Chapter 62 — Chapter 62

As used in Chapter 62, Article 14 NMSA 1978: A. "advance notice" means two working days; B. "blasting" means the use of an explosive to excavate; C. "cable television lines and related facilities" means the facilities of any cable television system or closed-circuit coaxial cable…

A person who prepares engineering plans for excavation or who engages in excavation shall: A. determine the location of any underground facility in or near the area where the excavation is to be conducted, including a request to the owner or operator of the underground facility t…

Every person who engages in emergency excavation shall take all necessary and reasonable precaution to avoid or minimize interference with or damage to existing underground facilities in and near the excavation area and shall notify as promptly as possible the owners of undergrou…

A. A person owning or operating an underground facility shall, upon the request of a person intending to commence an excavation and upon advance notice, locate and mark on the surface the actual horizontal location, within eighteen inches by some means of location, of the undergr…

In marking an excavation site and the location of underground facilities, both the excavator and the owner or operator shall use the following uniform color code: A. blue for water; B. green for sewer; C. orange for communications or coaxial cable; D. pink for survey; E. purple f…

A. If any underground facility is damaged by any person who failed to make reasonable efforts to determine its location as provided in Chapter 62, Article 14 NMSA 1978, that person shall reimburse the owner of the underground facility for the actual cost of the damage to the unde…

obtained. The act of obtaining or making reasonable efforts to obtain information as required by Chapter 62, Article 14 NMSA 1978 shall not excuse any person making any excavation from doing so in a careful and prudent manner, nor shall it excuse such person from liability for an…

A. An owner or operator of an underground facility subject to Chapter 62, Article 14 NMSA 1978 shall be a member of a one-call notification system operating in the region with the exception of private underground facilities owned by a homeowner and operated and located on residen…

In addition to any other liability imposed by law, an excavator, after a formal hearing and upon a finding, who has failed to comply with Subsection C of Section 62-14-3 NMSA 1978 is subject to an administrative penalty of up to five thousand dollars ($5,000) for a first offense …

If any person excavates or intends to excavate in violation of Chapter 62, Article 14 NMSA 1978, the commission or any interested or affected owner or operator of an underground facility may file, in the district court of the county in which the excavation is occurring or intende…

The commission shall promulgate rules for voluntary alternative dispute resolution procedures available to owners or operators, excavators and other interested parties regarding disputes that cannot be resolved through consultation and negotiation arising from damage to undergrou…

Chapter 62, Article 15 NMSA 1978 may be cited as the "Rural Electric Cooperative Act". History: Laws 1939, ch. 47, § 1; 1941 Comp., § 48-401; 1953 Comp., § 45-4-1; Laws 1998, ch. 108, § 49.

A. Notwithstanding any other provision of the Rural Electric Cooperative Act, the bylaws of a cooperative may provide that the territory in which a cooperative supplies electric energy to its members shall be divided into two or more voting districts and that, in respect of each …

The officers of a cooperative shall consist of a president, vice president, secretary and treasurer, who shall be elected annually by and from the board of trustees. No person shall continue to hold any of the above offices after he shall have ceased to be a trustee. The offices …

A. A cooperative may amend its articles of incorporation by complying with the following requirements: (1) the proposed amendment shall be first approved by the board of trustees and shall then be submitted to a vote of the members at any annual or special meeting , the notice of…

Any two or more cooperatives, each of which is designated a "consolidating cooperative" in this section, may consolidate into a new cooperative, designated the "new cooperative" in this section, by complying with the following requirements: A. the proposition for the consolidatio…

Any one or more cooperatives, each of which is designated a "merging cooperative" in this section, may merge into another cooperative, designated the "surviving cooperative" in this section, by complying with the following requirements: A. the proposition for the merger of the me…

The effect of consolidation or merger shall be as follows: A. the several cooperatives, parties to the consolidation or merger, shall be a single cooperative, which in the case of a consolidation shall be the new cooperative provided for in the articles of consolidation and in th…

Any corporation organized under the laws of this state for the purpose, among others, of supplying electric energy in rural areas may be converted into a cooperative and become subject to the Rural Electric Cooperative Act with the same effect as if originally organized under tha…

Notwithstanding any other provision of this act [62-15-1 to 62-15-32 NMSA 1978], any proposition embodied in a petition signed by not less than 10 per centum (10%) of all members of the cooperative, together with any document submitted with such petition to give effect to the pro…

A. A cooperative that has not commenced business may dissolve voluntarily by delivering to the secretary of state articles of dissolution, executed and acknowledged on behalf of the cooperative by a majority of the incorporators, which state: (1) the name of the cooperative; (2) …

Articles of incorporation, amendment, consolidation, merger, conversion or dissolution, when executed and acknowledged and accompanied by such affidavits as may be required by applicable provisions of the Rural Electric Cooperative Act, shall be presented to the secretary of stat…

Cooperative nonprofit membership corporations may be organized under the Rural Electric Cooperative Act for the primary purpose of supplying electric power and energy and promoting and extending the use of electricity in rural areas. Corporations organized under that act and corp…

Revenues of a cooperative for any fiscal year in excess of the amount thereof necessary: A. to defray expenses of the cooperative and of the operation and maintenance of its facilities during such fiscal year; B. to pay interest and principal obligation of the cooperative coming …

A cooperative may not sell, convey, lease, exchange, transfer or otherwise dispose of all or any substantial portion of its property unless such sale, conveyance, lease, exchange, transfer or other disposition is authorized at a duly held meeting of the members thereof by the aff…

The private property of the members of a cooperative shall be exempt from execution for the debts of the cooperative and no member shall be liable or responsible for any debts of the cooperative. History: Laws 1939, ch. 47, § 22; 1941 Comp., § 48-422; 1953 Comp., § 45-4-22.

