House committee advances bill narrowing engineering-licensure requirements for utility easements

House Bill 323, which would revise exemptions in the Engineering and Surveying Practice Act to clarify when engineers employed by businesses must hold New Mexico professional licenses, received a due-pass recommendation from the Commerce & Economic Development Committee on a unanimous 11-0 vote.

The measure’s sponsor, Representative Sanchez, told the committee the bill is intended to restore long-standing practice that allowed utilities to perform design and related work inside existing utility easements without requiring a licensed professional engineer (PE). Sanchez said a change tied to a 2023 law and subsequent rulemaking had unintentionally expanded licensure requirements to utility work that has been performed under national standards for decades.

Supporters — including leaders of rural electric cooperatives and broadband contractors — told the committee the rule change added cost and delay for routine easement work and for federally funded projects. Vince Martinez, interim CEO of the New Mexico Rural Electric Cooperative Association, said cooperatives often lack in-house engineers and must contract engineering work. “This added cost at a time for projects as we roll out broadband and other things in rural New Mexico,” Martinez said, “we stand in full support of these changes today.” Scott Lopez of Vida Mijo Capital and CEOs from several distribution cooperatives made similar points, saying standards from the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) and the National Electric Safety Code already guide their work.

The New Mexico Board of Engineers and Surveyors opposed the bill. Perry Valdez, the board’s executive director, said the board adopted rule changes after receiving guidance from the National Transportation Safety Board and that licensed engineers should be involved in projects on easements and rights-of-way because they implicate public safety and public interests. “We are opposed to the bill because we feel that, in protection of the public, it should be having a licensed engineer work on projects on easements and right of ways that deal with public interests,” Valdez testified.

Committee members pressed both sides on safety and nationwide practice. Representative Matthews cited the fiscal and professional-analysis materials and expressed concern about reducing protections for the public. Supporters responded that the change the bill would make applies to work inside existing easements built to longstanding standard drawings and specifications, not to new construction, and that a professional engineer typically conducts inspections and sampling of completed work.

Committee discussion also included an estimate from testimony that the rule change could affect large federal infrastructure programs; one witness said it could potentially impact roughly $400 million of NEVI and BIL funding and could increase easement-work costs by 3–8 percent. Several witnesses said the rule change had been implemented only recently (implementation extended to January 1, 2024) and argued HB323 would restore the prior, long-standing practice.

The committee voted to give HB323 a due pass; the roll call recorded 11 yes, 0 no. The motion to give the bill a due pass was recorded in committee business and the tally announced at the conclusion of the hearing.

Implementation and next steps were not specified in committee testimony; the bill would return to the legislative calendar for further action if it advances.