As used in the Local Economic Development Act:

1. A. "arts and cultural district" means a developed district of public and private uses that is created pursuant to the Arts and Cultural District Act [15-5A-1 to 15-5A-7 NMSA 1978];
2. B. "broadband telecommunications network facilities" means the electronics, equipment, transmission facilities, fiber-optic cables and any other item directly related to a system capable of transmission of internet protocol or other formatted data at current federal communications commission baseline speed standard, all of which will be owned and used by a provider of internet access services;
3. C. "cultural facility" means a facility that is owned by the state, a county, a municipality or a qualifying entity that serves the public through preserving, educating and promoting the arts and culture of a particular locale, including theaters, museums, libraries, galleries, cultural compounds, educational organizations, performing arts venues and organizations, fine arts organizations, studios and media laboratories and live-work housing facilities;
4. D. "department" means the economic development department;
5. E. "economic development project" or "project" means the project of a qualifying entity for which public support may be provided pursuant to the Local Economic Development Act;
6. F. "governing body" means the city council, city commission or board of trustees of a municipality or the board of county commissioners of a county;
7. G. "local government" means a municipality or county;
8. H. "municipality" means an incorporated city, town or village;

9. I. "new full-time economic base job" means a job:

   1. (1) that is primarily performed in New Mexico;
   2. (2) that is held by an employee who is hired to work an average of at least thirty-two hours per week for at least forty-eight weeks per year;

   3. (3) that is:

      1. (a) involved, directly or in a supervisory capacity, with the production of: 1) a service; provided that the majority of the revenue generated from the service is from sources outside the state; or 2) tangible or intangible personal property for sale; or
      2. (b) held by an employee who is employed at a regional, national or international headquarters operation or at an operation that primarily provides services for other operations of the qualifying entity that are located outside the state; and
   4. (4) that is not directly involved with natural resources extraction or processing, on-site services where the customer is present for the delivery of the service, retail, construction or agriculture except for value-added processing performed on agricultural products that would then be sold for wholesale or retail consumption;
10. J. "person" means an individual, corporation, association, partnership or other legal entity;

11. K. "public support" means the provision of assistance by the state to a local or regional government or the provision of direct or indirect assistance to a qualifying entity by a local or regional government for an economic development project. "Public support":

    1. (1) includes the provision of:

       1. (a) land, buildings or other infrastructure, by purchase, lease, grant, construction, reconstruction, improvement or other acquisition or conveyance;
       2. (b) the placement of new broadband telecommunications network facilities; provided that the facilities shall not serve a public facility or location that already meets federal communications commission baseline speed standards;
       3. (c) rights-of-way infrastructure, including trenching and conduit, for the placement of new broadband telecommunications network facilities;
       4. (d) public works improvements essential to the location or expansion of a qualifying entity;
       5. (e) payments for professional services contracts necessary for local or regional governments to implement a plan or provide public support for a project;
       6. (f) direct loans or grants for land, buildings or infrastructure;
       7. (g) technical assistance to cultural facilities;
       8. (h) loan guarantees securing the cost of land, buildings or infrastructure in an amount not to exceed the revenue that may be derived from an increment of the: 1) municipal gross receipts tax imposed at a rate not to exceed one-fourth percent and dedicated by the ordinance imposing the increment for projects; or 2) county gross receipts tax imposed at a rate not to exceed one-eighth percent and dedicated by the ordinance imposing the increment for projects;
       9. (i) grants for public works infrastructure improvements essential to the location or expansion of a qualifying entity and grants or subsidies to cultural facilities;
       10. (j) land for a publicly held industrial park or a publicly owned cultural facility, by purchase; and
       11. (k) the construction of a building for use by a qualifying entity; but
    2. (2) does not include the purchase, lease, grant or other acquisition or conveyance of water rights;

12. L. "qualifying entity" means a corporation, limited liability company, partnership, joint venture, syndicate, association or other person that is one or a combination of two or more of the following:

