SENATE BILL 98

57th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2026

INTRODUCED BY

Antonio Maestas and Linda M. López

AN ACT

RELATING TO PROPERTY; EXEMPTING JETTY JACKS FROM THE PROVISIONS OF THE CULTURAL PROPERTIES ACT AND THE CULTURAL PROPERTIES PROTECTION ACT.

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

     SECTION 1. Section 18-6-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1969, Chapter 223, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:

     "18-6-3. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Cultural Properties Act:

          A. "committee" means the cultural properties review committee;

          B. "cultural property" means a structure, place, site or object having historic, archaeological, scientific, architectural or other cultural significance and does not include a jetty jack;

          C. "jetty jack" means a jack made of steel and heavy wire installed by the United States bureau of reclamation and United States army corps of engineers for river bank maintenance;

          [C.] D. "registered cultural property" means a cultural property that has been placed on the official register on either a permanent or temporary basis by the committee;

          [D.] E. "official register" means the New Mexico register of cultural properties maintained by the committee for the purpose of recording cultural properties deemed worthy of preservation; and

          [E.] F. "state land" means property owned, controlled or operated by a department, agency, institution or political subdivision of the state." 

     SECTION 2. Section 18-6A-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1993, Chapter 176, Section 2, as amended) is amended to read:

     "18-6A-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Cultural Properties Protection Act:

          A. "committee" means the cultural properties review committee;

          B. "cultural property" means a structure, place, site or object having historic, archaeological, scientific, architectural or other cultural significance and does not include a jetty jack;

          C. "division" means the historic preservation division of the cultural affairs department;

          D. "fund" means the cultural properties restoration fund;

          E. "interpretation" means the inventory, registration, mapping and analysis of cultural properties and public educational programs designed to prevent the loss of cultural properties;

          F. "jetty jack" means a jack made of steel and heavy wire installed by the United States bureau of reclamation and United States army corps of engineers for river bank maintenance;

          [F.] G. "officer" means the state historic preservation officer;

          [G.] H. "preservation" means sustaining the existing form, integrity and material of a cultural property or the existing form and vegetative cover of a cultural property and may include protective maintenance or stabilization where necessary in the case of archaeological sites;

          [H.] I. "professional survey" means an archaeological or architectural survey;

          [I.] J. "protection" means safeguarding the physical condition or environment of a cultural property from deterioration or damage caused by weather or other natural, animal or human intrusions;

          [J.] K. "restoration" means recovering the general historic appearance of a cultural property or the form and details of an object or structure by removing incompatible natural or human-caused accretions and replacing missing elements as appropriate;

          [K.] L. "stabilization" means reestablishing the structural stability or weather-resistant condition of a cultural property or arresting deterioration that may lead to structural failure;

          [L.] M. "state agency" means a department, agency, institution or political subdivision of the state; and

          [M.] N. "state land" means property owned, controlled or operated by a state agency."

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