A. The "renewable energy transmission bonding fund" is created in the authority. The fund shall consist of revenues received by the authority from operating or leasing eligible facilities, fees and service charges collected and, if the authority has provided financing for eligible facilities, money from payments of principal and interest on loans. The authority may create separate accounts within the fund in connection with any issuance of renewable energy transmission bonds and may deposit in such separate accounts revenues received by the authority derived from the financing or leasing of eligible facilities. Any such separate account shall be held by a trustee acting under a trust indenture relating to those bonds. Earnings of the fund or any separate account shall be credited to the fund or the applicable separate account. Balances in the fund at the end of any fiscal year shall remain in the fund, except as provided in this section.

B. Money in the fund shall be deposited in a bank designated by the authority in an account or accounts as the authority may establish. Money in accounts shall be withdrawn on the order of persons whom the authority may authorize. All deposits of money shall be secured in such manner as the authority may determine. The state auditor and the state auditor's legally authorized representatives shall periodically examine the accounts and books of the authority, including its receipts, disbursements, contracts, leases, sinking funds, investments and any other records and papers relating to its financial standing. The authority shall pay a reasonable fee for the examination as determined by the state auditor.

C. Money in the renewable energy transmission bonding fund is pledged for the payment of principal and interest on bonds issued pursuant to the New Mexico Renewable Energy Transmission Authority Act. Money in any separate account may be pledged solely to payment of bonds for which the separate account was created. Money in the fund or any separate account is appropriated to the authority for the purpose of paying debt service, including redemption premiums, on the bonds and the expenses incurred in the issuance, payment and administration of the bonds.

D. On the last day of January and the last day of July of each year, the authority shall estimate the amount needed to make debt service and other payments during the next twelve months from the renewable energy transmission bonding fund or any separate account created in the bond fund on the bonds plus the amount that may be needed for any required reserves or other requirements as may be set forth in the trust indenture related to the bonds. The authority shall transfer to the renewable energy transmission authority operational fund any balance in the renewable energy transmission bonding fund or any separate account created in the bond fund above the estimated amounts. Payments for administrative costs shall be deposited in the renewable energy transmission authority operational fund.

E. Bonds issued pursuant to the New Mexico Renewable Energy Transmission Authority Act shall be payable solely from the renewable energy transmission bonding fund or from any separate account, created within the bond fund or, with the approval of the bondholders, such other special funds as may be provided by law and do not create an obligation or indebtedness of the state within the meaning of any constitutional provision. No breach of any contractual obligation incurred pursuant to that act shall impose a pecuniary liability or a charge upon the general credit or taxing power of the state, and the bonds are not general obligations for which the state's full faith and credit is pledged.

F. The state does hereby pledge that the renewable energy transmission bonding fund, including any separate account within the fund, shall be used only for the purposes specified in this section and pledged first to pay the debt service on the bonds issued pursuant to the New Mexico Renewable Energy Transmission Authority Act. The state further pledges that any law requiring the deposit of revenues in the renewable energy transmission bonding fund or authorizing expenditures from the fund shall not be amended or repealed or otherwise modified so as to impair the bonds to which the renewable energy transmission bonding fund is dedicated as provided in this section.

History: Laws 2007, ch. 3, § 6; 2011, ch. 33, § 2.

The 2011 amendment, effective July 1, 2011, authorized the authority to create separate accounts, held by a trustee under a trust indenture, in connection with the issuance of bonds and to deposit revenues from eligible facilities into the accounts; added Subsection B to permit money in the fund to be deposited in a bank and to be withdrawn by persons authorized by the authority; in Subsection C, limited the pledge of money in separate accounts to the bonds for which the account was created; and in Subsection D, required that payments for administrative costs be deposited in the operation fund.