HB 239

Page 1

AN ACT

RELATING TO LAW ENFORCEMENT; INCREASING THE RATE OF

DISTRIBUTION FOR TRIBAL POLICE DEPARTMENTS FROM THE LAW

ENFORCEMENT PROTECTION FUND; AMENDING SECTIONS OF THE NMSA

1978.

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 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 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

HB 239

Page 2

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 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 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

HB 239

Page 3

violated by the tribe or pueblo or any of its agents, the

chief of the 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 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

HB 239

Page 4

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

HB 239

Page 5

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;

HB 239

Page 6

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 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 state police to

discuss the status of the agreement and invite other law

enforcement or other officials to attend as necessary.

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

HB 239

Page 7

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:

HB 239

Page 8

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 a county;

D. "tribal police department" means 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;

E. "tribe" means an Indian nation, tribe or pueblo

located wholly or partly in New Mexico; and

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 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.

B. The division shall determine the rate of

HB 239

Page 9

distribution of money in the fund to each tribal, 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 tribal police departments shall be

entitled to a rate of distribution of twenty thousand

dollars ($20,000)

;

(3) tribal police 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 commissioned peace officer in the

HB 239

Page 10

tribe. 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 police departments

that perform services in New Mexico. No tribal police

department shall be eligible for any disbursement under the

fund if commissioned peace officers cite non-Indians into the

tribal court for civil or criminal citations; and

(4) 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 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

Paragraphs (3) and (4) of Subsection B of this section, the

division shall reduce that allocation to the maximum amount

HB 239

Page 11

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 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 money in the fund money

certified by the division to be distributed to tribes.

Payment shall be made to the chief financial officer of the

tribe. If necessary, the fund may be decreased below the

level of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) to enable

payment to the tribes. If insufficient money remains in the

fund to fully compensate the tribes, 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 by September 1 of the year of the

shortfall." HB 239

Page 12