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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Sandoval

DATE TYPED 01/02/05 HB 353

SHORT TITLE Military Discharge Public Records Exception

SB

ANALYST Chabot

APPROPRIATION

Appropriation Contained Estimated Additional Impact Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY05

FY06

FY05

FY06

NFI

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to SB 92

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Department of Finance and Administration (DFA)

State Commission of Public Records (SCPR)

Veterans’ Services Department (VSD)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 353 amends Section 14-2-1 NMSA RIGHT TO INSPECT PUBLIC RECORDS—

EXCEPTIONS.— to exempt discharge pagers of a veteran of the armed forces with specific re-

quirements depending on the date filed with the county clerk. It limits disclosure to next of kin,

executive or personal representative or those designated with a power of attorney by the veteran.

Significant Issues

SCPR states military discharge records are regulated by federal regulations governing disclosure

of personal information. The provisions with respect to commingled records may conflict with

these federal requirements. SCPR further states “Importantly, the bill bases the exemption for

records based upon the filing system employed and filing location—not on privacy issues.”

Also, since there is no time limit for maintaining confidentiality, records may be maintained after

the need exists.

House Bill 353 -- Page 2

VSD states “under the current rules, military discharge papers can be accessed by anyone who

pays a small fee. These papers contain vital personal information such as Social Security Num-

bers, dates of military service, characters of service that can now be used to steal someone’s

identity.

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

SCPR is concerned with the mission and related performance measures found in the general ap-

propriation act for State Records which is facilitating, within legal limits, access to public re-

cords.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

Administrative processes will need to be developed to restrict assess to discharge certificates.

CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP

A similar bill in the 2003 legislative session (HB 112) was pocket vetoed.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

The bill covers discharge papers filed with county clerks but does not address papers filed else-

where such as VSD, county assessors, and state archives.

According to SCPR, the bill would seem to release county clerks from the liability of inadver-

tently disclosing personal information contained in veterans’ discharge papers that are commin-

gled with other documents. It also provides no means of requesting an exemption from disclo-

sure for commingled records of deceased veterans.

According to DFA, many states have passed similar legislation including Colorado, Connecticut,

Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota,

Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

GAC/lg