Voters would decide on amending the anti-donation clause, if this House resolution passes

SANTA FE — An effort to make it easier to directly channel state dollars to publicly beneficial private projects is moving to its next committee, despite some legislators’ concerns about a lack of protections against fraud and excessive donations.

House Joint Resolution 11 would let voters decide if New Mexico should amend its anti-donation clause, which bars the state from donating public dollars to private entities. Specifically, it would allow state donations for projects that accomplish a “public purpose,” defined in matching legislation as facilities or services that serve “the benefit of the public health, safety or welfare.”

The House Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee passed the measure along on a 6-3 vote.

Enabling legislation, House Bill 290, goes hand-in-hand with the resolution, offering more details on how the changes to the anti-donation clause would work, though the House government committee didn’t have time to take up that bill.

Bill sponsor Rep. Andrea Romero, D-Santa Fe, called the state’s anti-donation clause “an antiquated law that has unfortunately impeded us from being able to invest in ourselves.” She said the proposed change could lift burdens from municipalities and localities acting as the go-between in sending state funding to private projects.

This gives a more equitable footing for smaller or rural organizations to get state dollars, added bill sponsor Rep. Kathleen Cates, D-Rio Rancho.

A little less than a dozen people showed up in support of the legislation, including officials from nonprofit food security organizations. Jill Dixon, executive director of Santa Fe’s Food Depot, said Mora County didn’t have the capacity to develop and manage funds for a food security center amid the 2022 Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire.

“It is definitely a clause that is holding back the actions of nonprofit organizations across the state and really impeding in the progress that we need to make for the people that we serve,” Nixon said.

Committee members from both sides of the aisle expressed concerns about a lack of sufficient safeguards in the resolution preventing fraud or excessive private donations. Legislative approval would be necessary for any donations.

“From what I hear, the benefit of the public health, safety and welfare is pretty much anything,” said Rep. John Block, R-Alamogordo.

Multiple attempts to make a motion on the resolution failed, including a tabling motion from Block and a passage motion from Rep. Janelle Anyanonu, D-Albuquerque. The resolution finally moved along with a passage motion without a recommendation — essentially no endorsement from the committee — from Rep. Tara Lujan, D-Santa Fe. It goes to the House Judiciary Committee next.