1. A. The legislature shall provide for the control and management of each of the institutions, except the university of New Mexico, by a board of regents for each institution, consisting of five members, four of whom shall be qualified electors of the state of New Mexico, one of whom shall be a member of the student body of the institution and no more than three of whom at the time of their appointment shall be members of the same political party; provided that, except for the student body member, members shall not have changed their political party registration in the twelve months preceding appointment; and provided further that the student body member provision in this subsection shall not apply to the New Mexico school for the deaf, the New Mexico military institute or the New Mexico school for the blind and visually impaired, and for each of those three institutions all five members of the board of regents shall be qualified electors of the state of New Mexico.
2. B. The governor shall nominate from a list of names provided by a nominating committee for each institution, as provided by law, and by and with the consent of the senate shall appoint the members of each board of regents for each of the institutions. The terms of nonstudent members shall be for staggered terms of six years, and the terms of student members shall be two years.
3. C. The governor shall select, with the advice and consent of the senate, a student member from a list provided by an elected student governing body of the institution.
4. D. The legislature shall provide for the control and management of the university of New Mexico by a board of regents consisting of seven members, six of whom shall be qualified electors of the state of New Mexico, one of whom shall be a member of the student body of the university of New Mexico and no more than four of whom at the time of their appointment shall be members of the same political party; provided that, except for the student body member, members shall not have changed their political party registration in the twelve months preceding appointment. The governor shall nominate from a list of names provided by a nominating committee of the university, as provided by law, and by and with the consent of the senate shall appoint the members of the board of regents. The governor shall select, with the advice and consent of the senate, a student member from a list provided by an elected student governing body of the university.
5. E. Members of the board shall not be removed except for incompetence, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office. Provided, however, no removal shall be made without notice of hearing and an opportunity to be heard having first been given such member. The supreme court of the state of New Mexico is hereby given exclusive original jurisdiction over proceedings to remove members of the board under such rules as it may promulgate, and its decision in connection with such matters shall be final.
6. F. The legislature shall provide for a nominating committee for each state educational institution enumerated in Article 12, Section 11 of this constitution to provide the governor a list of nominees for appointment of nonstudent members to the boards of regents of those institutions. The legislature shall provide for the appointment, terms, powers and duties of a nominating committee; provided that no more than fifty percent of the members of a nominating committee shall be members of the same political party; and provided further that members shall not have changed their political party registration in the twelve months preceding appointment.

ANNOTATIONS

Compiler's notes. — Section 2 of House Joint Resolution 1 (Laws 2026, appearing on the November 3, 2026 general election ballot as Constitutional Amendment 3) provided that this proposed amendment shall be submitted to the people for their approval or rejection at the next general election or at any special election prior to that date that may be called for that purpose.