March 11, 1998

The Honorable Manny M. Aragon and

Members of the Senate

Executive-Legislative Building

Santa Fe, New Mexico 87503

Honorable President and Members of the Senate:

I have this day VETOED and am returning SENATE BILL 321, passed by the Forty-Third Legislature, Second Session, 1998.

New Mexico’s acequias, existing for hundreds of years in practice and for over 120 years in statute, have served their members and communities well with minimal assistance from the state. One form of assistance the state has provided is irrigation works construction loans.

The bill proposes to convert outstanding irrigation works loans to grants for those acequia associations that are in default on their loans. While specific circumstances and unique hardships may justify such extraordinary relief on a case by case basis, the wholesale legislative relief found in Senate Bill 321 may set a dangerous precedent regarding the conversion of loans-to-grants for acequias as well as other entities holding state loans.

Sincerely,

Gary E. Johnson

Governor

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