New Mexico War Veteran Scholarship, Amendment 1 (2010)

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The New Mexico War Veteran Scholarship, also known as SB 136, appeared as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on the November 2, 2010 statewide ballot in New Mexico, where it was approved. a Since the measure passed, resident tuition eligibility would be granted to veterans of U.S. armed forces in the state's higher education institutions. The sponsor of the measure was William Payne.

Election results

See also: 2010 ballot measure election results

Official election results follow:

Amendment 1 (War Veteran Scholarship)
Result		Votes	Percentage
a Yes		408,467	77.4%
No		119,043	22.6%

Results via New Mexico Secretary of State.

Text of measure

The ballot read as follows:

Proposing an amendment to Article 9, Section 14 of the Constitution of New Mexico to permit the establishment of a college scholarship program for New Mexico military war veterans.

[ ] For

[ ] Against

Summary

According to the final version of the measure, the summary of the act read:

An act relating to the higher education; providing resident tuition eligibility for veterans of the Unites States Armed forces at New Mexico Institutions of higher education.

Constitutional changes

The measure was proposed to amend Section 14, Article 9 of the New Mexico Constitution.

Note: Hover over the text and scroll to see the full text.

Aid to Private Enterprise; Veterans' Scholarship Program; Student Loans; Job Opportunities; Affordable Housing

"Neither the state nor any county, school district or municipality, except as otherwise provided in this constitution, shall directly or indirectly lend or pledge its credit or make any donation to or in aid of any person, association or public or private corporation or in aid of any private enterprise for the construction of any railroad except as provided in Subsections A through G of this section.

A. Nothing in this section prohibits the state or any county or municipality from making provision for the care and maintenance of sick and indigent persons.

B. Nothing in this section prohibits the state from establishing a veterans' scholarship program for Vietnam conflict veterans who are post-secondary students at educational institutions under the exclusive control of the state by exempting such veterans from the payment of tuition. For the purposes of this subsection, a "Vietnam conflict veteran" is any person who has been honorably discharged from the armed forces of the United States, who was a resident of New Mexico at the original time of entry into the armed forces from New Mexico or who has lived in New Mexico for ten years or more and who has been awarded a Vietnam campaign medal for service in the armed forces of this country in Vietnam during the period from August 5, 1964 to the official termination date of the Vietnam conflict as designated by executive order of the president of the United States.

C. The state may establish by law a program of loans to students of the healing arts, as defined by law, for residents of the state who, in return for the payment of educational expenses, contract with the state to practice their profession for a period of years after graduation within areas of the state designated by law.

D. Nothing in this section prohibits the state or a county or municipality from creating new job opportunities by providing land, buildings or infrastructure for facilities to support new or expanding businesses if this assistance is granted pursuant to general implementing legislation that is approved by a majority vote of those elected to each house of the legislature. The implementing legislation shall include adequate safeguards to protect public money or other resources used for the purposes authorized in this subsection. The implementing legislation shall further provide that:

(1) each specific county or municipal project providing assistance pursuant to this subsection need not be approved by the legislature but shall be approved by the county or municipality pursuant to procedures provided in the implementing legislation; and

(2) each specific state project providing assistance pursuant to this subsection shall be approved by law.

E. Nothing in this section prohibits the state, or the instrumentality of the state designated by the legislature as the state's housing authority, or a county or a municipality from:

(1) donating or otherwise providing or paying a portion of the costs of land for the construction on it of affordable housing;

(2) donating or otherwise providing or paying a portion of the costs of construction or renovation of affordable housing or the costs of conversion or renovation of buildings into affordable housing; or

(3) providing or paying the costs of financing or infrastructure necessary to support affordable housing projects.

