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

SPONSOR Park

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/22/08

HJR 7

SHORT TITLE Gubernatorial Succession Changes, CA

SB

ANALYST Cox/Abousleman

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Joint Resolution 7 requests a Constitutional Amendment to the New Mexico Constitution

to change Gubernatorial succession. As such, this resolution will be voted upon in the next

general election. The Gubernatorial succession will change, if this amendment is approved by

the voters.

If the Governor has died, or has not qualified for Governor, the Lieutenant-Governor elect will

act as Governor elect, and will succeed to that office. Of the Lieutenant Governor is unable to

qualify, then the speaker of the house shall succeed to the Governors post. If there is no Speaker

of the House, or if the Speaker of the House fails to qualify, then the President Pro Tempore of

the Senate shall succeed to Governor. Finally, if the President Pro Tempore of the Senate shall

not be qualified of is absent, the Secretary of State will succeed to Governor. The succession, if

the amendment is voted upon and passed, is therefore ‘Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, Speaker

of the House, President Pro Tempore of the Senate and finally the Secretary of State’.

The current Gubernatorial succession is ‘Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, Secretary of State

Speaker of the House, President Pro Tempore of the Senate’.

Basic changes in wordage are also noted. The wording ‘shall have

’ would be changed to ‘has

’.

The wording ‘shall have failed

’ would be changed to ‘fails

’. The wording ‘shall have qualified

’

would be changed to ‘qualifies

’.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The Joint Resolution must be approved by the voters of New Mexico. If the Amendment is

approved, the Secretary of State’s order of succession would then move from third place to fifth

place.

PRC/bb