A. The "lottery tuition fund" is created in the state treasury. The fund shall be administered by the department. Earnings from investment of the fund shall accrue to the credit of the fund. The fund shall maintain an annual average balance of two million dollars ($2,000,000), and any balance in the fund at the end of any fiscal year shall remain in the fund for appropriation by the legislature as provided in this section.

B. Money in the fund shall be appropriated by the legislature to the department for distribution to New Mexico's public post-secondary educational institutions and tribal colleges to provide tuition assistance for qualified students and legacy students as provided in the Legislative Lottery Tuition Scholarship Act.

History: Laws 1995, ch. 155, § 23; 1997, ch. 106, § 1; 2001, ch. 300, § 2; 1978 Comp., § 6-24-23, recompiled and amended as § 21-21N-5 by Laws 2014, ch. 80, § 5; 2019, ch. 54, § 4.

Recompilations. — Laws 2014, ch. 80, § 5 recompiled and amended former 6-24-23 NMSA 1978 as 21-21N-5 NMSA 1978, effective March 12, 2014.

The 2019 amendment, effective July 1, 2019, provided for tribal colleges to receive funds from the lottery tuition fund; and in Subsection B, after "educational institutions", added "and tribal colleges".

The 2014 amendment, effective March 12, 2014, required that the fund maintain an annual average balance; provided that the fund shall be used to assist qualified students and legacy students; in Subsection A, in the second sentence, after "administered by the", changed "commission on higher education" to "department"; and at the beginning of the fourth sentence, added "The fund shall maintain an annual average balance of two million dollars ($2,000,000), and"; and in Subsection B, after "Money in the", deleted "lottery tuition", changed "is" to "shall be", after "shall be appropriated", added "by the legislature", after "by the legislature", changed "commission on higher education" to "department", and after "tuition assistance for", deleted the "New Mexico undergraduates as provided by law" and added "qualified students and legacy students as provided in the Legislative Lottery Tuition Scholarship Act".

Appropriations. — Laws 2014, ch. 80, § 9, effective March 12, 2014, appropriated $11,000,000 from the student financial aid fund of the higher education department to the lottery tuition fund for expenditure in fiscal year 2014 and subsequent fiscal years to supplement the lottery tuition fund. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of a fiscal year shall not revert.