HOUSE BILL 253

57th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2025

INTRODUCED BY

Andrea Romero and Angelica Rubio and Kristina Ortez

and Cristina Parajón

AN ACT

RELATING TO COURT RECORDS; REQUIRING THE SEALING OF CERTAIN COURT RECORDS PERTAINING TO AN EVICTION; PROVIDING PROCEDURES FOR A PETITION TO SEAL A COURT RECORD; PROVIDING A PROCESS FOR PETITIONING FOR THE UNSEALING OF A COURT RECORD.

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

     SECTION 1. A new Section 47-8B-1 NMSA 1978 is enacted to read:

     "47-8B-1. [NEW MATERIAL] EVICTION RECORDS--SEALED COURT RECORDS--PROCEDURES--PETITION TO UNSEAL COURT RECORDS.--

          A. As used in this section:

                (1) "authorized attorney" means an attorney who has access to sealed eviction court records as determined by a policy adopted by the administrative office of the courts;

                (2) "court record" means any information contained in a docket, including the court docket, pleadings and orders;

                (3) "eviction" means an action initiated by an owner to regain possession of a dwelling unit and use of the premises from a resident pursuant to the Uniform Owner-Resident Relations Act and includes actions by the owner or management of a mobile home park, trailer park or park to regain possession and use of a mobile home, mobile home space, space, mobile home lot or lot pursuant to the Mobile Home Park Act;

                (4) "owner" means one or more persons, jointly or severally, in whom is vested all or part of the legal title to property or all or part of the beneficial ownership and a right to present use and enjoyment of the premises and agents thereof; "owner" includes a mortgagee in possession and the lessors and landlords or managers of a mobile home park pursuant to the Mobile Home Park Act, but does not include a person or persons, jointly or severally, who as owner leases the entire premises to a lessee of vacant land for apartment use;

                (5) "resident" means a person entitled under a rental agreement to occupy a dwelling unit in peaceful possession to the exclusion of others and includes the owner of a mobile home renting premises, lot or parcel in a mobile home park for use as a site for the location of the mobile home; and

                (6) "seal" means to limit access of a court record to:

                     (a) judges;

                     (b) court staff;

                     (c) authorized staff of the judicial department of the state;

                     (d) a party to the case and, if represented, the party's attorney;

                     (e) authorized attorneys; and

                     (f) a person with a valid court order or directive from the judicial technology council authorizing access to the court record.

          B. Upon the commencement of an eviction, the court record shall be sealed.

          C. When an order granting an owner possession of the premises is entered in an eviction, the court record shall be:

                (1) unsealed no less than fifteen days after the date of the order, unless:

                     (a) the parties agree and the court orders that the court record should remain sealed;

                     (b) the resident files an appeal, wherein the court record shall remain sealed through the pendency of the appeal; or

                     (c) the order is later set aside by the court, wherein the court shall as soon as practicable seal the court record; and

                (2) available to the public; provided that the court shall seal the court record no less than and as close to three years as possible after the date on which the court record was made available to the public.

          D. The names of the parties included in a sealed court record pursuant to this section may be used by the court for administrative purposes, but the court shall not publish the names of the parties online or sell or release a sealed court record as part of a bulk or individual records transfer to a third party; such bulk record request shall be subject to the provisions of Subsection G of this section.

          E. A resident who is a party to an eviction in which a court record is sealed pursuant to this section shall not be liable for failing to disclose the eviction in response to any inquiry from a third party.

          F. If a sealed court record is made available to the public pursuant to Paragraph (2) of Subsection C of this section, the court record shall be sealed again upon a resident's petition indicating that:

                (1) sealing the court record would be in the interests of justice; and

                (2) those interests are not outweighed by the public's interest in access to the records.

          G. A court record sealed pursuant to this section shall be unsealed on order of the court upon a showing of compelling need, which may include scholarly, educational, journalistic or governmental purposes. In determining whether there is a compelling need, the court shall balance the interests of the resident for nondisclosure against the interests of the requesting party. For bulk record requests, a court record sealed pursuant to this section shall be unsealed only upon a directive from the judicial technology council.

          H. Residents shall not be charged a filing fee for a petition pursuant to Subsection F of this section.

          I. A sealed court record shall be released to an authorized attorney and maintain its status as a sealed court record without being made available to the public and without a showing of compelling need.

          J. The provisions of this section shall apply to all evictions provided pursuant to the Uniform Owner-Resident Relations Act and the Mobile Home Park Act filed on or after the effective date of this 2025 act."

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