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HOUSE BILL 24
57
TH LEGISLATURE
-
STATE
OF
NEW
MEXICO
-
FIRST SESSION
,
2025
INTRODUCED BY
Miguel P. García
FOR THE LAND GRANT COMMITTEE
AN ACT
RELATING TO LEGAL SERVICES; AMENDING SECTIONS OF THE COMMUNITY
GOVERNANCE ATTORNEY ACT; TRANSFERRING THE DUTIES TO PUBLICIZE
AND ADMINISTER CONTRACTS FOR THE COMMUNITY GOVERNANCE ATTORNEY
AND CONDITIONAL TUITION WAIVER PROGRAM FROM THE HIGHER
EDUCATION DEPARTMENT TO THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO SCHOOL OF
LAW; ALLOWING STATE AGENCIES TO HIRE COMMUNITY GOVERNANCE
ATTORNEYS; ELIMINATING THE REQUIREMENT FOR EMPLOYING AGENCIES
TO PROVIDE FIFTY PERCENT OF ATTORNEY SALARIES IN NONSTATE
FUNDS.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
SECTION 1. Section 21-21Q-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2019,
Chapter 43, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:
"21-21Q-3. COMMUNITY GOVERNANCE ATTORNEY AND CONDITIONAL
TUITION WAIVER PROGRAM CREATED--ADMINISTRATION--RULEMAKING
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SELECTION PROCESS--REPAYMENT.--
A. The "community governance attorney and
conditional tuition waiver program" is created and shall be
administered by the department. The department shall:
(1) promulgate rules [for implementing ] to
implement and administer the program and for a reasonable
living stipend in consultation with the university; provided
that the maximum living stipend shall be based upon the
availability of funds and information provided by the
university regarding the current cost of attendance at the
university;
[(2) publicize the program to law students and
to prospective law students;
(3)] (2) collect and manage repayment from
students who do not meet their obligations under the program;
and
[(4) solicit and] (3) accept funds for the
program, including grants and donations.
B. The university shall publicize the program to
law students and prospective law students.
[B.] C. Participants shall enter the program in
their final year of law school. The [department ] commission
shall select participants according to [rules it promulgates
and, in consultation with the commission ] program rules and
shall create a standard process for law students to apply to
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participate in the program.
[C.] D. The department shall award no more than two
new waivers a year, in addition to renewing existing waivers
for eligible participants, subject to the availability of
funding.
[D.] E. Participation in the program shall be
evidenced by a contract between the participant and the
department. The contract shall provide for the payment of a
participant's waiver and shall be conditioned upon the
participant fulfilling the program obligations and meeting the
university's standards for satisfactory academic progress. An
applicant to the program shall sign the contract prior to being
accepted into the program.
[E.] F. The contract shall include the following
terms for repayment of the waiver:
(1) interest shall accrue upon termination of
the participant's course of study at the following interest
rates:
(a) eighteen percent per year if the
participant completes a course of study and no portion of the
principal and interest is forgiven pursuant to Subsection [F ] G
of this section; and
(b) seven percent per year in all other
cases; and
(2) the maximum period for repayment shall be
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ten years, commencing six months from the date the participant
completes or discontinues the course of study.
[F.] G. The contract shall provide that the
department forgive fifty percent of a waiver for each year that
a participant is employed full time as a community governance
attorney with a maximum salary of not more than fifty thousand
dollars ($50,000) per year, subject to adjustment by the
commission pursuant to Subsection [G ] H of this section.
[G.] H. The commission may approve subsequent
increases in the maximum salary established pursuant to
Subsection [F] G of this section; provided that the maximum
salary shall not exceed the salary rate for entry-level
attorneys paid by legal service assistance entities in New
Mexico that receive funding from the federally established
legal services corporation."
SECTION 2. Section 21-21Q-4 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2019,
Chapter 43, Section 4) is amended to read:
"21-21Q-4. COMMISSION--DUTIES.--
A. The "community governance attorney commission"
is created. The commission shall be composed of five members
as follows:
(1) the secretary or the secretary's designee;
(2) the dean of the university or the dean's
designee; and
(3) three members appointed by the governor;
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provided that one member shall be a member of an acequia, one
member shall be a current or past member of the land grant
council and one member shall be a current or past member of the
colonias infrastructure board and a resident of a colonia.
B. Staff and meeting space for the commission shall
be provided by the university. The commission shall elect a
chair and such other officers as it deems appropriate and shall
meet at the call of the chair. Members of the commission shall
receive per diem and mileage pursuant to the Per Diem and
Mileage Act and shall receive no other compensation.
C. The commission shall:
(1) make recommendations to the department on
applicants for the program;
(2) advise the department on the adoption of
rules to implement the provisions of the Community Governance
Attorney Act; and
(3) pursuant to the Procurement Code, solicit
proposals for disbursement from the fund for legal services.
[(4)] D. The university shall, with the approval of
the commission, enter into contracts for expenditure of the
fund for the purpose of providing community governance attorney
services for acequias, land grants-mercedes and low-income
residents of colonias on issues regarding the governance of
colonias. The contracts shall be entered into with the
university, state agencies or [with] nonprofit organizations
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whose mission [is to provide ] includes providing a range of
free legal services to acequias, land grants or low-income New
Mexicans. No contract shall provide funding in excess of one-
half of a full-time community governance attorney position [and
each contract shall be executed only with service providers
that have secured sufficient matching nonstate funding to
provide a full-time position; and
(5) adopt such rules as are necessary to carry
out the provisions of this section.
D. The department, pursuant to rules of the
commission, shall administer the contracts and programs
provided for in this section ]."
SECTION 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the
provisions of this act is July 1, 2025.
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