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

SPONSOR Cervantes

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/30/07

1/30/07 HJR 5

SHORT TITLE Election of Appointed Judges

SB

ANALYST Fernandez

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

.1

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Administrative Office of the Courts

Office of Attorney General

SUMMARY

Synopsis of the Bill

House Joint Resolution 5 proposes to amend Article VI, Section 35 of the constitution of New

Mexico to allow a primary election and a general election to be held for certain judicial offices

filled by appointment by requiring an appointed judge to serve at least one full year on the bench

before an election is held to fill that office.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

Secretary of State may incur additional expenses to place this proposal on the ballot at the next

general election. The exact costs are unknown but should be minimal.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

Significant issues identified by Administrative Office of the Courts:

Under current law a judge appointed through the judicial nominating process runs for partisan

election at the next general election. Sometimes a judge is appointed after the petitions are due

House Joint Resolution 5 – Page

2

for running in the primary and the central committee nominates the general election judicial can-

didates instead of the voters choosing the candidate in a primary. This change will ensure that a

judge appointed through the judicial nomination process would serve at least one year on the

bench and run in a primary election.

Significant issues identified by Office of Attorney General:

Changes in House Joint Resolution apply to both the appellate court judges and justices, as spe-

cifically provided in Article VI, Section 35, and to district court and metropolitan court judges.

See

Article VI, Sections 36 and 37 (providing that “[e]ach and every provision of Section 35 of

Article VI," with certain exceptions pertaining to composition of the specific nominating com-

mittees, apply to district and metropolitan court judges nominating committees). General elec-

tions occur in November of each even-numbered year. Article XX, Section 6 of the New Mexico

Constitution. Therefore, in circumstances where a vacancy and appointment to fill occur in an

even-numbered year, the effect of the proposed amendment would be to extend the appointment

for a period of approximately two years, as the upcoming general election in that even-numbered

year of appointment would be skipped, for purposes of choosing a successor, until the next suc-

ceeding general election.

Because this potential extension of service time for an appointee could overlap into a succeeding

term pertinent to that office, in circumstances where the appointment occurs during the last year

of a term of office, the resolution further provides that the chosen successor holds that office un-

til the expiration of the term “in effect on January 1 following the election." This proposed sen-

tence apparently is intended to add constancy to term lengths, which, in the case of overlapping

service of an incumbent appointee, may, in effect, create a staggered term length for that office.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

The amendment proposed by this resolution shall be submitted to the people for their approval or

rejection at the next general election or at any special election prior to that date that may be

called for that purpose.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

Technical issues noted by Office of Attorney General:

Note, as a possible clean-up matter in the event of adoption, inconsistent language in NMSA

1978, § 34-5-4 (1966, as amended in 1973), which provides: “If a vacancy in the membership of

the court of appeals other than by expiration of a term shall occur, the governor shall fill the va-

cancy by appointment of a qualified person to serve until December 31 following the next gen-

eral election, or for the remainder of the unexpired term, whichever is longer."

CTF/mt