SENATE BILL 147
50th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2011
INTRODUCED BY
David Ulibarri
FOR THE ECONOMIC AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
AN ACT
RELATING TO PUBLIC NOTICE; PROVIDING FOR ALTERNATIVE PUBLICATION OF LEGAL NOTICES ON AN AUTHORIZED WEB SITE.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
SECTION 1. Section 12-2A-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1997, Chapter 173, Section 3) is amended to read:
"12-2A-3. GENERAL DEFINITIONS.--In the statutes and rules of New Mexico:
[A. "annually" means per year;
B.] A. "age of majority" begins on the first instant of an individual's eighteenth birthday;
B. "annually" means per year;
C. "authorized web site" means the official web site established pursuant to Section 14-11-1 NMSA 1978;
[C.] D. "child" includes a child by adoption;
[D.] E. "oath" includes an affirmation;
[E.] F. "person" means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture or any other legal or commercial entity;
[F.] G. "personal property" means property other than real property;
[G.] H. "personal representative" of a decedent's estate includes an administrator and executor;
[H.] I. "population" means the number of individuals enumerated in the most recent federal decennial census;
[I.] J. "property" means real and personal property;
K. "qualified radio or television station" means a radio or television station that has a commercial license issued by the federal communications commission and is a full-power station;
[J.] L. "real property" means an estate or interest in, over or under land and other things or interests, including minerals, water, structures and fixtures, that by custom, usage or law pass with a transfer of land even if the estate or interest is not described or mentioned in the contract of sale or instrument of conveyance and, if appropriate to the context, the land in which the estate or interest is claimed;
[K.] M. "rule" means a rule, regulation, order, standard or statement of policy, including amendments thereto or repeals thereof, adopted and promulgated by an administrative agency, that purports to affect one or more administrative agencies other than the promulgating agency or that purports to affect persons who are not members or employees of the promulgating agency;
[L.] N. "sign" or "subscribe" includes the execution or adoption of any symbol by a person with the present intention to authenticate a writing;
[M.] O. "state" means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States;
[N.] P. "swear" includes affirm;
[O.] Q. "will" includes a codicil; and
[P.] R. "written" and "in writing" includes printing, engraving or any other mode of representing words and letters; provided that for purposes of the publication of legal notices and advertisements, the requirement for written notice may be satisfied by posting on the authorized web site."
SECTION 2. Section 14-11-1 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1937, Chapter 167, Section 1) is amended to read:
"14-11-1. LEGAL NOTICES AND ADVERTISEMENTS DEFINED.--Any notice or other written matter [whatsoever] required to be published in a newspaper by any law of this state or by the order of any court of record of this state shall be deemed [and held to be] a legal notice or advertisement within the meaning of [this Act] Chapter 14, Article 11 NMSA 1978; provided that the requirement of publication may be satisfied by posting on the authorized web site. Each qualified radio or television station shall without charge at least once a day between the hours of 5:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. announce the availability of legal notices and advertisements on the authorized web site. The New Mexico broadcasters association shall be responsible for establishing and maintaining the authorized web site, www.nmlegalnotices.com, which shall be promoted by members of the New Mexico broadcasters association."
SECTION 3. Section 14-11-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1937, Chapter 167, Section 2, as amended) is amended to read:
"14-11-2. REQUIREMENT FOR PUBLICATION OF LEGAL NOTICE OR ADVERTISEMENT.--
A. Any and every legal notice or advertisement shall be published:
(1) in a daily, tri-weekly, [a] semi-weekly or [a] weekly newspaper of general circulation that can be obtained by single copy and that is entered under the second class postage privilege in the county in which the notice or advertisement is required to be published; [which] or
(2) by posting on the authorized web site, which electronic posting shall be archived and accessible for a period of not less than five years.
B. The newspaper in which a legal notice or advertisement is published:
(1) if the newspaper is published tri-weekly, semi-weekly or weekly, shall have been so published in the county continuously and uninterruptedly during the period of at least twenty-six consecutive weeks next prior to the first issue thereof containing any such notice or advertisement; and [which newspaper]
(2) if the newspaper is published daily, shall have been so published in the county uninterruptedly and continuously during the period of at least six months next prior to the first issue thereof containing any such notice or advertisement; provided that the mere change in the name of any newspaper or the removal of the principal business office or seat of publication of any newspaper from one place to another in the same county shall not break or affect the continuity in the publication of any such newspaper if the newspaper is in fact continuously and uninterruptedly printed and published within the county [as provided in this section; provided further that].
C. A newspaper or the authorized web site shall not lose its rights as a legal publication if it fails to publish one or more of its issues by reason of fire, flood, accident, transportation embargo or tie-up, electrical or web-hosting outage or other casualty beyond the control of the publisher [provided further that any].
D. A legal notice [which] or advertisement that fails [of publication] to be published in the newspaper or on the authorized web site for the required number of insertions by reasons beyond the control of the publisher of the newspaper or the authorized web site shall not be declared illegal if the publication has been made in one issue of the [publication and provided further that] newspaper or on the authorized web site.
E. If in any county in this state there has not been published any newspaper for the prescribed period at the time when any such notice or advertisement is required to be published, the notice or advertisement may be published in any newspaper having a general circulation or published and printed in whole or in part in that county and that can be obtained by single copy in that county.
F. A New Mexico qualified radio or television station shall not violate Section 14-11-1 NMSA 1978 if it fails to announce the availability of legal notices and advertisements on the authorized web site by reason of fire, flood, accidental or other casualty beyond the control of the station."
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