RELATING TO UTILITIES; AMENDING A SECTION OF THE RURAL ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE ACT TO LIMIT PAYMENT OF ACCESS FEES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     SECTION 1. Section 62-15-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1939, Chapter 47, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:

     "62-15-3. POWERS.--A cooperative shall have power to:

          A. sue and be sued, complain and defend, in its corporate name;

          B. have perpetual existence by its corporate name;

          C. adopt a corporate seal and alter the same at pleasure, and to use the seal by causing it or a facsimile of it to be impressed or affixed or in any other manner reproduced; but failure to have or to affix a corporate seal does not affect the validity of any instrument or any action taken in pursuance of or in reliance on any instrument;

          D. own, operate, lease or control plant, property and facilities for the generation, transmission or distribution, sale or furnishing of electricity for light, heat or power or other uses; [and] to generate, manufacture, purchase, acquire, accumulate and transmit electric energy; and to distribute, sell, supply and dispose of electric energy in rural areas to or for its members, governmental agencies and political subdivisions and the general public; provided that nothing in the Rural Electric Cooperative Act shall be interpreted to require a cooperative to provide service to any customer within the jurisdiction of a governmental entity, including an Indian nation, tribe or pueblo, if the provision of that service would result in the cooperative being in violation of the laws of the governmental entity;

          E. make loans to persons to whom electric energy is or will be supplied by the cooperative for the purpose of, and otherwise to assist such persons in, wiring their premises and installing electric and plumbing fixtures, appliances, apparatus and equipment of any kind and character; [and] in connection therewith, to purchase, acquire, lease, sell, distribute, install and repair such electric and plumbing fixtures, appliances, apparatus and equipment; [and] to accept or otherwise acquire and to sell, assign, transfer, endorse, pledge, hypothecate and otherwise dispose of notes, bonds and other evidences of indebtedness and any type of security therefor; [and] to lend money for its corporate purposes, invest and reinvest its funds; and to take and hold real and personal property as security for the payment of funds so loaned or invested;

          F. make loans to persons to whom electric energy is or will be supplied by the cooperative for the purpose of, and otherwise to assist such persons in, constructing, maintaining and operating electric refrigeration plants;

          G. purchase, take, receive, subscribe for or otherwise acquire, own, hold, vote, exercise rights arising out of the ownership or possession thereof, use, employ, sell, assign, transfer, convey, mortgage, lend, pledge, hypothecate or otherwise dispose of and otherwise use and deal in and with shares, rights, memberships or other interests in, or notes, bonds, debentures, mortgages, passbooks, certificates of deposit or other obligations of, other domestic or foreign corporations, associations, partnerships, limited partnerships or individuals, or direct or indirect obligations or securities of individuals, associations, cooperatives, partnerships, corporations or of the United States or of any other government, state, territory, governmental district or municipality or of any instrumentality thereof;

          H. construct, purchase, take, receive, lease as lessee or otherwise acquire, and to own, hold, improve, use, equip, maintain and operate, and to sell, assign, transfer, convey, exchange, lease as lessor, mortgage, pledge or otherwise dispose of or encumber electric transmission and distribution lines or systems, electric generating plants, electric refrigeration plants, property, buildings, structures, dams, plants and equipment and any kind and class of real or personal property [which] that shall be deemed necessary, convenient or appropriate to accomplish the purpose for which the cooperative is organized; provided that nothing in this subsection shall be interpreted to allow a cooperative to pay an access fee or trespass fine to a governmental entity, including an Indian nation, tribe or pueblo, for utility access to, on, over or under lands within that jurisdiction if that fee or fine is above the prevailing market value for comparable easements;

          I. purchase or otherwise acquire, and to own, hold, use and exercise, and to sell, assign, transfer, convey, mortgage, pledge, hypothecate or otherwise dispose of or encumber franchises, rights, privileges, licenses, rights-of-way and easements;

          J. make contracts and guarantees and incur liabilities, borrow money at such rates of interest as the board of trustees shall determine and otherwise contract indebtedness, and to issue its notes, bonds and other evidences of indebtedness therefor, and to secure the payment of any thereof by mortgage, pledge, deed of trust, assignment, security agreement or any other hypothecation or encumbrance upon any or all of its then-owned or after-acquired real or personal property, assets, franchises, revenues or income;

          K. construct, maintain and operate electric transmission and distribution lines along, upon, under and across all public thoroughfares, including without limitation all roads, highways, streets, alleys and bridges, and upon, under and across all publicly owned property;

          L. exercise the power of eminent domain in the manner provided by the Eminent Domain Code for the exercise of that power by corporations constructing or operating electric transmission and distribution lines or systems;

          M. conduct its business, carry on its operations, have offices and exercise the powers granted by the Rural Electric Cooperative Act in any state, territory, district or possession of the United States or in any foreign country;

          N. adopt, amend and repeal bylaws consistent with the Rural Electric Cooperative Act and the Public Utility Act;

          O. make donations for the public welfare or for charitable, scientific or educational purposes, and in time of war to make donations in aid of war activities;

          P. transact any lawful business in aid of governmental policy;

          Q. subject to any limitations set forth in the articles of incorporation or bylaws, do such other and further acts and undertake such other and further activities and transactions for the mutual benefit of its members and patrons as may be done and undertaken by a corporation organized under the Business Corporation Act for the same or any additional lawful purpose, including the indemnification of and the procurement of insurance for present and former trustees, officers, employees and agents of the cooperative as if those trustees and members were directors and shareholders respectively;

          R. pay pensions and establish pension plans, pension trusts, bonus plans, health insurance plans, savings plans and any other incentive plans or employee relation plans customarily used by broadly held corporations for its trustees, officers and employees, or for its employees alone;

          S. cease its corporate activities and surrender its corporate franchise; and

          T. do and perform all other acts and things and have and exercise all other powers [which] that may be necessary, convenient or appropriate to accomplish the purpose for which the cooperative is organized, to effectuate the powers set forth in this section and to accept all the burdens and exercise all the benefits [which] that apply to public utilities under the laws of New Mexico."

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