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

SPONSOR Carraro

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/22/08

HB

SHORT TITLE Prohibit Certain Political Party Fees

SB 198

ANALYST Ortiz

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY08

FY09

NFI

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Secretary of State (SOS)

Responses Received From

Association of County Clerks (ACC)

Attorney General’s Office (AGO)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 198 prohibits major political parties from charging any type of fee, admission or

contribution to a member of the party as a precondition for the member to be eligible to vote for

or be a delegate to a party convention or vote for selection of the party’s candidates for a primary

or general election. A general party membership fee that applies equally to all members of the

party is not considered such a precondition. The bill also changes the definition of “major

political party" to include “whose rules are otherwise in accordance with the requirements of

Chapter 1, Article 7 NMSA 1978."

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The Secretary of State notes that the Election Code gives political parties the authority to hold

pre-primary conventions, allowing a political party to charge a fee at these conventions, thus it is

analogous to a poll tax, which is contrary to the federal constitution.

Senate Bill 198 – Page

2

It also adds that the state should be cautious in attempting to regulate the activities of the

political parties. Such legislation should be written as narrowly as possible. The only political

party meeting at which there is a significant enough state interest for such regulation is at a pre-

primary convention.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

The Secretary of State suggests the following changes:

(1)

On page 1, line 21, the words “The rules of" should be deleted so that the sentence begins

“A major political party …"

(2)

Beginning on page 1, line 23, the words “for or be a delegate to a party convention or to

vote for selection of the party’s candidates for a primary or general election" should be

deleted and the following words inserted: “at or be a delegate to a pre-primary

convention."

EO/bb