A. The "higher education endowment fund" is created in the state treasury. The fund shall consist of appropriations, income from investment of the fund, gifts, grants, donations and bequests.

B. The higher education endowment fund shall be administered by the higher education department. Money shall be disbursed only on warrant of the secretary of finance and administration upon voucher signed by the secretary of higher education or the secretary's authorized representative.

C. Money in the higher education endowment fund is appropriated to the department for distribution to the public post-secondary educational institutions listed in Subsection D of this section that submit proposals and receive award determinations from the department to establish endowments at the institutions for endowment purposes. Endowment purposes shall include:

(1) establishing endowed chairs, lectureships, professorships, research positions, graduate assistantships and faculty development programs that will enhance the quality of public post-secondary education in New Mexico; and

(2) addressing one or more of the governor's initiatives, including research and development initiatives; technology transfer initiatives; science, technology, engineering and mathematics initiatives; health, education, water and agriculture initiatives; and work force development initiatives.

D. Appropriations to the higher education endowment fund shall be distributed to public post-secondary educational institutions as awards made by the department or the higher education endowment committee pursuant to competitive proposals submitted by institutions, as follows:

(1) sixty-two percent of the total amount to be distributed may be awarded to the university of New Mexico, the university of New Mexico health sciences center, New Mexico state university and the New Mexico institute of mining and technology;

(2) twenty percent of the total amount to be distributed may be awarded to the New Mexico military institute and any independent community college, branch community college and technical and vocational institute; and

(3) eighteen percent of the total amount to be distributed may be awarded to New Mexico highlands university, eastern New Mexico university, western New Mexico university and northern New Mexico college.

E. Following an award determination, a public post-secondary educational institution shall not receive a distribution until that institution provides documentation to the department that it has received or will receive matching funds, pursuant to a written gift agreement, for the endowment from nongovernmental sources in an amount equal to at least fifty percent of the award amount. Distributions from the higher education endowment fund are made over a two-year cycle with unmatched balances reverting to the general fund at the end of the second fiscal year. Allocations not matched during the first year of a cycle are made available during the second year of a cycle for supplemental or second round matching by any institution listed in Subsection D of this section.

F. The endowment funds of the institutions shall not be expended but shall be invested by the institutions in accordance with the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act [46-9A-1 to 46-9A-10 NMSA 1978] and the provisions of Section 21-1-38 NMSA 1978. The income from the investments shall be expended only for endowment purposes.

G. The "higher education endowment committee" is created. The committee is composed of the secretaries of higher education, economic development and finance and administration or their designees. The committee shall meet no less than twice per year to review proposals and award determinations to:

(1) determine whether the proposals and award determinations meet endowment purposes;

(2) determine whether the endowment funds are being distributed pursuant to the provisions of this section; and

(3) recommend ways to support or change the endowment purposes award and distribution processes.

H. The department shall establish rules setting forth the procedures for making award determinations and distributing money from the higher education endowment fund pursuant to the provisions of this section.

I. The department shall report annually to the legislative finance committee on award determinations made pursuant to this section. The report shall include the amounts awarded to each institution, the amount of matching funds and their sources and the purposes of the endowments and awards.

History: Laws 2002, ch. 31, § 1; 2003, ch. 379, § 1; 2003, ch. 392, § 1; 2007, ch. 364, § 1; 2008, ch. 49, § 1; 2009, ch. 91, § 1; 2011, ch. 44, § 1; 2015, ch. 7, § 1.

Repeals. — Laws 2007, ch. 364, § 3 repealed Laws 2003, ch. 379, § 1, effective June 15, 2007.

