HOUSE BILL 291

53rd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2017

INTRODUCED BY

Nathan P. Small and Javier Martínez and Rebecca Dow

AN ACT

RELATING TO PUBLIC OFFICERS; CHANGING REQUIREMENTS OF THE FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE ACT; REQUIRING APPOINTEES TO VACANT ELECTIVE OFFICES TO FILE FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE STATEMENTS.

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

     SECTION 1. Section 10-16A-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1993, Chapter 46, Section 41, as amended) is amended to read:

     "10-16A-3. REQUIRED DISCLOSURES FOR CERTAIN CANDIDATES AND PUBLIC OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES--CONDITION FOR PLACEMENT ON BALLOT OR APPOINTMENT.--

          A. At the time of filing a declaration of candidacy or nominating petition, a candidate for legislative or statewide office shall file with the [proper filing officer, as defined in Section 1-8-25 NMSA 1978] secretary of state a financial disclosure statement on a prescribed form. In addition, each year thereafter during the month of January, a legislator and a person holding a statewide office shall file with the [proper filing officer] secretary of state a financial disclosure statement. [If the proper filing officer is not the secretary of state, the proper filing officer shall forward a copy of the financial disclosure statement to the secretary of state within seventy-two hours.]

          B. A state agency head, a person appointed to fill a vacancy in a state elective office, an official whose appointment to a board or commission is subject to confirmation by the senate or a member of the insurance nominating committee shall file with the secretary of state a financial disclosure statement within thirty days of appointment and during the month of January every year thereafter that the person holds public office.

          C. The financial disclosure statement shall include for any person identified in Subsection A or B of this section and the person's spouse the following information for the prior calendar year:

                (1) the full name, mailing address and residence address of each person covered in the disclosure statement, except the address of the spouse need not be disclosed; the name and address of the person's and spouse's employer and the title or position held; and a brief description of the nature of the business or occupation;

                (2) all sources of gross income of more than five thousand dollars ($5,000) to each person covered in the disclosure statement, identified by general category descriptions that disclose the nature of the income source, in the following broad categories: law practice or consulting operation or similar business, finance and banking, farming and ranching, medicine and health care, insurance (as a business and not as payment on an insurance claim), oil and gas, transportation, utilities, general stock market holdings, bonds, government, education, manufacturing, real estate, consumer goods sales with a general description of the consumer goods and the category "other", with direction that the income source be similarly described. In describing a law practice, consulting operation or similar business of the person or spouse, the major areas of specialization or income sources shall be described, and if the spouse or a person in the reporting person's or spouse's law firm, consulting operation or similar business is or was during the reporting calendar year or the prior calendar year a registered lobbyist under the Lobbyist Regulation Act, the names and addresses of all clients represented for lobbying purposes during those two years shall be disclosed;

                (3) a general description of the type of real estate owned in New Mexico, other than a personal residence, and the county where it is located;

                (4) all other New Mexico business interests not otherwise listed of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) or more in a New Mexico business or entity, including any position held and a general statement of purpose of the business or entity;

                (5) all memberships held by the reporting individual and the individual's spouse on boards of for-profit businesses in New Mexico;

                (6) all New Mexico professional licenses held;

                (7) each state agency that was sold goods or services in excess of five thousand dollars ($5,000) during the prior calendar year by a person covered in the disclosure statement;

                (8) each state agency, other than a court, before which a person covered in the disclosure statement represented or assisted clients in the course of the person's employment during the prior calendar year; and

                (9) a general category that allows the person filing the disclosure statement to provide whatever other financial interest or additional information the person believes should be noted to describe potential areas of interest that should be disclosed.

          D. A complete financial disclosure statement shall be filed every year. [The secretary of state shall mail each elected official required to file a financial disclosure statement a copy of any statement the person filed the previous year.]

          E. The financial disclosure statements filed pursuant to this section are public records open to public inspection during regular office hours and shall be retained by the secretary of state [for five years from the date of filing] as long as the official is in office or a position of authority, and thereafter be retained in accordance with the Public Records Act.

          F. A person who files a financial disclosure statement may file an amended statement at any time to reflect significant changed circumstances that occurred since the last statement was filed.

          G. A candidate for a legislative or statewide office who fails or refuses to file a financial disclosure statement required by this section before the final date for the withdrawal of candidates provided for in the Election Code shall not have the candidate's name printed on the election ballot.

          H. For a state agency head, an official whose appointment to a board or commission is subject to confirmation by the senate or a member of the insurance nominating committee, the filing of the financial disclosure statement required by this section is a condition of entering upon and continuing in state employment or holding an appointed position."