2018 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 10 - Public Officers and Employees
Article 16 - Governmental Conduct
Section 10-16-3 - Ethical principles of public service; certain official acts prohibited; penalty.
A. A legislator or public officer or employee shall treat the legislator's or public officer's or employee's government position as a public trust. The legislator or public officer or employee shall use the powers and resources of public office only to advance the public interest and not to obtain personal benefits or pursue private interests.
B. Legislators and public officers and employees shall conduct themselves in a manner that justifies the confidence placed in them by the people, at all times maintaining the integrity and discharging ethically the high responsibilities of public service.
C. Full disclosure of real or potential conflicts of interest shall be a guiding principle for determining appropriate conduct. At all times, reasonable efforts shall be made to avoid undue influence and abuse of office in public service.
D. No legislator or public officer or employee may request or receive, and no person may offer a legislator or public officer or employee, any money, thing of value or promise thereof that is conditioned upon or given in exchange for promised performance of an official act. Any person who knowingly and willfully violates the provisions of this subsection is guilty of a fourth degree felony and shall be sentenced pursuant to the provisions of Section 31-18-15 NMSA 1978.
History: 1978 Comp., § 10-16-3, enacted by Laws 1993, ch. 46, § 28; 2007, ch. 362, § 2; 2011, ch. 138, § 3.
Repeals and reenactments. — Laws 1993, ch. 46, § 28 repealed former 10-16-3 NMSA 1978, as enacted by Laws 1967, ch. 306, § 3, relating to gifts, and enacted a new section, effective July 1, 1993.
The 2011 amendment, effective July 1, 2011, in Subsection A, eliminated the qualification that prohibited personal benefits and private interests must be incompatible with the public interest.
The 2007 amendment, effective July 1, 2007, made grammatical changes.
Judge's conviction invalid. — The legislature expressly chose to exclude judges from application of the Governmental Conduct Act. Therefore, a judge could not be convicted of violating official acts prohibited under 10-16-3(D) NMSA 1978, and violating official acts prohibited by that section could not be used as the predicate felony to support the defendant's conviction of criminal sexual penetration during the commission of a felony. State v. Maestas, 2007-NMSC-001, 140 N.M. 836, 149 P.3d 933.
Bond attorneys. — The provision of the Governmental Conduct Act that limits contributions to state officers and employees by businesses that provide financial services does not apply to lawyers who perform bond work for the state. 2007 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 07-04.
Holding a cabinet office and a university position. — The concurrent holding of a cabinet office and a position with a university regulated, to any degree, by the cabinet office raises the conflict of interest issues addressed by the Governmental Conduct Act and may require the cabinet officer to relinquish the officer's university position. 2007 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 07-06.
Free passes for racing commissioners disallowed. — When the members of the racing commission distribute free passes which the tracks must honor they are requesting a benefit for themselves or for those upon whom they wish to confer a benefit from persons who are directly affected by their official acts, which is the kind of activity this article is intended to prevent. 1979 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 79-15.
Public employees retirement board members could not accept expense-paid trip. — Public employees retirement board members could not accept an offer of an expense-paid trip to Columbus, Ohio to be hosted by public employees benefit services corporation. 1989 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 89-21.
