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AN ACT

RELATING TO THE ENVIRONMENT; ADDING THE SECRETARY OF HEALTH AS

A MEMBER OF THE WATER QUALITY CONTROL COMMISSION.

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

Section 1. Section 74-6-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1967,

Chapter 190, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:

"74-6-3. WATER QUALITY CONTROL COMMISSION CREATED.--

A. There is created the "water quality control

commission" consisting of:

(1) the secretary of environment or a member

of the secretary's staff designated by the secretary;

(2) the secretary of health or a member of

the secretary's staff designated by the secretary;

(3) the director of the department of game

and fish or a member of the director's staff designated by the

director;

(4) the state engineer or a member of the

state engineer's staff designated by the state engineer;

(5) the chair of the oil conservation

commission or a member of the chair's staff designated by the

chair;

(6) the director of the state parks division

of the energy, minerals and natural resources department or a

member of the director's staff designated by the director;

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(7) the director of the New Mexico

department of agriculture or a member of the director's staff

designated by the director;

(8) the chair of the soil and water

conservation commission or a soil and water conservation

district supervisor designated by the chair;

(9) the director of the bureau of geology

and mineral resources at the New Mexico institute of mining

and technology or a member of the director's staff designated

by the director;

(10) a municipal or county government

representative; and

(11) four representatives of the public to

be appointed by the governor for terms of four years and who

shall be compensated from the budgeted funds of the department

of environment in accordance with the provisions of the Per

Diem and Mileage Act. At least one member appointed by the

governor shall be a member of a New Mexico Indian tribe or

pueblo.

B. A member of the commission shall not receive,

or shall not have received during the previous two years, a

significant portion of the member's income directly or

indirectly from permit holders or applicants for a permit. A

member of the commission shall, upon the acceptance of the

member's appointment and prior to the performance of any of

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the member's duties, file a statement of disclosure with the

secretary of state disclosing any amount of money or other

valuable consideration, and its source, the value of which is

in excess of ten percent of the member's gross personal income

in each of the preceding two years, that the member received

directly or indirectly from permit holders or applicants for

permits required under the Water Quality Act. A member of the

commission shall not participate in the consideration of an

appeal if the subject of the appeal is an application filed or

a permit held by an entity that either employs the commission

member or from which the commission member received more than

ten percent of the member's gross personal income in either of

the preceding two years.

C. The commission shall elect a chair and other

necessary officers and shall keep a record of its proceedings.

D. A majority of the commission constitutes a

quorum for the transaction of business, but no action of the

commission is valid unless concurred in by six or more members

present at a meeting.

E. The commission is the state water pollution

control agency for this state for all purposes of the federal

act and the wellhead protection and sole source aquifer

programs of the federal Safe Drinking Water Act and may take

all action necessary and appropriate to secure to this state,

its political subdivisions or interstate agencies the benefits

of that act and those programs.

F. The commission is administratively attached, as

defined in the Executive Reorganization Act, to the department

of environment."

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