HB 109 New Mexico House · 2026 Regular Session

WATER PROJECT FUND CHANGES

HB 109 changes how New Mexico prioritizes water projects funded through the Water Project Fund. It requires the Finance Authority to use a new scoring system evaluating factors like project urgency (based on regional water plans), availability of matching funds, permit readiness, regional impacts, and improvements to water quality or quantity. Crucially, the bill allows the Authority to fund projects without annual legislative approval until December 31, 2028, after which a two-thirds majority vote in both legislative chambers would be needed to extend this exemption. The bill also specifies fund structure details, including dedicated allocations for water rights adjudications.

Issues: ✓ Environment

Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2026

Committee Review

Feb 2026

House Passage

Feb 2026

Senate Passage

Feb 2026

Signed into Law

Mar 2026

Introduced Jan 16, 2026 Signed Mar 5, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

introduced version → Final Version · 6 edits

MODERATE

This bill amends the Water Project Finance Act to establish a formal prioritization system for funding water projects, allowing the Finance Authority to fund projects without legislative approval until December 31, 2029, and expands the types of projects eligible for funding.

Scope change

The bill extends the authority's ability to fund projects without legislative approval from December 31, 2028 to December 31, 2029, and adds new project categories including wastewater treatment, watershed restoration, flood prevention, and water conservation/recycling.

TIMELINE

Extended the deadline for requiring legislative approval for water project funding from December 31, 2028 to December 31, 2029.

ELIGIBILITY

Added eight specific criteria for prioritizing water projects including urgency of need, availability of matching funds, project readiness, regional impacts, health and safety mitigation, planning level, water quality improvement, and other established goals.

Expanded eligible project types to include wastewater conveyance and treatment, restoration and management of watersheds, flood prevention, and water conservation or recycling.

REQUIREMENT

Requires the Finance Authority to develop and use a weighted scoring system to evaluate and rank all loan and grant applications.

Allows a ten-point score increase in the weighted scoring system for projects in emergency situations.

FISCAL

Modified the allocation of water project funds for water rights adjudications, reducing the percentage from 10% to 8% through June 30, 2029, with corresponding adjustments to court funding.

Floor votes · Senate Feb 15, 2026 · House Feb 10, 2026

How they voted

38–0

Passed

Total votes 38

Feb 15, 2026

D Democratic22

22 Yea

100% Yea

R Republican16

16 Yea

100% Yea

Vote distribution

All Yea All Nay Mixed No data

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Mar 5, 2026

Signed into law

Signed

executive

Feb 15, 2026

Upper · Passed

passed Senate

upper

Feb 14, 2026

Upper · Passed

DO PASS committee report adopted

upper

Feb 11, 2026

Introduced

Sent to Senate Conservation Committee

upper

Feb 10, 2026

Lower · Passed

passed House

lower

Feb 6, 2026

Lower · Passed

DO PASS committee report adopted

lower

Feb 3, 2026

Lower · Passed

DO PASS, as amended, committee report adopted

lower

Jan 30, 2026

Introduced

Sent to House Agriculture, Acequias & Water Resources Committee & House Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee

lower

Jan 22, 2026

Lower · Passed

not printed House Rules and Order of Business Committee

lower

Jan 16, 2026

Introduced

Sent to House Pre-file

lower

3 primary · 0 co-sponsors