A. The board shall:

(1) properly and uniformly enforce the Educational Retirement Act;

(2) hire employees and delegate administrative authority to these employees;

(3) make an actuarial report on the financial operation of the Educational Retirement Act to the legislature at each regular session every odd-numbered year;

(4) accept donations, gifts or bequests to the fund; and

(5) adopt regulations pursuant to the Educational Retirement Act.

B. The board may:

(1) select and contract for the services of one or more custodial banks. For purposes of this subsection, "custodial bank" means a financial institution with the general fiduciary duties to manage, control and collect the assets of an investment fund, including receiving all deposits and paying all disbursements as directed by staff, safekeeping of assets, coordination of asset transfers, timely settlement of securities transactions and accurate and timely reporting by individual account and in total; and

(2) contract for legal services for litigation matters on a contingent fee basis, subject to the provisions of the Procurement Code [13-1-28 to 13-1-199 NMSA 1978]; provided that:

(a) the board shall submit each proposed contract to the attorney general for review of the contingency fee. The attorney general shall review a proposed contract within thirty days after receiving the contract. The review shall take into account the complexity of the factual and legal issues presented by the claims to be pursued under the contract. If the attorney general advises the board that the proposed contingency fee is not reasonable, the board may nevertheless approve the contract and the contingency fee if no fewer than four members vote for approval;

(b) each prospective contractor seeking to represent the board on a contingency fee basis shall file with the board the disclosure required by Section 13-1-191.1 NMSA 1978 disclosing all campaign contributions made to the governor, attorney general, state treasurer or any member of the board, or to a political committee that is intended to aid or promote the nomination or election of any candidate to a state office if the committee is: 1) established by any of the foregoing persons or their agents; 2) established in consultation with or at the request of any of the foregoing persons or their agents; or 3) controlled by one of the foregoing persons or their agents; and

(c) nothing in this paragraph shall prejudice or impair the rights of a qui tam plaintiff pursuant to the Fraud Against Taxpayers Act [44-9-1 to 44-9-14 NMSA 1978].

History: 1953 Comp., § 77-9-6, enacted by Laws 1967, ch. 16, § 130; 2011, ch. 157, § 1; 2017, ch. 21, § 4.

The 2017 amendment, effective June 16, 2017, in Paragraph A(4), after "gifts or bequests", added "to the fund".

The 2011 amendment, effective June 17, 2011, authorized the board to select a custodial bank and to contract for legal services for contingent fee litigation, subject to the attorney general's review of the contingent fee and subject to the disclosure of campaign contributions by prospective contractors for contingent fee representation.