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

SPONSOR Stapleton

DATE TYPED 3/7/05

HB 692/aHCPAC/aHJC

SHORT TITLE Crime Victim Statements at Court Proceedings

SB

ANALYST Medina

APPROPRIATION

Appropriation Contained Estimated Additional Impact Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY05

FY06

FY05

FY06

NFI

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to the Victims of Crime Act

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC)

Public Defender Department

SUMMARY

Synopsis of HJC Amendment

The House Judiciary Committee amendment requires that if the district attorney cannot verify,

rather than certify that an attempt to notify the victim of a court proceeding, then the court re-

schedule the hearing or reserve ruling pending the victim’s opportunity to make a statement. The

amendment also adds a new subsection to clarify that the provisions of section one of the bill

shall not require the court to continue or reschedule any proceedings if it would result in a viola-

tion of jurisdictional rule.

Synopsis of HCPAC Amendment

The House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee amendment specifies that the bill’s provi-

sion regarding the court’s inquiry on record that an attempt was made to notify a victim of a pro-

ceeding respects the victim’s rights enumerated in Section 31-26-4 NMSA 1978 (“Victim’s

rights”).

House Bill 692/aHCPAC/aHJC -- Page 2

Synopsis of Original Bill

House Bill 692 proposes to amend the Victims of Crime Act to include a section that would re-

quire the courts at any scheduled court proceeding, to inquire on the record whether a victim is

present to make an oral statement or submit a written statement to the court and if the victim is

not present, the court is to inquire to the district attorney as to whether or not the victim has been

notified of the proceeding.

The bill requires that the district attorney certify orally or in writing that an attempt has been

made to contact the victim to notify the victim of the proceeding and amends the section of stat-

ute relating to the procedures for the district attorneys’ victim notification, removing the provi-

sion that the district attorneys provide notification “if requested by the victim”.

The bill provides that any court proceeding be rescheduled or else continued with judgment re-

served until the victim has been notified and given an opportunity to make a statement. The bill

requires that the court order the district attorney to notify the victim of the rescheduled hearing.

Finally, the bill provides that unless good cause is shown, the court is not to accept plea agree-

ments unless the district attorney has informed the victim of the contents of the proposed plea

agreement and has obtained the victim’s views about the disposition of the case.

Significant Issues

This bill requires that victim notification be provided for any scheduled court proceeding. Man-

datory court inquiry of victim notification at each scheduled court proceeding would likely take

up a significant amount of time. There are a number of proceedings that take place for any given

criminal case including, arraignment, pre-trial hearings, numerous status hearings, docket calls,

motion hearings, trials, and final disposition hearings. There is potentially little or no value

added, regardless of the nature of the criminal case, if victims are afforded an opportunity to

speak or submit written statements at some less critical proceedings. Arraignments, pre-trial

hearings in which pleas might be discussed and sentencing proceedings and other critical hear-

ings would be the exceptions.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

Current law requires that the district attorneys provide the victim of a criminal offense with oral

or written notification of a scheduled court proceeding concerning the criminal offense if re-

quested to do so by the victim. According to AOC, there is an administrative impact on the court

resulting from added judicial time needed to make inquiry at any scheduled court proceeding.

AOC further states that there may be an increase in the amount of work that needs to be done by

the courts, thus requiring additional resources needed to handle the increase.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

It is unclear as to whether this legislation would apply only to existing enumerated crimes under

the Victims of Crime Act. This bill is also unclear as to the form in which the district attorneys

would be required to certify that an attempt has been made to notify a victim.

House Bill 692/aHCPAC/aHJC -- Page 3

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

Case delays that result from scheduling hearings to accommodate victims’ right to make oral or

submit written statements may ultimately conflict with the six-month rule, potentially jeopardiz-

ing criminal cases.

WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL.

The district attorneys would continue to fulfill their obligations of victim notification without the

requirement that they notify victims of every court proceeding.

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