NMSA 9-6-22. Public safety workforce building program; grants

9-6-22. Public safety workforce building program; grants. A. The "public safety workforce building program" is created in the department to provide grant funding for initiatives to increase the state's available workforce and capacity for employment of public safety professionals in law enforcement, firefighting, detention or corrections and licensed attorneys working in district attorney offices or public defender offices and to purchase equipment in furtherance of the program's objectives. B. To receive a grant, an applicant shall apply to the department on a form and in a manner prescribed by the department. An application shall include: (1) a description of the initiative proposed by the applicant; (2) a description of the initiative that demonstrates it will meet an objective of the program; and (3) details and specifics as to the reasonable expected costs and completion date of the proposed initiative. C. The department shall determine which proposed initiatives are approved to receive a grant through a competitive review process pursuant to rules promulgated by the department. The department may adjust the amount of money requested for a proposed initiative based on its determination of the reasonable costs of the initiative. Once an initiative is approved, the department shall promptly offer each applicant a grant, as appropriate. If a grantee accepts an offer, the initiative may commence, and the grantee shall report to the department on the progress of the initiative on a periodic basis, as determined by the department, including an accounting of expenditures made for the initiative. Funds allocated to an approved initiative shall be spent within two years of receiving a grant, and if any unexpended balance remains at the end of the initiative period, the grantee shall immediately return that balance to the department. The department shall deposit returned amounts in the public safety workforce capacity building fund. D. The department shall develop criteria to guide determinations for awarding a grant and shall: (1) take into consideration: (a) an applicant's public safety professional vacancy rate; (b) the cost of living and comparable market compensation for an applicant's locality; and (c) the crime rates in an applicant's locality; and (2) prioritize consideration of applicant proposals for initiatives that: (a) target the recruitment of individuals who are experienced public safety professionals and not currently employed by a governmental entity within the state; (b) include collaborations between overlapping jurisdictions; and (c) increase investigative, response or case management capacity, including recruitment or retention of personnel or training existing personnel to serve in new public safety roles. E. The department may award a grant to an eligible entity and shall allocate grant money equitably. For the purposes of this subsection, if applicants whose primary jurisdictions are within different counties apply jointly for a grant and the grant is awarded, each applicant shall receive an award amount based on the applicant's county. The department shall award grants based on an applicant's county as follows: (1) up to twenty-five percent of the money in the fund at the time of the award, less administrative costs as provided in Section 2 [9-6-23 NMSA 1978] of this 2026 act, for grants awarded to applicants whose primary jurisdiction is within a county with a population of at least five hundred thousand according to the most recent federal decennial census; (2) up to thirty-five percent of the money in the fund at the time of the award, less administrative costs as provided in Section 2 of this 2026 act, for grants awarded to applicants whose primary jurisdiction is within a county with a population of at least one hundred thousand but less than five hundred thousand according to the most recent federal decennial census; and (3) any amount of available money remaining in the fund for grants awarded to applicants whose primary jurisdiction is within a county with a population of less than one hundred thousand according to the most recent federal decennial census. F. A grantee may use a grant to: (1) provide a recruitment differential disbursement, including a disbursement for relocation expenses for a newly hired public safety professional; provided that the public safety professional hired remains employed with the grantee for a period of time as provided by rule of the department; (2) provide a retention differential disbursement to a public safety professional who is already employed by the grantee and who is not an elected public official; provided that the public safety professional remains employed with that grantee for a period of time as provided by rule of the department; (3) implement professional development initiatives designed to recruit, train or retain public safety professionals; (4) implement campaigns to recruit in-state or out-of-state public safety professionals; or (5) pay for equipment or equipment upgrades tied to professional development initiatives designed to recruit public safety professionals. G. A grantee shall not use a grant: (1) for a recurring initiative, unless the grantee first provides a plan to replace nonrecurring funds with recurring funds to fund the initiative; or (2) to create a public safety professional position or fund the base salary of an existing public safety position. H. Within ninety days of receiving a grant, and every ninety days thereafter until the earliest of either the completion of the grantee's initiative or when the funds are expended, the grantee shall provide to the department a report containing the grantee's initiative expenditures. Any unexpended balance remaining after completion of the initiative shall revert to the fund within thirty days of completion. I. By November 1 of each fiscal year, the department shall provide an annual report regarding the program to the legislative finance committee that includes: (1) information about each grant applicant, the grant amount requested and the title and description of the applicant's proposed initiative; (2) grantee information, including the grantee's agency, the grant amount awarded and the title and description of the grantee's initiative; (3) data collected and evaluations by the department regarding the efficacy of the initiatives of grant award recipients; and (4) the status of ongoing workload studies and the results of completed workload studies. J. The department shall promulgate rules to administer the program. At a minimum, the rules shall include provisions to: (1) establish procedures for submission of applications and review, evaluation and approval of proposed initiative applications; (2) accord priority attention to areas with the greatest need; and (3) evaluate the ability and competence of an applicant to provide efficiently and adequately for the completion of a proposed initiative. K. As used in this section: (1) "department" means the department of finance and administration; (2) "eligible entity" means the state or a political subdivision of the state; and (3) "fund" means the public safety workforce capacity building fund. History: Laws 2026, ch. 19, § 1.