A. The department shall:

(1) administer the provisions of the Alternative Fuel Acquisition Act, except that the provisions of Section 13-1B-3 NMSA 1978 shall be administered by the commission on higher education and the state department of public education for their respective programs;

(2) establish a program to make loans to the agencies and departments of state government, political subdivisions and educational institutions, individually or jointly, to facilitate the acquisition of vehicles of the agencies and departments of state government, political subdivisions and educational institutions in accordance with the Alternative Fuel Acquisition Act;

(3) review, evaluate and approve or reject all loan applications submitted to obtain loans from the fund;

(4) submit an annual report to the governor and the legislature evaluating the status and the effectiveness of the Alternative Fuel Acquisition Act; and

(5) have an annual audit performed on the administration of the fund.

B. The department shall adopt rules and regulations necessary to carry out the purposes of the Alternative Fuel Acquisition Act, including rules and regulations governing:

(1) the procedures and format for submitting loan applications to the department to obtain a loan from the fund;

(2) the criteria to review, evaluate and approve loan applications;

(3) the procedure to determine the distribution of money in the fund; and

(4) the procedure to determine and notify an applicant of the progress on a loan application.

History: Laws 1992, ch. 58, § 6; 1994, ch. 130, § 4; 2002, ch. 32, § 7.

The 2002 amendment, effective July 1, 2002, substituted "acquisition" for "conversion" throughout the section; inserted "and the state department of public education" in Paragraph A(1); and substituted "educational institutions" for "post-secondary institutions" in two places in Paragraph A(2).

The 1994 amendment, effective May 18, 1994, substituted "13-1B-3 NMSA 1978" for "3 of that act" in Paragraph A(1) and inserted "political subdivisions" twice in Paragraph A(2).