    1. (1) an industry for the manufacturing, processing or assembling of agricultural or manufactured products;
    2. (2) a commercial enterprise for storing, warehousing, distributing or selling products of agriculture, mining or industry, but, other than as provided in Paragraph (5), (6) or (9) of this subsection, not including any enterprise for sale of goods or commodities at retail or for distribution to the public of electricity, gas, water or telephone or other services commonly classified as public utilities;
    3. (3) a business, including a restaurant or lodging establishment, in which all or part of the activities of the business involves the supplying of services to the general public or to governmental agencies or to a specific industry or customer, but, other than as provided in Paragraph (5) or (9) of this subsection, not including businesses primarily engaged in the sale of goods or commodities at retail;
    4. (4) an Indian nation, tribe or pueblo or a federally chartered tribal corporation;
    5. (5) a telecommunications sales enterprise that makes the majority of its sales to persons outside New Mexico;
    6. (6) a facility for the direct sales by growers of agricultural products, commonly known as farmers' markets;
    7. (7) a business that is the developer of a metropolitan redevelopment project;
    8. (8) a cultural facility; and
    9. (9) a retail business;
13. M. "regional government" means any combination of municipalities and counties that enter into a joint powers agreement to provide public support for economic development projects pursuant to a plan adopted by all parties to the joint powers agreement; and

14. N. "retail business" means a business that is primarily engaged in the sale of goods or commodities at retail and that is located:

    1. (1) in a municipality with a population, according to the most recent federal decennial census, of:

       1. (a) fifteen thousand or less; or
       2. (b) more than fifteen thousand if the economic development project is not funded or financed with state government revenues; or
    2. (2) in an unincorporated area of a county.

History: Laws 1993, ch. 297, § 3; 1998, ch. 90, § 3; 1999, ch. 245, § 1; 2000, ch. 103, § 5; 2007, ch. 160, § 9; 2013, ch. 201, § 1; 2016, ch. 14, § 2; 2017, ch. 6, § 1; 2019, ch. 208, § 1; 2019, ch. 274, § 6; 2020, ch. 74, § 3; 2021, ch. 3, § 1; 2021, ch. 135, § 1.

ANNOTATIONS

2021 Multiple Amendments. – Laws 2021, ch. 3, § 1 and Laws 2021, ch. 135, § 1, both effective July 1, 2021, enacted different amendments to this section that can be reconciled. Pursuant to 12-1-8 NMSA 1978, Laws 2021, ch. 135, § 1 as the last act signed by the governor is set out above and incorporates both amendments. The amendments enacted by Laws 2021, ch. 3, § 1 and Laws 2021, ch. 135, § 1 are described below. To view the session laws in their entirety, see the 2021 session laws on NMOneSource.com.

The nature of the difference between the amendments is that Laws 2021, ch. 3, § 1, revised the definitions of "broadband telecommunications network facilities," "economic development project," and "regional government," and added the definition of "public support", as used in the Local Economic Development Act, and Laws 2021, ch. 135, § 1, included retail businesses located in unincorporated areas of a county in the definition of "retail business", as used in the Local Economic Development Act.

Laws 2021, ch. 3, § 1, effective July 1, 2021, revised the definitions of "broadband telecommunications network facilities," "economic development project," and "regional government," and added the definition of "public support", as used in the Local Economic Development Act; in Subsection B, after "federal communications commission", deleted "minimum" and added "baseline"; in Subsection E, after "means the", deleted the remainder of the subsection and added "project of a qualifying entity for which public support may be provided pursuant to the Local Economic Development Act"; added a new Subsection K and redesignated former Subsections K through M as Subsections L through N, respectively; and in Subsection M, after "agreement to provide", added "public support".

Laws 2021, ch. 135, § 1, effective July 1, 2021, included retail businesses located in unincorporated areas of a county in the definition of "retail business", as used in the Local Economic Development Act; and in Subsection M (now Subsection N), redesignated former Paragraphs M(1) and M(2) as Subparagraphs M(1)(a) and M(1)(b), respectively, in Subparagraph M(1)(b), after "more than fifteen thousand", deleted "but less than thirty-five thousand", and deleted former Subparagraph M(2)(b), and added a new Paragraph M(2).

