2021 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 12 - Miscellaneous Public Affairs Matters
Article 1 - Compilation Commission
Section 12-1-3 - Powers of commission.

The New Mexico compilation commission, acting on the advice and approval of an advisory committee appointed by the New Mexico supreme court, may:

A. provide for official, annotated compilations of the New Mexico statutes and court rules as approved by the supreme court and all other necessary things pertaining to the publication, including online publication, of any compilation and related publications;

B. provide for the licensing of the content of the compilation and any related publications;

C. contract with a publisher for any compilation or related publications as may be necessary or desirable to carry out the provisions of this section;

D. do all things necessary to keep current the master database of publications published or authorized for publication by the compilation commission; and

E. hire an executive director, who shall:

(1) serve as the chief administrative officer of the commission;

(2) serve at the pleasure of the commission;

(3) carry out the policies established by the commission; and

(4) within available funding, hire such additional staff as necessary to effectuate the powers exercised by the commission.

History: 1953 Comp., § 1-1-3, enacted by Laws 1977, ch. 74, § 2; 1979, ch. 106, § 4; 2006, ch. 70, § 2; 2019, ch. 74, § 3.

The 2019 amendment, effective May 3, 2019, clarified that the official, annotated compilations of the New Mexico compilation commission include court rules as approved by the Supreme Court and the publication of official compilations includes online publication, provided for the licensing of content of the compilation and any related publications, authorized the commission to contract with a publisher for related publications and to keep current a master database of publications that are published or authorized to be published, and removed a provision authorizing the commission to exchange compilations and supplements with libraries of other states and territories; in Subsection A, after "New Mexico statutes", deleted "including" and added "and", after "court rules", deleted "governing practice and procedure in the state courts, provide for supplements to the compilation" and added "as approved by the supreme court", and after "pertaining to the publication" added "including online publication"; in Subsection B, after "provide for the", deleted "sale" and added "licensing of the content", and after "compilation and", deleted "the supplements thereto" and added "any related publications"; deleted former Subsection C, which related to exchanging compilations and supplements with exchange libraries of other states and territories, and redesignated former Subsections D through F as Subsections C through E, respectively; in Subsection C, after "compilation", added "or related publications"; and in Subsection D, after "keep current", deleted "one or more computer databases" and added "the master database", and after "publications published", added "or authorized for publication", and after "by the compilation commission", deleted "and parallel tables prepared by the commission for computerized search and manipulation".

Temporary provisions. — Laws 2019, ch. 74, § 9 provided:

A. On the effective date of this act, May 3, 2019, all state, local and district officers designated by the New Mexico compilation commission to receive distributions of sets of the compilation, replacement volumes or replacement pamphlets may dispose of such sets according to procedures set out for disposal of surplus property. Sets shall not be delivered or returned to the office of the commission in Santa Fe. The commission shall determine how many full sets of the printed statutes and other publications it will maintain for historical, reference and possible replacement purposes, and the remainder of the sets held by the commission may be disposed of according to procedures set out for the disposal of surplus property.

B. All contracts in effect on the effective date of this act, May 3, 2019, shall continue to be effective until the contract has been completed or the commission decides to terminate the contract.

C. On the effective date of this act, May 3, 2019, all references in law and other legal documents to the New Mexico statutes annotated or the NMSA 1978 shall be deemed to be references to the content of the master database.

The 2006 amendment, effective July 1, 2006, deleted the provision that the commission acts through the secretary; deleted former Subsection A, which provided that the commission carry out the contract referred to in Section 12-1-1 NMSA 1978; provided in Subsection A (formerly Subsection B) that the official compilation includes court rules governing practice and procedure in state courts; and added a new Subsection F to authorize and provide the duties of an executive director.

Compilation presumptively official. — Compiled versions of statutes and court rules, certified by the compilation commission, are presumptively official. State v. Sandoval, 2003-NMSC-027, 134 N.M. 453, 78 P.3d 907.

Rules compilation. — Where the supreme court authorized the compilation commission to follow a set of drafting guidelines in the recompilation of the 1986 Supreme Court Rules Annotated, and the court approved the recompiled versions of the rules, instructions and forms, the version of the rules appearing in the 1986 Supreme Court Rules Annotated, and later in the New Mexico Rules Annotated, was the "official" version approved by the supreme court. State v. Sandoval, 2003-NMSC-027, 134 N.M. 453, 78 P.3d 907.

The advisory committee's advice and approval is a condition precedent to the valid exercise of the compilation commission's authority. — Where petitioner sought a writ of mandamus directing respondent, the advisory committee to the New Mexico compilation commission, to effectuate the compilation of three constitutional amendments, and where respondent argued that it was not the proper respondent for the relief being sought by petitioner, because it had no responsibility to declare the results of an election and it therefore has not failed to fulfill any legal duty to petitioner, the New Mexico supreme court held that the advisory committee is the proper respondent because the New Mexico compilation commission's duty is to compile, certify, and publish the various laws and duly ratified constitutional amendments of the state of New Mexico and the advisory committee's advice and approval is a condition precedent to the valid exercise of the compilation commission's authority. State ex rel. League of Women Voters v. Advisory Comm., 2017-NMSC-025.