F. The provisions of Subsection E of this section are not self-executing. Before the described assistance may be provided, enabling legislation shall be enacted by a majority vote of the members elected to each house of the legislature. This enabling legislation shall:

(1) define "affordable housing;"

(2) establish eligibility criteria for the recipients of land, buildings and infrastructure;

(3) contain provisions to ensure the successful completion of affordable housing projects supported by assistance authorized pursuant to Subsection E of this section;

(4) require a county or municipality providing assistance pursuant to Subsection E of this section to give prior formal approval by ordinance for a specific affordable housing assistance grant and include in the ordinance the conditions of the grant;

(5) require prior approval by law of an affordable housing assistance grant by the state; and

(6) require the governing body of the instrumentality of the state, designated by the legislature as the state's housing authority, to give prior approval, by resolution, for affordable housing grants that are to be given by the instrumentality.

G. Nothing in this section prohibits the state from establishing a veterans' scholarship program, for military war veterans who are post-secondary students at educational institutions under the exclusive control of the state and who have exhausted all educational benefits offered by the United States department of defense or the United States department of veterans affairs, by exempting such veterans from the payment of tuition. For the purposes of this subsection, a "military war veteran" is any person who has been honorably discharged from the armed forces of the United States, who was a resident of New Mexico at the original time of entry into the armed forces or who has lived in New Mexico for ten years or more and who has been awarded a southwest Asia service medal, global war on terror service medal, Iraq campaign medal, Afghanistan campaign medal or any other medal issued for service in the armed forces of this country in support of any United States military campaign or armed conflict as defined by congress or by presidential executive order or any other campaign medal issued for service after August 1, 1990 in the armed forces of the United States during periods of armed conflict as defined by congress or by executive order."

Election costs

The fiscal implications of having the measure on the New Mexico ballot, according to the state fiscal impact report, read:

The appropriation of $350 thousand contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the electronic voting system revolving fund. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2012 shall revert to the electronic voting system revolving fund. The electronic voting system revolving fund has no ongoing revenue source and cannot support a recurring expense. If the bill passes, the fund will be at about $40 thousand.

SB136 would require the Secretary of State to provide at least one voting system at each polling location. Currently, statute requires the county commissioners to purchase voting systems. However, when 1.9.7.1 NMSA 1978 was enacted requiring paper ballot voting systems, the state purchased those systems. Since the purchase of the systems did not follow statute, there has been disagreement over who should have ownership and pay maintenance cost on the paper ballot voting systems. While this bill seems to address those issues, it would impact the general fund only if new voting systems are purchased but certainly for annual maintenance costs on the paper ballot systems, which according to this bill is $350 thousand, annually. Although not necessarily required annually, there are potential future year costs for all hardware, software, firmware upgrades, which could reach another $250 thousand per year.

Support

Arguments

• In an argument suggested by the New Mexico Legislative Council Service, proponents argued that the amendment existed for veterans of the Vietnam War, and that the same should be given to recent veterans.

Opposition

Arguments

• In an argument suggested by the New Mexico Legislative Council Service, one argument against the measure was that education for veterans in the state was a federal responsibility, not the state of New Mexico.

Media endorsements

See also: Endorsements of New Mexico ballot measures, 2010

Support

• The Valencia County News Bulletin, in an editorial stated about the measure, "The cost to the state will be small, and it is only fair to provide veterans of the two gulf wars, Afghanistan, and Bosnia-Herzegovina the same benefits as Vietnam vets. The News-Bulletin recommends a yes vote."

Path to the ballot

The senate bill was first introduced to the New Mexico State Senate on January 21, 2009, where it was approved with a vote of 38-0 on February 21, 2009. According to Article XIX of the New Mexico Constitution, it takes a majority vote of all members of both houses of the New Mexico State Legislature to refer a proposed amendment to the ballot. New Mexico is one of ten states that allows a referred amendment to go on the ballot after a majority vote in one session of the state's legislature.

See also

Suggest a link

• New Mexico 2010 ballot measures
• New Mexico Senate
• New Mexico House of Representatives
• 2010 ballot measures

External links

• Example of a New Mexico sample ballot that shows the language of New Mexico's 2010 ballot measures (dead link)
• New Mexico Secretary of State