A. No later than September 1, 2001, the council shall define and develop guidelines, consistent with the codes adopted by the construction industries commission pursuant to the Construction Industries Licensing Act [Chapter 60, Article 13 NMSA 1978 NMSA 1978], for school districts to use to identify outstanding serious deficiencies in public school buildings and grounds, including buildings and grounds of charter schools, that may adversely affect the health or safety of students and school personnel.

B. A school district shall use these guidelines to complete a self-assessment of the outstanding health or safety deficiencies within the school district and provide cost projections to correct the outstanding deficiencies.

C. The council shall develop a methodology for prioritizing projects that will correct the deficiencies.

D. After a public hearing and to the extent that money is available in the fund for such purposes, the council shall approve allocations from the fund on the established priority basis and, working with the school district and pursuant to the Procurement Code [13-1-28 through 13-1-199 NMSA 1978], enter into construction contracts with contractors to correct the deficiencies.

E. In entering into construction contracts to correct deficiencies pursuant to this section, the council shall include such terms and conditions as necessary to ensure that the state money is expended in the most prudent manner possible and consistent with the original purpose.

F. Any deficiency that may adversely affect the health or safety of students or school personnel may be corrected pursuant to this section, regardless of the local effort or percentage of indebtedness of the school district.

G. It is the intent of the legislature that all outstanding deficiencies in public schools and grounds that may adversely affect the health or safety of students and school personnel be identified and awards made pursuant to this section no later than June 30, 2005, and that funds be expended no later than June 30, 2007, provided that the council may extend the expenditure period upon a determination that a project requires the additional time because existing buildings need to be demolished or because of other extenuating circumstances.

History: 1978 Comp., § 22-24-4.1, enacted by Laws 2001, ch. 338, § 6; 2003, ch. 147, § 4; 2004, ch. 125, § 8; 2007, ch. 366, § 4.

The 2007 amendment, effective July 1, 2007, amended Subsection G to authorize the council to extend the expenditure period for a project.

The 2004 amendment, effective May 19, 2004, amended Subsection B to add "school" before "district" and amended Subsection G to change "June 30, 2004" to "June 30, 2005" and "June 30, 2005" to "June 30, 2007".

The 2003 amendment, effective April 4, 2003, deleted "local" preceding "school district" in Subsection B; in Subsection G, substituted "awards made" for "funded" and added "and that funds be expended no later than June 30, 2006" at the end of the sentence.