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HOUSE BILL 294
57
TH LEGISLATURE
-
STATE
OF
NEW
MEXICO
-
FIRST SESSION
,
2025
INTRODUCED BY
Kathleen Cates
AN ACT
RELATING TO PROPERTY TAXATION; PROVIDING THAT CERTAIN LAND WITH
A CONSERVATION EASEMENT SHALL BE VALUED AS AGRICULTURAL LAND
FOR THE PURPOSES OF PROPERTY TAXATION.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
SECTION 1. Section 7-36-20 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1973,
Chapter 258, Section 21, as amended) is amended to read:
"7-36-20. SPECIAL METHOD OF VALUATION--LAND USED
PRIMARILY FOR AGRICULTURAL PURPOSES--CONSERVATION EASEMENTS .--
A. The value of land used primarily for
agricultural purposes shall be determined on the basis of the
land's capacity to produce agricultural products. Evidence of
bona fide primary agricultural use of land for the tax year
preceding the year for which determination is made of
eligibility for the land to be valued under this section
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creates a presumption that the land is used primarily for
agricultural purposes during the tax year in which the
determination is made. If the land was valued under this
section in one or more of the three tax years preceding the
year in which the determination is made and the use of the land
has not changed since the most recent valuation under this
section, a presumption is created that the land continues to be
entitled to that valuation.
B. For the purpose of this section:
(1) "agricultural products" means plants,
crops, trees, forest products, orchard crops, livestock,
poultry, captive deer or elk, or fish; and
(2) "agricultural use" means the:
(a) use of land for the production of
agricultural products;
(b) use of land that meets the
requirements for payment or other compensation pursuant to a
soil conservation program under an agreement with an agency of
the federal government or pursuant to a land conservation
easement, over a landowner's land that contains important
habitat area or significant natural, open space or historic
resources, entered into between a landowner and an agency of
the state or federal government or between a landowner and a
land trust accredited by the land trust accreditation
commission, or if that commission no longer exists, a national
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land trust accreditation organization that is recommended by
the energy, minerals and natural resources department ;
(c) resting of land to maintain its
capacity to produce agricultural products; or
(d) resting of land as the direct result
of at least moderate drought conditions as designated by the
United States department of agriculture, if the drought
conditions occurred in the county within which the land is
located for at least eight consecutive weeks during the
previous tax year; provided that the land was used in the tax
year immediately preceding the previous tax year primarily for
a purpose identified pursuant to this paragraph.
C. The department shall adopt rules for determining
whether land is used primarily for agricultural purposes. The
rules shall provide that the use of land for the lawful taking
of game shall not be considered in determining whether land is
used primarily for agricultural purposes.
D. The department shall adopt rules for determining
the value of land used primarily for agricultural purposes.
The rules shall:
(1) specify procedures to use in determining
the capacity of land to produce agricultural products and the
derivation of value of the land based upon its production
capacity;
(2) establish carrying capacity as the
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measurement of the production capacity of land used for grazing
purposes, develop a system of determining carrying capacity
through the use of an animal unit concept and establish
carrying capacities for the land in the state classified as
grazing land;
(3) provide that land the bona fide and
primary use of which is the production of captive deer or elk
shall be valued as grazing land and that captive deer shall be
valued and taxed as sheep and captive elk shall be valued and
taxed as cattle;
(4) provide for the consideration of
determinations of any other governmental agency concerning the
capacity of the same or similar lands to produce agricultural
products;
(5) assure that land determined under the
rules to have the same or similar production capacity shall be
valued uniformly throughout the state; and
(6) provide for the periodic review by the
department of determined production capacities and
capitalization rates used for determining annually the value of
land used primarily for agricultural purposes.
E. All improvements, other than those specified in
Section 7-36-15 NMSA 1978, on land used primarily for
agricultural purposes shall be valued separately for property
taxation purposes, and the value of these improvements shall be
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added to the value of the land determined under this section.
F. The owner of the land shall make application to
the county assessor in a tax year in which the valuation method
of this section is first claimed to be applicable to the land
or in a tax year immediately subsequent to a tax year in which
the land was not valued under this section. Application shall
be made under oath, shall be in a form and contain the
information required by department rules and shall be made no
later than thirty days after the date of mailing by the
assessor of the notice of valuation. Once land is valued under
this section, application need not be made in subsequent tax
years as long as there is no change in the use of the land.
G. The owner of land valued under this section
shall report to the county assessor whenever the use of the
land changes so that it is no longer being used primarily for
agricultural purposes. This report shall be made on a form
prescribed by department rules and shall be made by the last
day of February of the tax year immediately following the year
in which the change in the use of the land occurs.
