0001|                           SENATE BILL 729
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0002|     43rd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 1997
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0003|                            INTRODUCED BY
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0004|                             GLORIA HOWES
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0005|     
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0006|                                   
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0007|     
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0008|                                   
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0009|     
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0010|                                AN ACT
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0011|     RELATING TO MAGISTRATE COURT; MAKING MAGISTRATE COURT A COURT
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0012|     OF RECORD; MAKING AN APPROPRIATION.
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0013|     
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0014|     BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
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0015|          Section 1.  Section 35-1-1 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1968,
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0016|     Chapter 62, Section 3) is amended to read:
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0017|          "35-1-1.  MAGISTRATE COURT--ESTABLISHMENT.--There is
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0018|     established the "magistrate court" as a court of limited
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0019|     original jurisdiction within the judicial department of the
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0020|     state government.  Personnel of the magistrate court are
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0021|     subject to all laws and regulations applicable to other state
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0022|     offices and agencies and to other state officers and employees
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0023|     except where otherwise provided by law.  The magistrate court
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0024|     is <s>[not]</s> a court of record."
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0025|          Section 2.  Section 35-13-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1975,
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0001|     Chapter 242, Section 10, as amended) is amended to read:
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0002|          "35-13-2.  APPEALS--DISTRICT COURT PROCEEDINGS--DOCKET
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0003|     FEES--JUDGMENT.--
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0004|               <s>[A.  Appeals from the magistrate courts shall be
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<s></s>0005| <s>    tried de novo in the district court.
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<s></s>0006| <s>              B.]</s> <u>A.</u>  The district court docket fee in any
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0007|     criminal appeal is thirty-five dollars ($35.00), ten dollars
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0008|     ($10.00) of which shall be deposited in the court automation
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0009|     fund.
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0010|               <s>[C.]</s> <u>B.</u>  If the judgment of the magistrate court
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0011|     in a criminal action is affirmed or rendered against the
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0012|     appellant on appeal or if the appellant fails to appear at the
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0013|     time fixed for hearing in the district court, the district
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0014|     court shall enter judgment imposing the same, a greater or a
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0015|     lesser penalty as that imposed in the magistrate court in the
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0016|     action."
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0017|          Section 3.  APPROPRIATION.--Eight hundred thousand dollars
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0018|     ($800,000) is appropriated from the general fund to the
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0019|     administrative office of the courts for expenditure in fiscal
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0020|     year 1998 for magistrate court costs related to workload
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0021|     increases due to making magistrate courts a court of record. 
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0022|     Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of
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0023|     fiscal year 1998 shall revert to the general fund.
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0024|          Section 4.  REPEAL.--Section 35-13-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws
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0025|     1968, Chapter 62, Section 151) is repealed.
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0001|          Section 5.  EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the
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0002|     provisions of this act is July 1, 1997. 
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