The 2015 amendment, effective July 1, 2015, changed the distribution process and the endowment purposes of the Higher Education Endowment Fund, and limited funds to establish endowments at public post-secondary institutions; deleted Subsection C relating to limits on the use of education endowment funds and the requirement that institutions receiving endowment funds receive matching funds from other than government sources; redesignated former Subsection D as Subsection C; in the present Subsection C, after "department", deleted "to be disbursed" and added "for distribution to the public post-secondary educational institutions listed in Subsection D of this section that submit proposals and receive award determinations from the department to establish endowments at the institutions", after "endowment purposes", inserted a period, added "Endowment purposes shall include:" and designated the next sentence as Paragraph 1 of Subsection C; in the present Paragraph 1 of Subsection C, after "(1)", added "establishing", after "professorships", deleted "scholarships for students" and added "research positions", after "New Mexico", deleted "The department, by rule, shall establish procedures for disbursing money from the fund. Not less than five percent of each institution's total endowment effort resulting from amounts specified in this section shall address" and added "; and", designated a new Paragraph 2 of Subsection C; in the present Paragraph 2 of Subsection C, after "(2)", added "addressing", and after "governor's initiatives", added the remainder of the paragraph; deleted Subsection E, relating to distribution proportions and matching requirements on disbursements of the Higher Education Endowment Fund; added a new Subsection D; added new Subsection E; removed the designation from former Subsection F and added the language from former Subsection F to the present Subsection E; in the present Subsection E, after "Distributions from the higher education endowment fund are made over a", deleted "three year" and added "two-year", after "general fund at the end of the", deleted "third" and added "second", after "fiscal year.", deleted "The department shall notify each eligible institution of the specific amount it may match during the first two fiscal years of each three-year cycle.", after "Allocations not matched during the first", deleted "two years" and added "year", after "of", deleted "each" and added "a", after "cycle are made available", added "during the second year of a cycle", after "second round matching by", deleted the remainder of the sentence relating to applications for supplemental distributions from the Higher Education Endowment Fund, and added "any institution listed in Subsection D of this section"; redesignated former Subsection G as Subsection F; in the present Subsection F, after "investments shall be expended", deleted the remainder of the subsection, relating to the manner in which investments shall be expended, and added "only for endowment purposes"; added new Subsections G and H; redesignated former Subsection H as Subsection I; in the present Subsection I, after "legislative finance committee on", deleted "disbursements" and added "award determinations", after "report shall include the amounts", deleted "disbursed" and added "awarded", after "funds and their", changed "source" to "sources", after "and the", changed "purpose" to "purposes", and after "endowments", added "and awards".

The 2011 amendment, effective June 17, 2011, required that investments be made in accordance with the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act and that expenditures be made in accordance with the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act and Section 21-1-38 NMSA 1978.

The 2009 amendment, effective July 1, 2009, deleted former Subsection E, which provided for the disbursement of funds until June 30, 2010; deleted former Subsection F, which provided for the matching of remaining funds; added new Subsections E and F; and in Subsection H, deleted "No later than July 1 of 2008, 2009 and 2010" at the beginning of the sentence.

The 2008 amendment, effective May 14, 2008, changed the name of the fund from the faculty endowment fund to the higher education endowment fund.

The 2007 amendment, effective June 15, 2007, eliminated the provision that money in the endowment shall not revert at the end of any fiscal year; eliminated the provision that money shall be disbursed for chairs, professorships and faculty development programs at four-year institutions; eliminated provisions that specify the dollar amounts of disbursements for chairs, professorships and development programs; expanded the purposes for which disbursements can be made; required at least five percent of each institution's total endowment be used to address the governor's initiatives; changed the list of institutions that are eligible for disbursements until June 30, 2010 in Paragraphs (1) through (3) of Subsection E; added Subsection F; permitted income from investment of endowed funds to be used for lectureships, scholarships, and graduate assistantships; eliminated the list of allotments of disbursements; eliminated the procedure for allocation of insufficient disbursements; and eliminated the additional disbursements for chairs at the University of New Mexico, New Mexico state university and New Mexico institute of mining and technology; and added Subsections F and H.

The 2003 amendment, effective June 20, 2003, deleted "Money" at the beginning of the second sentence of Subsection B and inserted "Except as provided in Subsection J of this section, money"; deleted "Disbursements" at the beginning of the first sentence of Subsection H and inserted "Except as provided in Subsection J of this section, disbursements"; and added a new Subsection J.