MEDICAL SERVICES & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

HB0321

HOUSE BILL 321

57th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2026

INTRODUCED BY

Meredith A. Dixon

AN ACT

RELATING TO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT; AMENDING THE LOCAL ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT ACT; ALLOWING FOR MEDICAL SERVICES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

SECTION 1.
Section 5-10-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1993,
Chapter 297, Section 3, as amended by Laws 2021, Chapter 3,
Section 1 and by Laws 2021, Chapter 135, Section 1) is amended
to read:

"5-10-3. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Local Economic
Development Act:

A. "arts and cultural district" means a developed
district of public and private uses that is created pursuant to
the Arts and Cultural District Act;

B. "broadband telecommunications network
facilities" means the electronics, equipment, transmission
facilities, fiber-optic cables and any other item directly
related to a system capable of transmission of internet
protocol or other formatted data at current federal
communications commission baseline speed standard, all of which
will be owned and used by a provider of internet access
services;

C. "cultural facility" means a facility that is
owned by the state, a county, a municipality or a qualifying
entity that serves the public through preserving, educating and
promoting the arts and culture of a particular locale,
including theaters, museums, libraries, galleries, cultural
compounds, educational organizations, performing arts venues
and organizations, fine arts organizations, studios and media
laboratories and live-work housing facilities;

D. "department" means the economic development
department;

E. "economic development project" or "project"
means the
project of a qualifying entity for which public
support may be provided pursuant to the Local Economic
Development Act;

F. "governing body" means the city council, city
commission or board of trustees of a municipality or the board
of county commissioners of a county;

G. "local government" means a municipality or
county;

H. "municipality" means an incorporated city, town
or village;

I. "new full-time economic base job" means a job:

(1) that is primarily performed in New Mexico;

(2) that is held by an employee who is hired
to work an average of at least thirty-two hours per week for at
least forty-eight weeks per year;

(3) that is:

(a) involved, directly or in a
supervisory capacity, with the production of: 1) a service;
provided that the majority of the revenue generated from the
service is from sources outside the state; or 2) tangible or
intangible personal property for sale; or

(b) held by an employee who is employed
at a regional, national or international headquarters operation
or at an operation that primarily provides services for other
operations of the qualifying entity that are located outside
the state; and

(4) that is not directly involved with natural
resources extraction or processing, on-site services where the
customer is present for the delivery of the service, retail,
construction or agriculture except for value-added processing
performed on agricultural products that would then be sold for
wholesale or retail consumption;

J. "person" means an individual, corporation,
association, partnership or other legal entity;

K. "public support" means the provision of
assistance by the state to a local or regional government or
the provision of direct or indirect assistance to a qualifying
entity by a local or regional government for an economic
development project. "Public support":

(1) includes the provision of:

(a) land, buildings or other
infrastructure, by purchase, lease, grant, construction,
reconstruction, improvement or other acquisition or conveyance;

(b) the placement of new broadband
telecommunications network facilities; provided that the
facilities shall not serve a public facility or location that
already meets federal communications commission baseline speed
standards;

(c) rights-of-way infrastructure,
including trenching and conduit, for the placement of new
broadband telecommunications network facilities;

(d) public works improvements essential
to the location or expansion of a qualifying entity;

(e) payments for professional services
contracts necessary for local or regional governments to
implement a plan or provide public support for a project;

(f) direct loans or grants for land,
buildings or infrastructure;

(g) technical assistance to cultural
facilities;

(h) loan guarantees securing the cost of
land, buildings or infrastructure in an amount not to exceed
the revenue that may be derived from an increment of the: 1)
municipal gross receipts tax imposed at a rate not to exceed
one-fourth percent and dedicated by the ordinance imposing the
increment for projects; or 2) county gross receipts tax imposed
at a rate not to exceed one-eighth percent and dedicated by the
ordinance imposing the increment for projects;

(i) grants for public works
infrastructure improvements essential to the location or
expansion of a qualifying entity and grants or subsidies to
cultural facilities;

(j) land for a publicly held industrial
park or a publicly owned cultural facility, by purchase; and

(k) the construction of a building for
use by a qualifying entity; but

(2) does not include the purchase, lease,
grant or other acquisition or conveyance of water rights;

L. "qualifying entity" means a corporation, limited
liability company, partnership, joint venture, syndicate,
association or other person that is one or a combination of two
or more of the following:

(1) an industry for the manufacturing,
processing or assembling of agricultural or manufactured
products;

(2) a commercial enterprise for storing,
warehousing, distributing or selling products of agriculture,
mining or industry, but, other than as provided in Paragraph
(5), (6) or (9) of this subsection, not including any
enterprise for sale of goods or commodities at retail or for
distribution to the public of electricity, gas, water or
telephone or other services commonly classified as public
utilities;

(3) a business, including a restaurant or
lodging establishment, in which all or part of the activities
of the business involves the supplying of services to the
general public or to governmental agencies or to a specific
industry or customer, but, other than as provided in Paragraph
(5) or (9) of this subsection, not including businesses
primarily engaged in the sale of goods or commodities at
retail;

(4) an Indian nation, tribe or pueblo or a
federally chartered tribal corporation;

(5) a telecommunications sales enterprise that
makes the majority of its sales to persons outside New Mexico;

(6) a facility for the direct sales by growers
of agricultural products, commonly known as farmers' markets;

(7) a business that is the developer of a
metropolitan redevelopment project;

(8) a cultural facility; [
and
]

(9) a retail business;
and

(10) a business providing medical services
performed by a person licensed pursuant to the following acts,
which services are within the person's scope of practice:

(a) Medical Practice Act;

(b) Physical Therapy Act;

(c) Occupational Therapy Act;

(d) Speech-Language Pathology, Audiology
and Hearing Aid Dispensing Practices Act;

(e) Pharmacy Act;

(f) Nutrition and Dietetics Practice
Act;

(g) Respiratory Care Act;

(h) Medical Imaging and Radiation
Therapy Health and Safety Act;

(i) Dental Health Care Act;

(j) Professional Psychologist Act;

(k) Counseling and Therapy Practice Act;

(l) Nursing Practice Act;

(m) Optometry Act; or

(n) Emergency Medical Services Act;

M. "regional government" means any combination of
municipalities and counties that enter into a joint powers
agreement to provide public support for economic development
projects pursuant to a plan adopted by all parties to the joint
powers agreement; and

N. "retail business" means a business that is
primarily engaged in the sale of goods or commodities at retail
and that is located:

(1) in a municipality with a population,
according to the most recent federal decennial census, of:

(a) fifteen thousand or less; or

(b) more than fifteen thousand if the
economic development project is not funded or financed with
state government revenues; or

(2) in an unincorporated area of a county."

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