HOUSE BILL 487

52nd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2015

INTRODUCED BY

Jane E. Powdrell-Culbert

AN ACT

RELATING TO MUNICIPAL COURT FEES; ALLOWING A MUNICIPALITY WITH A POPULATION LESS THAN TEN THOUSAND TO TRANSFER BALANCES FROM CERTAIN MUNICIPAL COURT FEES TO THE MUNICIPALITY'S GENERAL FUND.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     SECTION 1. Section 35-14-11 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1983, Chapter 134, Section 6, as amended) is amended to read:

     "35-14-11. MUNICIPAL ORDINANCE--COURT COSTS--

COLLECTION--PURPOSE.--

          A. Every municipality shall enact an ordinance requiring assessment of corrections fees, judicial education fees and court automation fees to be collected as court costs and used as provided in this section.

          B. A municipal judge shall collect the following costs:

                (1) a corrections fee of twenty dollars ($20.00);

                (2) a judicial education fee of three dollars ($3.00); and

                (3) a court automation fee of six dollars ($6.00).

          C. The fees are to be collected upon conviction from persons convicted of violating any ordinance relating to the operation of a motor vehicle or any ordinance that may be enforced by the imposition of a term of imprisonment.

          D. All money collected pursuant to Paragraph (1) of Subsection B of this section shall be deposited in a special fund in the municipal treasury and shall be used for:

                (1) municipal jailer or juvenile detention officer training;

                (2) the construction planning, construction, operation and maintenance of a municipal jail or juvenile detention facility;

                (3) paying the cost of housing municipal prisoners in a county jail or detention facility or housing juveniles in a detention facility;

                (4) complying with match or contribution requirements for the receipt of federal funds relating to jails or juvenile detention facilities;

                (5) providing inpatient treatment or other substance abuse programs in conjunction with or as an alternative to jail sentencing;

                (6) defraying the cost of transporting prisoners to jails or juveniles to juvenile detention facilities; or

                (7) providing electronic monitoring systems.

          E. If a municipality with a population less than [three] ten thousand according to the most recent federal decennial census has a balance in its special fund pursuant to Subsection D of this section that is over the amount projected to be needed for the next fiscal year for the purposes set forth in that subsection, the municipality may transfer the unneeded balance to the municipality's general fund.

          F. A municipality may credit the interest collected from fees deposited in the special fund pursuant to Subsection D of this section to the municipality's general fund.

          G. All money collected pursuant to Paragraph (2) of Subsection B of this section shall be remitted monthly to the state treasurer for credit to the judicial education fund and shall be used for the education and training, including production of bench books and other written materials, of municipal judges and other municipal court employees.

          H. All money collected pursuant to Paragraph (3) of Subsection B of this section shall be remitted monthly to the state treasurer for credit to the municipal court automation fund and shall be used for the purchase, maintenance and operation of court automation systems in the municipal courts. Operation includes staff expenses, temporary or otherwise, and costs as needed to comply with Section 35-14-12 NMSA 1978. The court automation systems shall have the capability of providing, on a timely basis, electronic records in a format specified by the judicial information systems council.

          I. As used in this section, "convicted" means the defendant has been found guilty of a criminal charge by a municipal judge, either after trial, a plea of guilty or a plea of nolo contendere."

     SECTION 2. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 2015.

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