SB 48
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AN ACT
RELATING TO PUBLIC FINANCE; CREATING THE COMMUNITY BENEFIT
FUND.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
SECTION 1. COMMUNITY BENEFIT FUND--PROJECTS TO BE
FUNDED.--
A. The "community benefit fund" is created as a
nonreverting fund in the state treasury. The fund consists
of distributions, appropriations, gifts, grants, donations
and bequests made to the fund and income from investment of
the fund. The department of finance and administration shall
administer the fund, and money in the fund is subject to
appropriation by the legislature to fund projects that will:
(1) reduce a greenhouse gas; provided that
for projects related to:
(a) the construction or the renovation
of a public building, the reduction shall be accomplished by
practices that exceed all requirements of the most current
international energy conservation code; and
(b) reducing methane leaks and releases
attributable to the extractive industries, projects shall
implement greenhouse gas emission reduction strategies to
achieve emission reductions that are in addition to those
that would be achieved pursuant to any existing greenhouse SB 48
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regulatory requirements in state or federal law;
(2) increase electric grid capacity,
resilience or reliability through grid modernization;
(3) increase electricity from renewable
energy resources and the efficiency of electricity from
energy efficiency projects;
(4) reduce the use of combustion engine
vehicles through transportation projects, including projects
that increase electric vehicle infrastructure or bicycle and
pedestrian infrastructure;
(5) assess or reduce the effects of climate
change on the natural environment, agricultural production,
land and natural resources and human health;
(6) assist public entities in the purchase
of electric vehicles and related charging infrastructure to
reduce the use of combustion engine vehicles;
(7) establish or expand economic development
needed to address the economic implications of climate
change, develop economic opportunities to optimize resources
to lower consumption, promote the reuse and recycling of
materials in a sustainable manner and transition New Mexico
away from dependence on the fossil fuel industry as a revenue
resource; or
(8) establish or expand worker training
activities to provide workers for industries that assist in SB 48
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achieving the objectives identified in Paragraphs (1) through
(7) of this subsection.
B. A project that proposes to meet the
requirements of:
(1) Paragraphs (1) through (5) of Subsection
A of this section shall include:
(a) documentation that two meetings
regarding the project were held within the community affected
by the proposed project to accept comments and address
concerns and that shows that notice of the meetings was
provided to overburdened communities that may be impacted by
the project; or
(b) a community benefits agreement
negotiated with overburdened communities that may be impacted
by the project; and
(2) Paragraphs (7) and (8) of Subsection A
of this section shall include a plan for outreach to
overburdened communities to encourage those communities to
participate in the worker training programs or in the
economic development opportunities.
C. The department of finance and administration
shall, in consultation with energy, minerals and natural
resources department, develop or identify a data tool that
uses spatial datasets to identify overburdened communities,
which are communities experiencing disproportionate burdens SB 48
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in climate change, energy, health, housing, legacy pollution,
transportation, water and wastewater and workforce
development. The departments shall ensure that data from
tribal and indigenous communities are included in the data
used by the data tool.
D. On or before December 1 of each year that a
project receives funding from the community benefit fund, the
administrating agency shall submit a report to the
appropriate interim legislative committees with the progress
or, if appropriate, final results of the project and any
other information the committee requires to evaluate the
project.
E. As used in this section:
(1) "climate change" means any significant
change in the measures of climate lasting for an extended
period of time, typically decades or longer, and includes
major changes in temperature, precipitation, wind patterns or
other weather-related effects;
(2) "energy efficiency" means measures,
including energy conservation measures, or programs that
target consumer behavior, equipment or devices to result in a
decrease in consumption of electricity without reducing the
amount or quality of energy services;
(3) "greenhouse gas" means a gas or gaseous
compound that contributes to the process through which heat SB 48
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is trapped near earth's surface by absorbing infrared
radiation, including carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide,
hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, nitrogen trifluoride
and sulfur hexafluoride;
(4) "grid modernization" means improvements
to electric distribution or transmission infrastructure,
including related data analytics equipment, that are designed
to accommodate or facilitate the integration of renewable
electric generation resources with the electric distribution
grid or to otherwise enhance electric distribution or
transmission grid reliability, grid security, demand response
capability, customer service or energy efficiency or
conservation; and
(5) "renewable energy resource" means
electric or useful thermal energy that:
(a) is generated by use of the
following energy resources, with or without energy storage
and delivered to a rural electric cooperative or public
utility: 1) solar, wind and geothermal; 2) hydropower
facilities brought in service on or after July 1, 2007;
3) other hydropower facilities supplying no greater than the
amount of energy from hydropower facilities that were part of
an energy supply portfolio prior to July 1, 2007; 4) fuel
cells that do not use fossil fuels to create electricity;
5) biomass resources, limited to agriculture or animal waste, SB 48
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small diameter timber not to exceed eight inches, salt cedar
and other phreatophyte or woody vegetation removed from river
basins or watersheds in New Mexico; provided that these
resources are from facilities certified by the energy,
minerals and natural resources department to: a) be of
appropriate scale to have sustainable feedstock in the near
vicinity; b) have zero life cycle carbon emissions; and
c) meet scientifically determined restoration, sustainability
and soil nutrient principles; and 6) landfill gas and
anaerobically digested waste biomass; and
(b) does not include electric energy
generated by use of fossil fuel or nuclear energy.