It is vital that boards of trustees of Spanish and Mexican community land grants-mercedes are familiar with and understand the New Mexico legislative process. This process is important to community land grants for several reasons. First, in New Mexico the powers and authority of all community land grants-mercedes derives from state law. This being the case it is sometimes necessary to change or amendment certain laws pertaining to community land grants, in order to strengthen their status. Second, the New Mexico legislature is a funding source that can be used for community and economic development projects initiated by a community land grant-merced. Third, it may sometimes be necessary for a community land grant-merced to weigh in on proposed bills that affect our communities. This can be in support of legislation that positively affects our communities or in opposition to legislation that negatively impacts our communities. Whichever the reason, it is important that members of the board of trustees of all community land grants-mercedes be willing to actively engage the New Mexico legislative process when necessary.
At this time community land grants are very fortunate to have a legislative interim committee that specifically deals with study issues related to land grants. This committee is known as the Land Grant Committee. This committee has been in existence since 2003 and since that time has provided a tremendous amount of legislative support for community land grants-mercedes. The committee meets during the interim season, which is typically from June until November. During that time the committee holds hearings in land grant communities throughout the state. On average the communities meet 4 to 5 times during the interim. The purpose of the hearing are to get input from community land grant advocates regarding issues they may face. The committee then develops legislatives (policy) responses when appropriate for introduction at the next regular legislative session.
The New Mexico Land Grant Council is providing the information on this page to help members of the board of trustees better understand the legislative process. More information about the New Mexico legislative process can be accessed by using the tabs on the left/right of this page.
This includes:
- A detailed guide to understanding the legislative process, which provides an overview of how bills become laws and the capital outlay (funding) process works;
- A training presentation that summarizes the overall legislative process including capital outlay; and
- A link to the New Mexico Legislature website which is very useful for find out information about legislators, bills, statutes, membership on committees and legislative agendas. Also the forms for requesting capital outlay can be found on the website and you can even watch or listen to live legislative sessions.
