SENATE BILL 525
49th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2009
INTRODUCED BY
Bernadette M. Sanchez
AN ACT
RELATING TO LAW ENFORCEMENT; AUTHORIZING A LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT WITH A POPULATION OF MORE THAN TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND TO ESTABLISH A POLICE FORCE WITH JURISDICTION WITHIN THE BOUNDARIES OF THE SCHOOL DISTRICT; PROVIDING FOR A DISTRIBUTION TO A LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT POLICE FORCE FROM THE LAW ENFORCEMENT PROTECTION FUND; RECONCILING MULTIPLE AMENDMENTS TO THE SAME SECTIONS OF LAW IN LAWS 2002.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
Section 1. A new section of Chapter 29 NMSA 1978 is enacted to read:
"[NEW MATERIAL] LOCAL SCHOOL BOARD AUTHORIZED TO ESTABLISH POLICE FORCE--QUALIFICATIONS AND AUTHORITY--JURISDICTION.--
A. A local school board of a school district may establish a police force and adopt policies and rules applicable to the police force.
B. The superintendent of a school district, pursuant to authority granted by the local school board, may employ and assign duties to police officers for the school district.
C. Police officers employed by a school district:
(1) shall be New Mexico certified law enforcement officers;
(2) shall have the powers of peace officers within the exterior boundaries of the school district;
(3) shall at all times while on duty carry commissions of office issued by the local school board;
(4) may enforce all applicable laws within the exterior boundaries of the school district; and
(5) may make arrests for violations of law, but no arrest is valid unless the arresting police officer is, at the time of the arrest, wearing a distinctive: (a) badge issued by the local school board and bearing the name of the school district; and
(b) uniform prescribed and issued by the local school board.
D. As used in this section, "school district" means a local public school district with a population of more than two hundred thousand in the last federal decennial census."
Section 2. Section 29-13-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1983, Chapter 289, Section 2, as amended) is amended to read:
"29-13-2. PURPOSE OF ACT.--The purpose of the Law Enforcement Protection Fund Act is to provide for the equitable distribution of money to municipal police, university police, public school district police, tribal police and county sheriff's departments for use in the maintenance and improvement of those departments in order to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of law enforcement services and to sustain at a reasonable level the payments available to the surviving eligible family members of a peace officer killed in the line of duty."
Section 3. Section 29-13-2.1 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1993, Chapter 179, Section 4, as amended) is amended to read:
"29-13-2.1. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Law Enforcement Protection Fund Act:
A. "division" means the local government division of the department of finance and administration;
B. "fund" means the law enforcement protection fund;
C. "governmental entity" means a municipality, university, tribe or a county;
D. "public school district" means a local school district with a population of more than two hundred thousand in the last federal decennial census;
[D.] E. "tribal police department" means the police department of a tribe that has entered into an agreement with the department of public safety pursuant to Section 29-1-11 NMSA 1978;
[E.] F. "tribe" means an Indian nation, tribe or pueblo located wholly or partly in New Mexico; and
[F.] G. "university" means a four-year post-secondary educational institution listed in Article 12, Section 11 of the constitution of New Mexico."
Section 4. Section 29-13-4 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1993, Chapter 179, Section 6, as amended by Laws 2002, Chapter 78, Section 5 and by Laws 2002, Chapter 92, Section 3) is amended to read:
"29-13-4. DETERMINATION OF NEEDS AND RATE OF DISTRIBUTION.--
A. Annually on or before April 15, the division shall consider and determine the relative needs as requested by tribal, municipal, public school district and university police and county sheriff's departments for money in the fund pursuant to the provisions of Subsection C of this section.
B. [As necessary during the year] Annually on or before April 15, the division shall [transfer] determine an amount to be transferred from the [law enforcement protection] fund to the peace officers' survivors fund that enables the balance of the peace officers' survivors fund to be maintained at a minimum balance of three hundred fifty thousand dollars ($350,000).
