The division shall:

A. cooperate with all public and private agencies and organizations, state, local and federal, to encourage and advance aviation in this state;

B. assemble and distribute to the public information relating to aviation, landing fields, beacons and other matters pertaining to aviation and may accept federal money made available for the advancement of aviation;

C. authorize expenditures of money from the state aviation fund for construction, development and maintenance of public-use airport facilities, except airports serving regularly scheduled interstate airlines using aircraft with a maximum passenger capacity of more than one hundred seats or a maximum payload capacity of more than twenty-five thousand pounds, including rural landing fields and airstrips. Expenditures shall be made according to the need for airport facilities as determined by the division;

D. operate under a director, appointed by the secretary, with the approval of the governor, who shall have an aviation background and meet other qualifications prescribed by the secretary;

E. establish policies for operation of the division;

F. promulgate rules for proper enforcement of aviation laws, except for those relating to common carriers;

G. provide for a surety bond, paid from the state aviation fund, issued by a corporate surety company licensed to do business in New Mexico, in an amount set by the state board of finance, on a form approved by the attorney general, conditioned upon the faithful performance of the duties of the personnel of the division who expend or authorize the expenditure of state funds;

H. have the following powers with respect to state airports:

(1) the division may, on behalf of and in the name of the state, out of appropriations and other money made available for such purposes, plan, construct, enlarge, improve, maintain, equip and operate airports and air navigation facilities, including the construction, equipment, maintenance and operation at such airports of buildings and other facilities for the servicing of aircraft or for the comfort and accommodation of air travelers. For such purposes, the division may, in the name of the state, by purchase, gift, devise, lease or otherwise, acquire property, real or personal, or any interest in property, including easements in airport hazards or land outside the boundaries of an airport or airport site, as are necessary to permit safe and efficient operation of the airports or air navigation facilities. The division may enter into any contracts necessary to the execution of the powers granted it by this paragraph; and

(2) the division may accept, receive, receipt for, disburse and expend federal money and other money, public or private, made available to accomplish, in whole or in part, any of the purposes of this subsection. All federal money accepted under this subsection shall be accepted and expended by the division upon such terms and conditions as are prescribed by the United States. The division, on behalf of the state, may enter into contracts with the United States or with any person that may be required in connection with a grant or loan of federal money for airport or air navigation facility purposes. All money received by the division pursuant to this subsection is appropriated for the purpose for which the money was made available, to be disbursed or expended in accordance with the terms and conditions upon which the money was made available; provided that nothing contained in this section shall affect the power of a local government to contract with the United States or any person in connection with a grant or loan of money for airports or air navigation facilities in accordance with the terms and conditions upon which the funds were made available; and

I. have the power to engage in planning for the development of a system of public airports within the state.

History: 1953 Comp., § 44-1-10.5, enacted by Laws 1963, ch. 314, § 5; 1966, ch. 39, § 1; 1970, ch. 49, § 1; 1975, ch. 197, § 1; 1976, ch. 23, § 1; 1977, ch. 250, § 16; 1987, ch. 268, § 8; 2001, ch. 154, § 1; 2009, ch. 164, § 1.

Cross references. — For additional powers and duties of the division, see 64-1-19 NMSA 1978.

The 2009 amendment, effective July 1, 2009, in Subsection C, after "passenger capacity of more than", changed "sixty" to "one hundred" and after "payload capacity of more than", changed "fifteen" to "twenty-five".

The 2001 amendment, effective July 1, 2001, in Subsection C, increased the maximum passenger capacity from thirty to sixty seats and increased the maximum payload capacity from seven thousand five hundred to fifteen thousand pounds.

The 1987 amendment, effective July 1, 1987, in Subsection D deleted "of transportation" following "secretary" and made minor changes in language and punctuation throughout the section.

Acquisition of property. — This section necessarily implies that the department of aviation (now the aviation division of the department of transportation) may hold title by and through the state of New Mexico to those facilities whose acquisition with state funds is authorized. 1965 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 65-70.

Study grant. — Subsections A and I of this section make it apparent that the aviation board (now the aviation division) has the necessary power to make a grant to a joint municipal-county organization to help finance a planning and feasibility study regarding a proposed airport. 1971 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 71-115.

Third party beneficiary contract. — Grant of power under Subsection H(2) of this section is broad enough to include power to make assurances on behalf of third parties required by the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Policies Act of 1970 (42 U.S.C. §§ 4601 to 4655) in return for federal funds. 1971 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 71-76.

Power of localities to contract for federal funds. — The proviso in the last sentence of Subsection H(2) of this section indicates that the legislature evidently assumed that county and municipal governments have plenary power to contract for federal funds. 1971 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 71-76.

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 8A Am. Jur. 2d Aviation § 27.

Construction and application of § 105 Airline Deregulation Act (49 USCA § 41713), pertaining to preemption of authority over prices, routes, and services, 149 A.L.R. Fed. 299.

2A C.J.S. Aeronautics and Aerospace §§ 20, 28, 38.