H. Any person who is required to make a report
under the provisions of Subsection G of this section and who
fails to do so is personally liable for a civil penalty in an
amount equal to the greater of twenty-five dollars ($25.00) or
twenty-five percent of the difference between the property
taxes ultimately determined to be due and the property taxes
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originally paid for the tax years for which the person failed
to make the required report."
SECTION 2. Section 7-38-12.1 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2003,
Chapter 118, Section 2, as amended) is amended to read:
"7-38-12.1. RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY TRANSFERS--CONSERVATION
EASEMENT DEEDS--AFFIDAVIT TO BE FILED WITH ASSESSOR.--
A. [After January 1, 2004 ] A transferor or the
transferor's authorized agent or a transferee or the
transferee's authorized agent presenting for recording with a
county clerk a conservation easement deed or a deed, real
estate contract or memorandum of real estate contract
transferring an interest in real property classified as
residential property for property taxation purposes shall also
file with the county assessor within thirty days of the date of
filing with the county clerk an affidavit signed and completed
in accordance with the provisions of Subsection B of this
section.
B. The affidavit required for submission shall be
in a form approved by the department and signed by the
transferors or their authorized agents or the transferees or
their authorized agents of any interest in residential real
property transferred by deed or real estate contract. The
affidavit shall contain only the following information to be
used only for analytical and statistical purposes in the
application of appraisal methods:
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(1) the complete names of all transferors and
transferees;
(2) the current mailing addresses of all
transferors and transferees;
(3) the legal description of the real property
interest transferred as it appears in the document of transfer;
(4) the full consideration, including money or
any other thing of value, paid or exchanged for the transfer
and the terms of the sale, including any amount of seller
incentives; and
(5) the value and a description of personal
property that is included in the sale price.
C. Upon receipt of the affidavit required by
Subsection A of this section, the county assessor shall place
the date of receipt on the original affidavit and on a copy of
the affidavit. The county assessor shall retain the original
affidavit as a confidential record and as proof of compliance
and shall return the copy marked with the date of receipt to
the person presenting the affidavit. The assessor shall index
the affidavits in a manner that permits cross-referencing to
other records in the assessor's office pertaining to the
specific property described in the affidavit. The affidavit
and its contents are not part of the valuation record of the
assessor.
D. The affidavit required by Subsection A of this
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section shall not be required for:
(1) a deed transferring nonresidential
property;
(2) a deed that results from the payment in
full or forfeiture by a transferee under a recorded real estate
contract or recorded memorandum of real estate contract;
(3) a lease of or easement on real property,
regardless of the length of term, except for conservation
easements;
(4) a deed, patent or contract for sale or
transfer of real property in which an agency or representative
of the United States or New Mexico or any political subdivision
of the state is the named grantor or grantee and authorized
transferor or transferee;
(5) a quitclaim deed to quiet title or clear
boundary disputes;
(6) a conveyance of real property executed
pursuant to court order;
(7) a deed to an unpatented mining claim;
(8) an instrument solely to provide or release
security for a debt or obligation;
(9) an instrument that confirms or corrects a
deed previously recorded;
(10) an instrument between husband and wife or
parent and child with only nominal actual consideration
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therefor;
(11) an instrument arising out of a sale for
delinquent taxes or assessments;
(12) an instrument accomplishing a court-
ordered partition;
(13) an instrument arising out of a merger or
incorporation;
(14) an instrument by a subsidiary corporation
to its parent corporation for no consideration, nominal
consideration or in sole consideration of the cancellation or
surrender of the subsidiary's stock;
(15) an instrument from a person to a trustee
or from a trustee to a trust beneficiary with only nominal
actual consideration therefor;
(16) an instrument to or from an intermediary
for the purpose of creating a joint tenancy estate or some
other form of ownership; or
(17) an instrument delivered to establish a
gift or a distribution from an estate of a decedent or trust.
E. The affidavit required by Subsection A of this
section shall not be construed to be a valuation record
pursuant to Section 7-38-19 NMSA 1978.
F. [Prior to November 1, 2003, the department shall
print and distribute to each county assessor affidavit forms
for distribution to the public upon request ] As used in this
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section, "conservation easement" means a legal agreement
entered into between a landowner and a land trust or state or
federal agency to permanently limit the use of the landowner's
land to conservation of the land in the land's natural and
undeveloped state."
SECTION 3. APPLICABILITY.--The provisions of this act
apply to taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2025.
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