C. The division shall determine the rate of distribution of money remaining in the fund to each tribal, municipal, public school district and university police and county sheriff's department as follows:
(1) all municipal police and county sheriff's departments shall be rated by class pursuant to this paragraph in accordance with populations established by the most recently completed decennial census; provided that the population of any county shall not include the population of any municipality within that county that has a municipal police department. The rate of distribution to which a municipal police or county sheriff's department is entitled is the following:
CLASS POPULATION AMOUNT
1 0 to 20,000 $20,000
2 20,001 to 160,000 30,000
3 160,001 to 1,280,000 40,000;
(2) public school district and university police departments shall be entitled to a rate of distribution of seventeen thousand dollars ($17,000);
(3) tribal police departments shall be entitled, unless allocations are adjusted pursuant to the provisions of Subsection [C] D of this section, to six hundred dollars ($600) for each commissioned peace officer in the tribe. To be counted as a commissioned peace officer for the purposes of this paragraph, a commissioned peace officer shall have been assigned to duty and have worked in New Mexico for no fewer than two hundred days in the calendar year immediately prior to the date of payment. Payments shall be made for only those divisions of the tribal police departments that perform services in New Mexico. [No] A tribal police department shall not be eligible for any disbursement under the fund if commissioned peace officers cite non-Indians into the tribal court for civil or criminal citations; and
(4) municipal, public school district and university police and county sheriff's departments shall be entitled, unless allocations are adjusted pursuant to the provisions of Subsection D of this section, to six hundred dollars ($600) for each police officer or sheriff's deputy employed full time by [his] the officer's or deputy's department who has been certified by the New Mexico law enforcement academy as a police officer or has been authorized to act as a New Mexico peace officer pursuant to the provisions of Section 29-1-11 NMSA 1978.
D. After distributions are determined in accordance with Subsection A, Subsection B and Paragraphs (1) and (2) of Subsection C of this section, if the balance in the fund is insufficient to permit the total allocations provided by Paragraphs (3) and (4) of Subsection C of this section, the division shall reduce that allocation to the maximum amount permitted by available money."
Section 5. Section 29-13-5 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1983, Chapter 289, Section 5, as amended) is amended to read:
"29-13-5. DETERMINATION OF NEEDS--REVIEW.--No later than May 1 of each year, the division shall notify in writing each affected municipal police, public school district police, university police, tribal police and county sheriff's department of its determination of money to be distributed pursuant to the provisions of Section 29-13-4 NMSA 1978. Any affected department may appeal that determination by filing a notice of appeal with the secretary of finance and administration no later than May 15. If an appeal is filed, the secretary of finance and administration shall review the determination of the division in an informal and summary proceeding and shall certify the result of the appeal to the division no later than June 30, and the division shall adjust its determination accordingly. If no appeal is filed, the original determination of the division shall be final and binding and not subject to further review."
Section 6. Section 29-13-6 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1983, Chapter 289, Section 6, as amended by Laws 2002, Chapter 78, Section 6 and by Laws 2002, Chapter 92, Section 4) is amended to read:
"29-13-6. DISTRIBUTION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT PROTECTION FUND.--
A. Annually on or before July 31, the state treasurer shall distribute from the fund the amounts certified by the division to be distributed to governmental entities and [the transfer shall distribute money from the law enforcement protection fund] to the peace officers' survivors fund as required in Section 29-13-4 NMSA 1978. Payments shall be made to the treasurer of the appropriate governmental entity or fund unless otherwise specified in Subsection C of this section.
B. The state treasurer is authorized to redirect a distribution to the New Mexico finance authority in an amount certified by the division, pursuant to an ordinance or a resolution passed by the municipality or county and a written agreement of the municipality or county and the New Mexico finance authority.
C. Annually on or before July 31, the state treasurer shall distribute from the money in the fund money certified by the division to be distributed to tribes. Payment shall be made to the chief financial officer of the tribe. If necessary, the fund may be decreased below the level of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) to enable payment to the tribes. If insufficient money remains in the fund to fully compensate the tribes, a report shall be made to the [New Mexico office of] Indian affairs department and to an appropriate interim committee of the legislature that reviews issues having impact on tribes by September 1 of the year of the shortfall."
Section 7. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 2009.
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