The 2020 amendment, effective May 20, 2020, revised the definitions of "economic development project" and "retail business", and added definitions for "new full-time economic base job" as used in the Local Economic Development Act; in Subsection E, after "means", added "the provision of public support or assistance by the state to a local or regional government or", after "qualifying entity by a local or regional government.", added "Economic development project", added new paragraph designations "(1)" and "(2)" and redesignated former Paragraphs E(1) through E(10) as Subparagraphs E(1)(a) through E(1)(j), respectively, in Subparagraph E(1)(g), redesignated subparagraph designations "(a)" and "(b)" as items "1)" and "2)"; and added new Subsection I and redesignated former Subsections I through L as Subsections J through M, respectively; in Subsection M, Paragraph M(1), deleted "ten" and added "fifteen", and in Paragraph M(2), after "more than", deleted "ten" and added "fifteen".

2019 Amendments. — Laws 2019, ch. 274, § 6, effective July 1, 2019, revised the definition of "economic development project" as used in the Local Economic Development Act, and pledged a limited amount of municipal gross receipts revenue and county gross receipts revenue for project loan guarantees; in Subsection E, added new paragraph designations "(1)" through "(10)", in Paragraph E(7), after "derived from", deleted "the municipal infrastructure" and added "an increment of the", added new subparagraph designations "(a)" and "(b)", in Subparagraph E(7)(a), after "gross receipts tax", added "imposed at a rate not to exceed one-fourth percent and dedicated by the ordinance imposing the increment to a project", and in Subparagraph E(7)(b), after "gross receipts tax", added "imposed at a rate not to exceed one-eighth percent and dedicated by the ordinance imposing the increment to a project".

Laws 2019, ch. 208, § 1, effective June 14, 2019, revised the definition of "economic development project" as used in the Local Economic Development Act, and excluded the acquisition of water rights from the permissible uses of local economic development act funds; and in Subsection E, after "qualifying entity", added "but does not include the purchase, lease, grant or other acquisition or conveyance of water rights".

The 2017 amendment, effective June 16, 2017, added the definition for "broadband telecommunications network facilities" and amended the definition of "economic development project" to include assistance to acquire or convey rights-of-way infrastructure; added a new Subsection B and redesignated the succeeding subsections accordingly; and in Subsection E, after "buildings or other infrastructure", added "rights-of-way infrastructure, including trenching and conduit, for the placement of new broadband telecommunications network facilities".

The 2016 amendment, effective May 18, 2016, amended the definition of "qualifying entity" to include a restaurant or lodging establishment; in Subsection I, in Paragraph (3), after "business", added "including a restaurant or lodging establishment"; in Subsection K, in the introductory sentence, after "population", added "according to the most recent federal decennial census", after "of", added the Paragraph designation "(1)", and after "ten thousand or less", added "or" and added new Paragraph (2).

The 2013 amendment, effective July 1, 2013, added retail business as a qualifying entity; in Subsection (2) of Subsection I, after "(5), (6)", added "or (9)"; added Paragraph (9) of Subsection I; and added Subsection K.

The 2007 amendment, effective July 1, 2007, added Subsections A and B; included technical assistance, grants and subsidies to cultural facilities in the definition of "economic development project"; and included a cultural facility in the definition of "qualifying entity".

The 2000 amendment, effective May 17, 2000, added Subsection G(7).

The 1999 amendment, effective June 18, 1999, inserted "or (6)" in Subsection G(2), and added Subsection G(6).

The 1998 amendment, effective May 20, 1998, added the language in Subsection B beginning "the provision of direct loans or grants" to the end of the subsection, inserted "nation" following "Indian" in Paragraph G(4), and made minor stylistic changes throughout the section.