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F I S C A L   I M P A C T   R E P O R T

 

 

 

SPONSOR:

Smith

 

DATE TYPED:

03/15/03

 

HB

 

 

SHORT TITLE:

40 Year Water Use Planning for Utilities

 

SB

692/aSFl#1

 

 

ANALYST:

Chabot

 

APPROPRIATION

 

Appropriation Contained

Estimated Additional Impact

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY03

FY04

FY03

FY04

 

 

 

NFI

 

 

 

 

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

 

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

 

LFC Files

 

Responses Received From

Office of the State Engineer (OSE)

 

SUMMARY

 

     Synopsis of SFl Amendment

 

The Senate Floor Amendment #1 amends the bill to change utilities to “water public utilities regulated by the Public Regulation Commission” as recommended by OSE.  This would include these entities as being required to have a 40-year water plan.

 

     Synopsis of Original Bill

 

Senate Bill 692 adds Public Utilities supplying water to persons other than municipalities or counties to the list of entities requiring a 40-year water plan.

 

     Significant Issues

 

OSE identifies three issues with the bill:

 

  1. By proposing to change public utilities “supplying water to municipalities and counties” to “any person”, this bill would effectively preclude class A, B and H counties as well as all municipalities from benefiting from the 40-year planning statute.  These counties do not fall under the definition of “any person” and are defined in Section 4-36-10, Section 4-36-8 and Section 62-6-65 NMSA 1978.  The primary purpose of the 40-year water plan is to ensure a supply of water.

 

  1. The Public Utilities Act is repealed as of July 1, 2003 and, presumably, any entity could call itself a public utility and supply water to “any person”.  This could “wreck havoc on state water law.”
  2. The inclusion of public utilities in the statement on page 2, lines 3-8 is incorrect since they were never included in the State Engineer’s administrative policy.

 

TECHNICAL ISSUES

 

OSE recommends the following technical changes:

 

  1. On page 2, line 5 strike “public utilities”.

 

  1. If the bill is to be amended to making the forty-year planning horizon available to public utilities supplying water to entities smaller than municipalities or counties, the following is also recommended:
    1. On page 2, line 1 after the word “and” insert “water” and after the word “utilities” insert “regulated by the public regulatory commission”.  
    2. On page 2, lines 1 and 2 strike “supplying water to municipalities or counties to any person”.
    3. On page 2, line 11 after the word “and” insert “water” and after the word “utilities” insert “regulated by the public regulatory commission”.
    4. On page 2, lines 11 and 12 strike “supplying water to municipalities or counties to any person”.
    5. On page 2, line 22 after the word “and” insert “water” and after the word “utilities” insert “regulated by the public regulatory commission”.
    6. On page 2, lines 22 and 23 strike “supplying water to municipalities or counties to any person”.

 

GAC/njw:yr