HOUSE BILL 546

51st legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2013

INTRODUCED BY

W. Ken Martinez and Michael S. Sanchez

AN ACT

RELATING TO THE COMPILATION OF STATUTES; PROVIDING FOR THE COMPILATION OF MULTIPLE AMENDMENTS TO THE SAME SECTION OF LAW WHEN THEIR PROVISIONS ARE DEEMED RECONCILABLE.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     SECTION 1. Section 12-1-8 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1977, Chapter 74, Section 5) is amended to read:

     "12-1-8. RULES OF CONSTRUCTION GOVERNING COMPILATION OF STATUTES.--In carrying out the duties provided by law and contract, absent an expressed contrary legislative intent, the secretary of the New Mexico compilation commission and the advisory committee of the supreme court shall be governed by the following rules:

          A. if two or more acts are enacted during the same session of the legislature amending the same section of the NMSA, regardless of the effective date of the acts, the act last signed by the governor [shall be presumed to be the law and] shall be compiled in the NMSA and, if the New Mexico compilation commission, after consultation with the legislative council service, determines that the provisions of one or more of the earlier signed acts can be reconciled with the act that is to be compiled, those provisions shall be incorporated in the last-signed act and compiled in the NMSA. The history following the amended section shall set forth the section, chapter and year of all acts amending the section. A compiler's note shall be included in the annotations setting forth the nature of the difference between the acts or sections, if any; and

          B. if two or more irreconcilable acts dealing with the same [subject matter] section of law are enacted by the same session of the legislature, the last act signed by the governor shall be presumed to be the law. The act last signed by the governor shall be compiled in the NMSA with an annotation following the compiled section setting forth in full the text of [the] any conflicting [acts] section."

     SECTION 2. TEMPORARY PROVISION.--Multiple amendments to the same section of law that were enacted before the effective date of this act may be reconciled and compiled in accordance with the provisions of Section 1 of this act.

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