Summary:

 Senate Bill 22 (SB 22) alphabetizes and adds definitions to the Water Quality Act and provides for certain Water Quality Control Commission rules relating to the regulation of water pollution. SB 22 creates the Neglected and Contaminated Sites Fund and provides for general permit coverage for multiple dischargers. It revises the Water Quality Management
Fund and distribution of certain penalties and amends the Fund’s purposes. SB 22 allows for the denial of permits that would contribute to water contaminant levels in excess of downstream state or tribal water quality standards. It amends notice requirements for Water Quality Act permits and provides for certain uses of permit fees. It creates certain exceptions for surface water discharges. SB 22 appropriates fifty million dollars ($50,000,000) and declares an emergency.


 

Legislation Overview:

 Senate Bill 22 (SB 22) alphabetizes and adds definitions to the Water Quality Act in Section 74-6-2 NMSA 1979 increasing the number from nineteen to twenty-seven definitions ranging from barrier through water pollution.
In Section 74-6-4 NMSA 1978, it requires the Water Quality Control Commission (WQCC) to adopt rules governing the prevention or abatement of water pollution that include provisions for the responsible party and defenses of the responsible party that are equivalent to and no less stringent than certain federal regulations and rules for the discharges of dredged or fill material that will avoid or minimize the adverse impacts to wetlands, streams and other aquatic resources. These rules may require compensatory mitigation for unavoidable adverse impacts even after certain avoidance and minimization measures have been achieved. SB 22 mandates the adoption of rules that the department for state-led response, investigation and remediation of water pollution and contamination in soil and soil vapor will administer and the adoption of rules governing the transfer and use of treated wastewater for potable reuse that the NMED will administer. It allows the rules governing the potable reuse of wastewater to include the use of existing permitting systems or create new permitting rules that require the means necessary to ensure that potable reuse projects are conducted in a manner that is directly protective of human health. 
In Section 74-6-5 NMSA 1978, SB 22 includes general permit coverage for discharge of certain water contaminants or disposal or reuse of septage or sludge. It allows for the denial of permits that would contribute to water contaminant levels in excess of downstream state or tribal water quality standards. SB 22 amends the notice requirements to include Indian nations, tribes and pueblos and sets the manner of public notice including, for the general public, such methods as electronic mail to those requesting such notice, social media posts, radio announcements or advertisements in a newspaper of general circulation in the location of the discharge or proposed
Discharge. It deletes the requirements for issuance of renewals of permits. It allows surface water permits issued for fixed terms of up to ten years. SB 22 directs the WQCC to provide rules for a fee schedule that is sufficient to pay the cost of developing and implementing the permitting rules, including records management and administrative and legal costs. It creates three exceptions relating to farm and ranching activities for surface water discharges.
SB 22 revises the Water Quality Management Fund to be nonreverting; includes fees and penalties under Section 74-6-5H NMSA 1978, and for the operation and maintenance of a permitted facility under this same section. The money in the fund can be used to administer rules under Sections 74-6-4 NMSA1978 as well as under Section 74-6-5 NMSA 1978. It distributes penalties for surface waters to the Water Quality Management Fund and penalties for ground water, unless otherwise required by law, to the newly created Neglected and Contaminated Sites Fund.  This Neglected and Contaminated Sites Fund is nonreverting and appropriated to the department for state-led response, investigation and remediation of water pollution and contamination in soil and soil vapor.
It makes conforming changes to Section 74-6-12 NMSA 1978 and preempts the provisions and commission’s power under the Oil and Gas Act when there is discharge of a water contaminant
to a surface water.
SB 22 appropriates fifty million dollars ($50,000,000) from the General Fund (GF) to Neglected
and Contaminated Sites Fund for expenditure in Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 and subsequent FYs for the purposes of the fund, for contracted expenditures and to provide full-time employees and s and supplies for the State Ground Water Quality Bureau of the NMED to implement a
state-led response, investigation and remediation of water pollution and contamination in soil and soil vapor at neglected and contaminated sites.   
Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of a FY will not revert to the GF.
There is a severability clause and SB 22 declares an emergency.
 

Amendments:

 1/30/25
The Senate Conservation Committee amended SB 22 (SB 22A SCONC) by limiting the rules concerning transfer and use of treated wastewater to treated domestic wastewater. It includes normal silviculture activities and discharge composed entirely of return flows from irrigation in the exemptions in Section T. SB 22A SCONC prohibits the application of the exceptions in Section T when the discharge of dredged or fill material contains any toxic pollutant as set forth in rules adopted by the commission or if a new activity brings a surface water of the state into farm production where the area of the surface water has not previously been used for farming.