Representative Susan K. Herrera
IAL 11222019
New Mexico Attorney General Opinion
State of New Mexico Office of The Attorney General
November 22, 2019
Hector
H. Balderas, Attorney General.
Representative
Susan K. Herrera
New
Mexico House of Representatives
P.O.
Box 189
Embudo,
N.M. 87531
Re:
Opinion Request - Nonprofit Public Libraries and the
Anti-donation Clause
Dear
Representative Herrera:
You
requested our opinion with respect to government funding for
nonprofit public libraries. Specifically, you inquired
whether such libraries are exempt from the provisions of
Article IX, Section 14 of the New Mexico Constitution (the
"Anti-donation Clause").[1] As explained below, we
conclude nonprofit public libraries are not exempt from the
Anti-donation Clause.
Background
As a
preliminary matter, we first recognize the applicability of
the recently enacted Rural Libraries Endowment Fund Act (the
"Act"), NMSA 1978, Section 18-18-1 et seq. (2019),
which provides a scheme for government funding to be
disbursed to nonprofit public libraries. The Act establishes
a rural libraries endowment fund in the state treasury to
support the preservation, development and establishment of
rural libraries, and provides for their operational and
capital needs and funding for the delivery of specialized
services to rural libraries. See NMSA 1978, Section
18-18-1. Such endowment fund consists of appropriations and
donations to the fund and all income from investment of the
fund. Id. The Act creates a rural libraries grant
program whereby the state librarian is charged with annually
disbursing money from the rural libraries program fund, in
the form of grants directly benefiting developing rural
libraries and established rural libraries and grants for the
establishment of developing rural libraries in cities, towns
and villages without libraries. See NMSA 1978,
Section 18-18-2. The rural libraries program fund consists of
distributions from the rural libraries endowment fund that
are designated for the rural libraries grant program and
appropriations, gifts, interest and other money attributed to
the fund. See NMS A 1978, Section 18-18-2. Under the
Act, a "rural library" includes a library that is
established as a corporation with tax-exempt status pursuant
to Section 501(c)(3) of the United...
