New Mexico Acequia Association

Episode 16 of ¡Que Vivan las Acequias!

Listen to proceedings from Quivira Coalition Conference on January 18-20, 2007 in Albuquerque, NM with a Sembrando Semillas team presentation.

- Mentor and Coordinator Miguel Santistevan, RJ Chavez, Celestino Chavez, Karen Mirabal, DJ Duran, and Youth Mentor Margarita Garcia

Also listen to a presentation about Querencia by Estevan Arellano in this show.

Music by a man with a harmonica at the Quivira Coalition conference.

Download episode: 16quevivan.mp3

The NMAA is closely following the legislative session. To see our bill tracking list or committee schedule for the week, click below:

NMAA Bill Tracker

Committee Schedule February 12-16

These are some of the highlights:

HB 230 (B. Lujan) Acequia Governance Education, Training, and Technical Assistance appropriates $500k to DFA Local Government Division. This has cleared its first committee and is on its way to the House Appropriations Committee. NMAA is working to get this funding in HB 2 which HAFC will review on February 19th and 20th.

HB 645 (B. Lujan) Acequia and Community Ditch Fund appropriates $575k to the ACDF. This will be heard in the House Agriculture and Water Resources Committee on Thursday, February 15th at 8:30am in Room 318.

HB 579 (Cervantes) Appointment of Water Masters by Majority changes language allowing the state engineer to appoint water masters for the public interest leaving only the language requiring a vote of the majority of water right owners in a district. This will be heard in House Agriculture and WAter Resources Committee on Tuesday, February 13th at 8:30am in Room 318.

SB 901 (Griego) Domestic Well Point of Diversion was introduced by Senator Phil Griego last week. This will clarify in state law that domestic well water rights are transferable to mutual domestic water consumer associations (MDWCAs).

Join the NMAA for Dia de las Acequias!

Thursday, February 15th

11:30am - 1:30pm

State Capitol Rotunda

Click here for the schedule for the day: Acequia Day February 15th Schedule

Arrive early to visit with legislators.

Parking is available on the empty lot near the NMAA office, 607 Cerrillos Road.

NMAA will provide lunch for participants. Donations will be accepted.

For more information, call 995-9644.

Deadline for submitting Capital Outlay Request Forms is February 12, 2007.

Again, the steps are as follows:

1. Complete Capital Outlay Request Form (contact Janice 231-7749 if you need assistance with this). Print a blank form for each of the legislators you plan to ask for support.
2. Get signature of your legislators. Go to the Capitol and check in their office first thing in the morning. Otherwise, go to the 1^st floor where you have access to the chambers and ask the door attendant if you can speak with your legislator. Hand them a note or business card and maybe you can see your legislator. As a last resort, give us the paperwork and we will get the signatures.
3. Each legislator is different…. Make sure your form gets into the hands of your legislator and is signed well before the deadline. Try to make sure it gets introduced before the deadline. You can see what has been introduced on the capital outlay list on the legislative website. Let us know if you need help tracking.
4. We’ve heard from legislators that they have not gotten very requests from acequias.
5. You should receive a phone call from your sponsor on the House when you have a hearing. Janice is also helping get the notice out.