45th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2001

RELATING TO LAW ENFORCEMENT; INCREASING THE CONSIDERATION PAID TO TRIBES FOR ENFORCEMENT OF STATE LAW; AMENDING SECTIONS OF THE NMSA 1978; DECLARING AN EMERGENCY.

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

Section 1. Section 29-1-11 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1972, Chapter 8, Section 1, as amended) is amended to read:

"29-1-11. AUTHORIZATION OF TRIBAL AND PUEBLO POLICE OFFICERS AND CERTAIN FEDERAL OFFICERS TO ACT AS NEW MEXICO PEACE OFFICERS--AUTHORITY, PAYMENT AND PROCEDURE FOR COMMISSIONED PEACE OFFICERS.--

A. All persons who are duly commissioned officers of the police or sheriff's department of any New Mexico Indian tribe or pueblo or who are law enforcement officers employed by the bureau of Indian affairs and are assigned in New Mexico are, when commissioned under Subsection B of this section, recognized and authorized to act as New Mexico peace officers. These officers have all the powers of New Mexico peace officers to enforce state laws in New Mexico, including the power to make arrests for violation of state laws.

B. The chief of the New Mexico state police is granted authority to issue commissions as New Mexico peace officers to members of the police or sheriff's department of any New Mexico Indian tribe or pueblo or a law enforcement officer employed by the bureau of Indian affairs to implement the provisions of this section. The procedures to be followed in the issuance and revocation of commissions and the respective rights and responsibilities of the departments shall be set forth in a written agreement to be executed between the chief of the New Mexico state police and the tribe or pueblo or the appropriate federal official.

C. The agreement referred to in Subsection B of this section shall contain the following conditions:

(1) the tribe or pueblo, but not the bureau of Indian affairs, shall submit proof of adequate public liability and property damage insurance for vehicles operated by the peace officers and police professional liability insurance from a company licensed to sell insurance in the state;

(2) each applicant for a commission shall successfully complete four hundred hours of basic police training that is approved by the director of the New Mexico law enforcement academy;

(3) the chief of the New Mexico state police shall have the authority to suspend any commission granted pursuant to Subsection B of this section for reasons solely within his discretion;

(4) if any provision of the agreement is violated by the tribe or pueblo or any of its agents, the chief of the New Mexico state police shall suspend the agreement on five days' notice, which suspension shall last until the chief is satisfied that the violation has been corrected and will not recur;

(5) the goldenrod-colored officer's second copy of any citation issued pursuant to a commission authorized by this section shall be submitted within five days to the chief of the New Mexico state police;

(6) any citation issued pursuant to a commission authorized by this section shall be to a magistrate court of New Mexico; except that any citations issued to Indians within the exterior boundaries of an Indian reservation shall be cited into tribal court;

(7) the agreement or any commission issued pursuant to it shall not confer any authority on a tribal court or other tribal authority which that court or authority would not otherwise have;

(8) the authority conferred by any agreement entered into pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be coextensive with the exterior boundaries of the reservation; except that an officer commissioned under this section may proceed in hot pursuit of an offender beyond the exterior boundaries of the reservation, and the authority conferred in any written agreement between the chief of the New Mexico state police and the Navajo tribe may extend beyond the exterior boundaries of the Navajo reservation to and including the area enclosed by the following description:

