New Mexico Funding for Early Childhood Programs Amendment (2020)
| New Mexico Funding for Early Childhood Programs Amendment | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 3, 2020 | |
| Topic State and local government budgets, spending and finance | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type Constitutional amendment | Origin State legislature |
The New Mexico Funding for Early Childhood Programs Amendment was not on the ballot in New Mexico as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 3, 2020.[1]
The measure would have allocated one percent of the five-year average of year-end market values of the money in the Land Grant Permanent Fund (LGPF) to early childhood education services.[2]
The LGPF was also known as the Permanent School Fund. As of 2020, revenue in the LGPF came from leases and royalties on non-renewable natural resources, such as oil and gas, and returns on invested capital.[3] As of 2020, the New Mexico Constitution provided that the annual distribution from the fund was five percent. This amendment would have increased the total annual distribution to six percent. The New Mexico State Legislature would have been authorized to suspend the one percent distribution to early childhood services by a three-fifths vote in each house.[2]
The measure would have defined early childhood education as "nonsectarian and nondenominational services for children until they are eligible for kindergarten."[2]
Text of the measure
Constitutional changes
- See also: Article XII, New Mexico Constitution
The measure would have amended Section 7 of Article XII of the New Mexico Constitution. The following underlined text would have been added and struck-through text would have been deleted:[2]
Note: Hover over the text and scroll to see the full text.
A. As used in this section, “fund” means the permanent school fund described in Article 12, Section 2 of this constitution and all other permanent funds derived from lands granted or confirmed to the state by the act of congress of June 20, 1910, entitled “An act to enable the people of New Mexico to form a constitution and state government and be admitted into the union on an equal footing with the original states.”
B. The fund shall be invested by the state investment officer in accordance with policy regulations promulgated by the state investment council.
C. In making investments, the state investment officer, under the supervision of the state investment council, shall invest and manage the fund in accordance with the Uniform Prudent Investor Act.
D. The legislature may establish criteria for investing the fund if the criteria are enacted by a three-fourths vote of the members elected to each house, but investment of the fund is subject to the following restrictions:
- (1) not more than sixty-five percent of the book value of the fund shall be invested at any given time in corporate stocks;
- (2) not more than ten percent of the voting stock of a corporation shall be held; and
- (3) stocks eligible for purchase shall be restricted to those stocks of businesses listed upon a national stock exchange or included in a nationally recognized list of stocks;
E. All additions to the fund and all earnings, including interest, dividends and capital gains from investment of the fund shall be credited to the fund.
F. Except as provided in Subsection G of this section, the annual distributions from the fund shall be five percent of the average of the year-end market values of the fund for the immediately preceding five calendar years.
G. In addition to the annual distribution made pursuant to Subsection F of this section, unless suspended pursuant to Subsection H I of this section, an additional annual distribution shall be made pursuant to the following scheduleas provided in this subsection; provided that no additional distribution shall be made pursuant to the provisions of this subsection in any fiscal year If the average of the year-end market values of the fund for the immediately preceding five calendar years is less than ten billion dollars ($10,000,000,000):
(1) in fiscal years 2005 through 2012, an amount equal to eight-tenths percent of the average of the year-end market values of the fund for the immediately preceding five calendar years; provided that any additional distribution from the permanent school fund pursuant to this paragraph shall be used to implement and maintain educational reforms as provided by law; and
(2) in fiscal years 2013 through 2016, an amount equal to one-half percent of the average of the year-end market values of the fund for the immediately preceding five calendar years; provided that any additional distribution from the permanent school fund pursuant to this paragraph shall be used to implement and maintain educational reforms as provided by law.Unless suspended pursuant to this subsection or Subsection I of this section, additional annual distributions shall be one percent of the average of the year-end market values of the fund for the immediately preceding five calendar years; provided that the amount of the additional distribution from the permanent school fund shall be for early childhood educational services administered by the state, as provided by law.
H. As used in this section, "early childhood educational services" means nonsectarian and nondenominational services for children until they are eligible for kindergarten. Such services may be provided by a school district or an entity of an Indian nation, tribe or pueblo.
H. I. The legislature, by a three-fifths' vote of the members elected to each house, may suspend any additional distribution provided for in Subsection G of this section.[4]
Path to the ballot
- See also: Amending the New Mexico Constitution
In New Mexico, both chambers of the New Mexico State Legislature need to approve a constitutional amendment by a simple majority during one legislative session to refer the amendment to the ballot for voter consideration.
This amendment was introduced as House Joint Resolution 1 on January 22, 2020. On February 8, 2020, the state House passed HJR 1 in a vote of 44-25. The state Senate did not vote on the amendment before the 2020 legislative session adjourned.[1]
| Vote in the New Mexico House of Representatives | |||
| Requirement: Simple majority of all members in each chamber | |||
Number of yes votes required: 36  | |||
| Yes | No | Not voting | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 44 | 25 | 1 |
| Total percent | 62.86% | 35.71% | 1.42% |
| Democrat | |||
| Republican | |||
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 New Mexico State Legislature, "HJR 1," accessed February 10, 2020
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 New Mexico Legislature, "HJR 1 Text," accessed February 10, 2020
- ↑ New Mexico State Investment Council, "Land Grant Permanent Fund," accessed March 9, 2017
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source.
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