A. Occupancy in the New Mexico state veterans' home and the Fort Bayard medical center veterans' unit shall be for veterans of service in the armed forces of the United States who have served on active duty pursuant to rules adopted by the secretary of veterans' services consistent with federal guidelines. To be eligible for admission and continued occupancy, a veteran must be a citizen of the United States who enlisted or was drafted, inducted or commissioned in the armed forces of the United States, who was accepted for and assigned to active duty in the armed forces and was not separated from the armed forces under circumstances amounting to a dishonorable discharge from the armed forces.

B. Additionally, no more than twenty-five percent of the occupancy in the New Mexico state veterans' home shall consist of nonveterans from the following categories:

(1) spouses;

(2) surviving spouses; and

(3) gold star parents, as defined in the Veterans' Services Department Act [Chapter 9, Article 22 NMSA 1978].

C. Whenever a law, rule or regulation of the United States department of veterans affairs or any other law permits the state to receive federal funds for the use and benefit of the New Mexico state veterans' home, upon acceptance of a veteran of the armed forces of the United States not meeting the requirements of Subsection A of this section, the New Mexico veterans' home advisory board may adopt rules to authorize such veteran's acceptance.

History: 1953 Comp., § 74-7-3, enacted by Laws 1974 (S.S.), ch. 2, § 4; 1983, ch. 329, § 3; 1986, ch. 103, § 2; 1987, ch. 133, § 2; 1993, ch. 7, § 2; 2001, ch. 40, § 2; 2017, ch. 84, § 9.

The 2017 amendment, effective July 1, 2017, revised the eligibility standards for admission and continued occupancy in the New Mexico state veterans' home and the Fort Bayard medical center veterans' unit, and authorized the New Mexico home advisory board to adopt rules authorizing acceptance of veterans that do not meet the eligibility requirements in certain circumstances; in Subsection A, after "secretary of", deleted "health" and added "veterans' services", after "a veteran must be", deleted the paragraph designation "(1)", after "discharge from the armed forces", deleted "and" and deleted former Paragraph A(2); in Subsection B, Paragraph B(3), after "parents,", added "as defined in the Veterans' Services Department Act"; and in Subsection C, after "regulation of the", deleted "veterans' administration of the federal government" and added "United States department of veterans affairs", after "Subsection A of this section, the", added "New Mexico veterans' home advisory", and after "board", deleted "trustees".

The 2001 amendment, effective June 15, 2001, substituted "state veterans' home" for "veterans' center" and "rules" for "rules and regulations" throughout the section.

The 1993 amendment, effective June 18, 1993, in Subsection A, substituted "New Mexico veterans' center and the Fort Bayard medical center veterans' unit" for "center", substituted "on active duty" for "at least ninety days of active duty", and deleted "and environment" following "health" in the first sentence, rewrote Paragraph (1) which read "release or separation from the service with an honorable discharge", and substituted "admission" for "application" at the end of Paragraph (2); and made stylistic changes in Subsections B and C.