Beginning at a point where the southern boundary line of the Navajo Indian reservation intersects the western right-of-way line of US 666, and running thence; southerly along the western right-of-way line of US 666 to the northerly city limits of Gallup; thence, easterly along the northerly city limits of Gallup to the northern side of the right-of-way of I-40; thence, in an easterly direction along the northerly side of the right-of-way of I-40 to the northerly limits of the village of Prewitt; thence, in a straight line between the northerly boundary of the village of Prewitt to the southerly boundary of Ambrosia Lake; thence in a straight line between the southerly boundary of Ambrosia Lake to the southerly boundary of Hospah; thence, east along a straight line from the southerly boundary of Hospah to the southern boundary of Torreon; thence along the easterly side of the right-of-way of state road 197 to the westerly city limits of Cuba; thence, north along the westerly side of the right-of-way of state road 44 to the southerly boundary of the Jicarilla Apache Indian reservation; thence, westerly along the southerly boundary of the Jicarilla Apache Indian reservation to the southwest corner of that reservation; thence, northerly along the westerly boundary of the Jicarilla Apache Indian reservation to a point where the westerly boundary of the reservation intersects the southerly side of the right-of-way of state road 44; thence, northerly along the southerly side of the right-of-way of state road 44 to its intersection with the northerly side of the right-of-way of Navajo road 3003; thence, along the northerly side of the right-of-way of Navajo road 3003 to a point where the northerly side of the right-of-way of Navajo road 3003 intersects the westerly side of the right-of-way line of state road 371; thence, northerly along the west side of the right-of-way of state road 371 to the southerly side of the right-of-way of Navajo road 36; thence, westerly along the southerly side of the right-of-way of Navajo road 36 to the eastern border of the Navajo Indian reservation; thence, along the eastern and southerly borders of the Navajo Indian reservation to the point of beginning.

The municipalities of Cuba and Gallup and the villages of Thoreau and Prewitt are excluded from the grant of authority that may be conferred in any written agreement entered into pursuant to provisions of this section; provided, however, any written agreement may include under such grant of authority the communities of Ambrosia Lake, Hospah, Torreon, Lybrook, Nageezi, Counselors and Blanco Trading Post and those communities commonly known as the Wingate community; the Navajo Tribe blue water ranch area of the Thoreau community; the Prewitt community, exclusive of the village of Prewitt; the Haystack community; the Desidero community; the Sand Springs community; the Rincon Marquis community; the Charley Jesus Arviso and the Castillo community; and state road 264 beginning at the point where it intersects US 666 and ending where state road 264 intersects the Arizona-New Mexico state line; and

(9) the chief of the New Mexico state police or his designee and the tribe or pueblo or the appropriate federal official shall be required to meet at least quarterly or more frequently at the call of the chief of the New Mexico state police to discuss the status of the agreement and invite other law enforcement or other officials to attend as necessary [and

(10) as consideration for law enforcement services rendered for the state by tribal or pueblo police officers who are commissioned peace officers pursuant to this section, each tribe or pueblo shall receive from the law enforcement protection fund three hundred dollars ($300) for each commissioned peace officer in the tribe or pueblo. To be counted as a commissioned peace officer for the purposes of this paragraph, a commissioned peace officer shall have been assigned to duty and have worked in New Mexico for no fewer than two hundred days in the calendar year immediately prior to the date of payment. Payments shall be made for only those divisions of the tribal or pueblo police departments that perform services in New Mexico. No Indian nation, tribe or pueblo police department shall be eligible for any disbursement under the fund if officers of that department cite non-Indians into the court of that Indian nation, tribe or pueblo. This eligibility requirement would apply to either civil or criminal citations issued by an Indian nation, tribe or pueblo police department].

D. Nothing in this section impairs or affects the existing status and sovereignty of tribes and pueblos of Indians as established under the laws of the United States.

E. All persons who are duly commissioned federal law enforcement officers employed by the federal bureau of investigation; drug enforcement administration; bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms; United States secret service; United States customs service; immigration and naturalization service; United States marshals service; postal inspection service; United States probation department; United States pretrial services agency; and other appropriate federal officers whose primary duty is law enforcement related, who are assigned in New Mexico and who are required to be designated by the county sheriff on a case-by-case basis in the county in which they are working, are recognized and authorized to act as New Mexico peace officers and have all the powers of New Mexico peace officers to enforce state laws in New Mexico, including the power to make arrests for violation of state laws. The department of public safety shall maintain a registry that lists the name and affiliated federal agency of every federal law enforcement officer recognized and authorized to act as a New Mexico peace officer pursuant to the provisions of this subsection. This subsection shall not be construed to impose liability upon or to require indemnification by the state for any act performed by a federal law enforcement officer pursuant to this subsection.

F. The provisions of Subsection E of this section regarding designation of federal law enforcement officers by a county sheriff do not apply to federal law enforcement officers who are duly commissioned officers of a police or sheriff's department for an Indian tribe or pueblo in New Mexico or who are federal law enforcement officers employed by the bureau of Indian affairs."