Any mortgage, deed of trust or other instrument executed by a cooperative or foreign corporation transacting business in this state, pursuant to this act [62-15-1 to 62-15-32 NMSA 1978], which, by its terms, creates a lien upon real and personal property then owned or after-acqui…

Whenever any notice is required to be given under the provisions of this act [62-15-1 to 62-15-32 NMSA 1978] or under the provisions of the articles of incorporation or bylaws of a cooperative, waiver thereof in writing, signed by the person or persons entitled to such notice, wh…

No person who is authorized to take acknowledgments under the laws of this state shall be disqualified from taking acknowledgments of instruments executed in favor of a cooperative or to which it is a party, by reason of being an officer, director or member of such cooperative. H…

Any corporation organized on a nonprofit or a cooperative basis for the purpose of supplying electric energy in rural areas and owning and operating electric transmission or distribution lines in a state adjacent to this state shall be permitted to extend its lines into and to tr…

states; application. A distribution cooperative utility organized pursuant to the laws of another state and providing bundled services in this state on April 1, 1999 to not more than twenty percent of its total customers may file an application with the commission seeking approva…

The secretary of state shall charge and collect for: A. filing articles of incorporation, five dollars ($5.00); B. filing articles of amendment, three dollars ($3.00); C. filing articles of consolidation or merger, five dollars ($5.00); D. filing articles of conversion, five doll…

Cooperative and foreign corporations transacting business in this state pursuant to the provisions of the Rural Electric Cooperative Act shall pay annually, on or before July 1, to the state corporation commission [public regulation commission] a tax of ten dollars ($10.00) for e…

ANNOTATIONS Repeals. — Laws 1998, ch. 108, § 81 repealed 62-15-29 NMSA 1978, as enacted by Laws 1939, ch. 47, § 29, relating to exemption from jurisdiction of the state corporation commission, effective January 1, 1999. For provisions of former section, see the 1997 NMSA 1978 on …

A cooperative shall have power to: A. sue and be sued, complain and defend, in its corporate name; B. have perpetual existence by its corporate name; C. adopt a corporate seal and alter the same at pleasure, and to use the seal by causing it or a facsimile of it to be impressed o…

A. Cooperatives may form, organize, acquire, hold, dispose of and operate any interest up to and including full controlling interest in separate business entities that provide energy services and products and telecommunications and communications services and products, including …

The provisions of the Securities Act, Chapter 44, Session Laws of New Mexico, 1921, shall not apply to the issuance of any note, bond or other evidence of indebtedness issued, executed and delivered by any cooperative to the United States of America or any agency or instrumentali…

A. "Rural area" means any area not included within the boundaries of any municipality having a population in excess of five thousand persons; provided that a municipality having a population of more than five thousand persons shall not cease to be included within the term "rural …

The Rural Electric Cooperative Act shall be construed liberally. The enumeration of any object, purpose, power, manner, method or thing shall not be deemed to exclude like or similar objects, purposes, powers, manners, methods or things. Nothing contained in the Rural Electric Co…

Chapter 100, into cooperatives under the Rural Electric Cooperative Act, as amended. A corporation created under Laws 1937, Chapter 100 shall be converted into a cooperative authorized to do business and entitled to all privileges and immunities of a cooperative under the Rural E…

A. Except as provided in Subsection E of this section, each distribution cooperative organized under the Rural Electric Cooperative Act shall meet the renewable portfolio standard requirements, as provided in this section, to include renewable energy in its electric energy supply…

The public regulation commission shall establish: A. a system of renewable energy certificates that can be used by a distribution cooperative to establish compliance with the renewable portfolio standard and that may include certificates that are monitored, accounted for or trans…

A. A distribution cooperative may collect from its customers a renewable energy and conservation fee of no more than one percent of the customer's bill. In no event shall a distribution cooperative collect more than seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000) annually through the ren…

As used in the Rural Electric Cooperative Act: A. "energy efficiency" means measures, including energy conservation measures, or programs that target consumer behavior, equipment or devices to result in a decrease in consumption of electricity without reducing the amount or quali…

The name of each cooperative shall include the words "electric" and "cooperative" and the abbreviation "inc."; provided that limitation shall not apply if, in an affidavit made by the president or vice president of a cooperative and filed with the secretary of state, it appears t…

Five or more natural persons, or two or more cooperatives, may organize a cooperative in the manner hereinafter provided. History: Laws 1939, ch. 47, § 5; 1941 Comp., § 48-405; 1953 Comp., § 45-4-5.

A. The articles of incorporation of a cooperative shall recite in the caption that they are executed pursuant to the Rural Electric Cooperative Act, shall be signed and acknowledged by each of the incorporators and shall state: (1) the name of the cooperative; (2) the address of …

The original bylaws of a cooperative shall be adopted by its board of trustees. Thereafter bylaws shall be adopted, amended or repealed by the majority of the members present at any regular annual meeting or special meeting called for that purpose, a quorum being present. The byl…

A. No person who is not an incorporator shall become a member of a cooperative unless the person agrees to use electric energy furnished by the cooperative when electric energy is available through its facilities. The bylaws of a cooperative may provide that any person, including…

A. The business and affairs of a cooperative shall be managed by a board of not less than five trustees, each of whom shall be a member of the cooperative or of another cooperative which shall be a member thereof. The bylaws shall prescribe the number of trustees, the terms of th…