A. The "mining commission" is created. The commission shall consist of seven voting members, including:

(1) the director of the bureau of geology and mineral resources of the New Mexico institute of mining and technology or his designee;

(2) the secretary of environment or his designee;

(3) the state engineer or his designee;

(4) the commissioner of public lands or his designee;

(5) the director of the department of game and fish or his designee; and

(6) two members of the public and an alternate for each, all to be appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate. The public members shall be chosen to represent and to balance environmental and mining interests while minimizing conflicts of interest. No more than one of the public members and one of the alternates appointed may belong to the same political party. When the initial appointments are made, one of the public members and his alternate will be designated to serve for two-year terms, after which all public members shall serve for four years. An alternate member may vote only in the absence of the public member for whom he is the alternate.

B. The chairman of the soil and water conservation commission and the director of the agricultural experiment station of New Mexico state university or their designees shall be nonvoting members of the commission.

C. The commission shall elect a chairman and other necessary officers and keep records of its proceedings.

D. The commission shall convene upon the call of the chairman or a majority of its members.

E. A majority of the voting members of the commission shall be a quorum for the transaction of business. However, no action of the commission shall be valid unless concurred upon by at least four of the members present.

F. No member of the commission, with the exception of one of the public members and his alternate, shall receive, or shall have received during the previous two years, more than ten percent of his income directly or indirectly from permit holders or applicants for permits. Each member of the commission shall, upon acceptance of his appointment and prior to the performance of any of his duties, file a statement of disclosure with the secretary of state stating:

(1) the amount of money or other valuable consideration received, whether provided directly or indirectly, from persons subject to or who appear before the commission;

(2) the identity of the source of money or other valuable consideration; and

(3) whether the money or other valuable consideration was in excess of ten percent of his gross personal income in either of the preceding two years.

G. No commissioner with any financial interest affected or potentially affected by a permit action may participate in proceedings related to that permit action.

History: Laws 1993, ch. 315, § 6; 1997, ch. 88, § 1; 2001, ch. 246, § 12.

The 2001 amendment, effective June 15, 2001, in Paragraph A(1), substituted "bureau of geology" for "bureau of mines."

The 1997 amendment, effective June 20, 1997, in Subsection A, substituted "his designee" for "an academic from a mining-related field to be appointed for a four-year term by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate" at the end of Paragraph (1); and, in Subsection B, substituted "members of" for "ex officio members to".