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

SPONSOR Sanchez, M.

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/2/2007

3/16/2007 HB

SHORT TITLE Consistent Traffic Fines

SB 365/aHJC

ANALYST Schuss

REVENUE (dollars in thousands)

Estimated Revenue

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

FY09

(Unknown) (Unknown) Recurring

Supreme Court

Automation Fund/

Court Facilities Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Revenue Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC)

Did not Respond

Department of Transportation (DOT)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of HJC Amendment

The amendment proposed by the House Judiciary Committee changes the title to read:

Relating to motor vehicles, limiting the amount of certain fines and fees imposed by local

authorities for certain offenses.

The amendment revises Subsection A of Section 1 to read:

define a nuisance, abate a nuisance and impose penalties upon a person who creates or

allows a nuisance to exist, provided that penalties or fines and costs or fees imposed by an

ordinance for failure to obey a traffic sign or signal including a red light violation or for a

speeding offense or violation shall be subject to the following criteria:

(1) the total amount assessed in fines, fees and costs shall not exceed one hundred dollars

($100);

Senate Bill 365/aHJC – Page

2

(2) except as provided in Paragraph (3) of this subsection, of the amount assessed,

two-thirds shall be retained by the municipality to defray the costs of carrying out the program

and the remainder shall be distributed to the administrative office of the courts, of which five

percent of the total amount assessed shall be credited to the brain injury services fund, three

percent shall be credited to the traffic safety education and enforcement fund and the remainder

shall be credited to the court facilities fund; and

(3) in fiscal year 2008 and not less than once every five fiscal years thereafter, the

municipality shall cause an audit of the program to be conducted by the state auditor or an

independent auditor selected by the state auditor. If an audit shows that the costs of maintaining

the program plus ten percent is less than the amount of the assessment retained by the

municipality, the excess shall be distributed to the administrative office of the courts to be

credited to the court facilities fund.

The amendment removes Sections 2 and 3 and replaces them with the following two sections:

Section 2. TEMPORARY PROVISION--APPLICABILITY.--The provisions of this act

shall apply prospectively to all municipal ordinances enacted before or after the effective date of

the provisions of this act.

Section 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1,

2007.

The amendment to Sections 2 and 3 does not properly correspond to the lines of the bill; neither

does the amendment to Subsection A of Section 1.

Synopsis of Original Bill

Senate Bill 365 requires that any civil or criminal ordinance adopted by a local authority provide

the same penalties for failing to obey a traffic sign or signal or for a speeding offense or violation

contained in Section 66-8-116, which is the penalty assessment misdemeanor provision of the

motor vehicle code. This bill declares an emergency.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The Administrative Office of the Courts states that Senate Bill 365 is likely to decrease penalty

assessments that flow into the judiciary’s Supreme Court Automation Fund that provides funds

to pay for automation in the courts and/or the Court Facilities Fund that pays principal and

interest on bonds issued by the New Mexico Finance Authority to build the Bernalillo County

Metropolitan Court as well as to fund security and equipment purchases in the magistrate courts

statewide. AOC has been investigating the substantial decrease in revenues to these funds. It

appears that the present use of camera citations under the Albuquerque STOP program has

contributed to the funds’ decline.

If fees must be reduced in order to become consistent with Section 66-8-116 then SB 365 could

result in a loss of revenue to the municipality.

Senate Bill 365/aHJC – Page

3

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

According to AOC, Senate Bill 365 appears to approve a plan such as that used in the

Albuquerque STOP program, where traffic citations are not reported to the New Mexico Motor

Vehicle Department as penalty assessment misdemeanors, but are instead deemed civil violations

that are outside the court and MVD process.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

Legal challenges to municipal ordinances that impose civil penalties instead of the motor vehicle

code penalty assessment misdemeanors will continue, according to AOC. It is not clear what

impact enactment of Senate Bill 365 would have on legal challenges that are presently being

challenged under the Albuquerque STOP ordinance, except to reduce the fines imposed under

the STOP ordinance, typically $100 for a first offense and $250 for a second offense, to the

assessment levels provided in the motor vehicle code.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

AOC notes that Senate Bill 365 does not directly address the lawfulness of a municipal

ordinance that makes failure to obey a traffic signal or speeding a civil nuisance instead of

applying the misdemeanor penalty assessment provisions of the motor vehicle code. However,

Senate Bill 365 implicitly recognizes such a plan as lawful as long as the penalty imposed equals

that provided in the motor vehicle code.

BS/csd:nt