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SPONSOR: |
Picraux |
DATE TYPED: |
|
HB |
626 |
||
SHORT TITLE: |
Domestic-Violence Protection Orders |
SB |
|
||||
|
ANALYST: |
Fox-Young |
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APPROPRIATION
Appropriation
Contained |
Estimated
Additional Impact |
Recurring or
Non-Rec |
Fund Affected |
||
FY03 |
FY04 |
FY03 |
FY04 |
|
|
|
|
|
$0.1 Significant |
Recurring |
General
Fund |
|
|
|
|
|
|
(Parenthesis
( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
Responses
Received From
Administrative
Office of the Courts (AOC)
Attorney
General (AG)
Department
of Public Safety (DPS)
Public
Defender Department (PDD)
Administrative
Office of the District Attorneys (AODA)
SUMMARY
Synopsis
of Bill
House Bill 626 enacts the Uniform Interstate Enforcement of Domestic Violence Protection Orders Act (UIEDVPOA). The Act includes requirements for enforcement of orders, also stipulating procedures for enforcement of foreign (i.e. those of other states or Indian tribes) orders.
“State means a state of the
Tribunal means a court, agency or other entity authorized by law to issue or modify a protection order.”
A person authorized by the law of this state to seek enforcement of a protection order may seek enforcement of a valid foreign protection order in a tribunal of this state. A tribunal shall enforce the terms of the order, including terms that provide relief that a tribunal of this state would lack power to provide but for this section.
A law enforcement officer shall enforce an order upon determining that there is probable cause to believe that a valid foreign protection order exists and that the order has been violated. Presentation of a current protection order that identifies the protected individual and the respondent constitutes probable cause. The order may exist in any medium as long as it is retrievable in perceivable form.
The bill strikes the provisions of 40-13-6 NMSA that relate to full faith and credit for foreign orders.
Significant
Issues
The provisions of this bill
remove legislative oversight of domestic violence protection orders. The bill provides that a tribunal shall
enforce provisions of a foreign order that
If it is the Legislature’s
intent that courts be required to enforce the provisions contained in orders of
other states, regardless of what they may be, the bill makes adequate
provisions. If the Legislature intends
to enact legislation requiring courts to enforce the domestic violence protection
orders of other states, but not to enforce orders whose provisions run counter
to
The Attorney General (AG)
reports that the Act does not present conflicts with
AG notes that the bill provides more specific direction for courts and law enforcement relating to enforcement of foreign protective orders than the full faith and credit provisions of current law found in 40-13-6 NMSA. The agency notes that Article IV of the United States Constitution has been the basis for a number of Congressional actions designed to improve enforcement of foreign judgments of states; however, the domestic violence protection order may not ultimately be determined to fall within the purview of the Full Faith and Credit Clause of Article IV, because it may not qualify as a “final” order. AG indicates that the bill provides an alternate legal basis for enforcement, eliminating the risk that future U.S. Supreme Court decisions would eviscerate the enforcement of foreign orders of protection.
AG notes that probable cause is a new standard for this area of law but one that is well tested and adequately defined in other areas of law.
AG and the Administrative Office of the Courts
(AOC) report that the UIEDVPOA was approved by the National Conference of
Commissioners on Uniform Laws in 2000 and has since been enacted in
The Department of Public Safety (DPS) notes that
the presentation of a certified copy of a protection order is not
required for enforcement, and that in the absence of a certified copy of a protection
order, a law enforcement officer may consider other information to determine if
there is probable cause to believe that a valid foreign protection order
exists.
Additionally,
registration or filing of an order in
The Act contains a
liability clause for agencies and law enforcement officers.
DPS notes that in
addition to charging the person with violating an order of protection, a peace
officer shall file all other possible criminal charges arising from an incident
of domestic abuse when probable cause exists.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
DPS and AOC notes that there is potential for a
significant increase in numbers of arrests of domestic abuse offenders as a
result of foreign protection order service and violations. As a result, law enforcement agencies,
courts, district attorneys and the Public Defender Department will likely see
an increase in costs.
CONFLICT, RELATIONSHIP
Conflicts with SB 521 (Increase Penalties for Domestic Violence); Relates to SB 555 (Minors at Petition for Protection Proceedings)
JCF/njw