A. The "New Mexico agricultural workforce development program" is created and shall be administered by the department. The department shall establish policies for the program that specify, at a minimum:

(1) criteria for selecting agricultural businesses for participation in the program, including the ability of a business to effectively supervise an intern and offer the intern an opportunity to obtain meaningful work experience through the business;

(2) criteria for an internship to qualify under the program, including requirements that the internship:

(a) provide an intern with at least one hundred thirty hours of work experience;

(b) not exceed one year in duration per intern; and

(c) pay an intern an hourly wage rate that is no less than the minimum wage rate established in Section 50-4-22 NMSA 1978;

(3) criteria for an agricultural business to use in selecting qualified interns; provided that an immediate family member shall not be eligible to qualify as an intern;

(4) the process and timetable for selecting qualified agricultural businesses and qualified interns;

(5) accounting requirements for tracking internship costs; and

(6) the process for an agricultural business to seek reimbursement.

B. Subject to appropriations by the legislature, the board, on behalf of the department, may reimburse a participating agricultural business in an amount not to exceed fifty percent of the actual cost to the business of participating in the program. Actual cost includes the wages paid to an intern, a reasonable allocation of fixed overhead expenses and all incidental costs directly related to the internship. Based on the annual appropriation for the program, the director shall determine how many internships may be approved, the amount of reimbursement per internship and whether an agricultural business may be reimbursed for more than one intern in the same calendar year; provided that an agricultural business shall not be reimbursed for more than three internships in the same calendar year.

C. The department shall annually report to the appropriate interim legislative committee on the effectiveness of the program in achieving the purpose of the New Mexico Agricultural Workforce Development Program Act.

History: Laws 2019, ch. 236, § 3.

Effective dates. — Laws 2019, ch. 236 contained no effective date provision, but, pursuant to N.M. Const., art. IV, § 23, was effective June 14, 2019, 90 days after the adjournment of the legislature.