Bill > SJR1

This Joint Resolution proposes an amendment to the New Mexico Constitution to allow for an additional annual distribution from the Land Grant Permanent Funds, specifically the Permanent School Fund, for teacher salaries and instruction purposes. The Land Grant Permanent Funds are derived from lands granted to New Mexico by federal acts like the Enabling Act and the Ferguson Act, and these funds are invested by the state. Currently, a portion of these funds is distributed annually, but this resolution seeks to add an extra one percent distribution, provided the fund's average market value over the preceding five years is at least seventeen billion dollars ($17,000,000,000). This additional distribution would be dedicated to supporting teachers and instruction, and the legislature could suspend it with a three-fifths vote. If approved by voters, this amendment would be placed on the ballot for the next general or a special election.