Section 2. Section 29-13-2.1 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1993, Chapter 179, Section 4, as amended) is amended to read:

"29-13-2.1. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Law Enforcement Protection Fund Act:

A. "division" means the local government division of the department of finance and administration;

B. "fund" means the law enforcement protection fund;

C. "governmental entity" means a municipality, university, tribe or [pueblo or a] county;

D. "tribal police department" means [any tribal or pueblo] the police department of a tribe that has entered into an agreement with the department of public safety pursuant to Section 29-1-11 NMSA 1978; [and]

E. "tribe" means an Indian nation, tribe or pueblo located wholly or partly in New Mexico; and

[E.] F. "university" means a four-year post-secondary educational institution listed in Article 12, Section 11 of the constitution of New Mexico."

Section 3. Section 29-13-4 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1993, Chapter 179, Section 6, as amended) is amended to read:

"29-13-4. DETERMINATION OF NEEDS AND RATE OF DISTRIBUTION.--

A. Annually on or before April 15, the division shall [(1)] consider and determine the relative needs as requested by tribal, municipal and university police and county sheriff's departments for money in the fund pursuant to the provisions of Subsection B of this section [and

(2) calculate the amount of consideration due a tribal police department pursuant to the provisions of Paragraph (10) of Subsection C of Section 29-1-11 NMSA 1978].

B. The division shall determine the rate of distribution of money in the fund to each municipal and university police and county sheriff's department as follows:

(1) all municipal police and county sheriff's departments shall be rated by class pursuant to this paragraph in accordance with populations established by the most recently completed decennial census; provided that the population of any county shall not include the population of any municipality within that county that has a municipal police department. The rate of distribution to which a municipal police or county sheriff's department is entitled is the following:

CLASS POPULATION AMOUNT

1 0 to 20,000 $20,000

2 20,001 to 160,000 30,000

3 160,001 to 1,280,000 40,000;

(2) university police departments shall be entitled to a rate of distribution of seventeen thousand dollars ($17,000); and

(3) tribal, municipal and university police and county sheriff's departments shall be entitled, unless allocations are adjusted pursuant to the provisions of Subsection C of this section, to six hundred dollars ($600) for each police officer or sheriff's deputy employed full time by his department who has been certified by the New Mexico law enforcement academy as a police officer or has been authorized to act as a New Mexico peace officer pursuant to the provisions of Section 29-1-11 NMSA 1978.

C. After distributions are determined in accordance with [Paragraph (2) of] Subsection A and Paragraphs (1) and (2) of Subsection B of this section, if the balance in the fund is insufficient to permit the total allocations provided by Paragraph (3) of Subsection B of this section, the division shall reduce that allocation to the maximum amount permitted by available money."

Section 4. Section 29-13-6 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1983, Chapter 289, Section 6, as amended) is amended to read:

"29-13-6. DISTRIBUTION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT PROTECTION FUND.--

A. Annually on or before July 31, the state treasurer shall distribute from the fund the amounts certified by the division to be distributed to [municipalities, universities and counties] governmental entities. Payments shall be made to the treasurer of the appropriate governmental entity unless otherwise specified in Subsection C of this section.

B. The state treasurer is authorized to redirect a distribution to the New Mexico finance authority in an amount certified by the division, pursuant to an ordinance or a resolution passed by the municipality or county and a written agreement of the municipality or county and the New Mexico finance authority.

C. Annually on or before July 31, the state treasurer shall distribute from the [excess] money [remaining] in the fund [after distributions pursuant to Subsection A of this section are made], money certified by the division to be distributed to tribes [and pueblos]. Payment shall be made to the chief financial officer of the tribe [or pueblo]. If necessary, the fund may be decreased below the level of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) to enable payment to the tribes [and pueblos]. If insufficient money remains in the fund to fully compensate the tribes [and pueblos], a report shall be made to the New Mexico office of Indian affairs and to an appropriate interim committee of the legislature that reviews issues having impact on tribes [and pueblos in New Mexico] by September 1 of the year of the shortfall."

Section 5. EMERGENCY.--It is necessary for the public peace, health and safety that this act take effect immediately.