HOUSE BILL 225
55th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2021
INTRODUCED BY
Raymundo Lara
AN ACT
RELATING TO PUBLIC NOTICE; CLARIFYING REQUIREMENTS FOR REQUIRED PUBLIC NOTICES; REVISING REQUIREMENTS FOR PUBLICATION IN THE SPANISH LANGUAGE.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
SECTION 1. Section 14-11-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1937, Chapter 167, Section 2, as amended) is amended to read:
"14-11-2. REQUIREMENT FOR PUBLICATION OF LEGAL NOTICE OR ADVERTISEMENT.--Any and every legal notice or advertisement shall be published in a daily, tri-weekly, [a] semi-weekly or [a] weekly newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the notice or advertisement is required to be published that can be obtained by single copy [and that is entered under the second class postage privilege in the county in which the notice or advertisement is required to be published]; which newspaper, if published tri-weekly, semi-weekly or weekly, shall have been so published [in the county] continuously and uninterruptedly during the period of at least twenty-six consecutive weeks next prior to the first issue thereof containing any such notice or advertisement, and which newspaper, if published daily, shall have been so published [in the county] uninterruptedly and continuously during the period of at least six months next prior to the first issue thereof containing any such notice or advertisement; provided that the mere change in the name of any newspaper [or the removal of the principal business office or seat of publication of any newspaper from one place to another in the same county] shall not break or affect the continuity in the publication of any such newspaper if the newspaper is in fact continuously and uninterruptedly printed [and published within the county] as provided in this section; provided further that a newspaper shall not lose its rights as a legal publication if it fails to publish one or more of its issues by reason of fire, flood, accident, transportation embargo or tie-up or other casualty beyond the control of the publisher; and provided further that any legal notice [which] that fails of publication for the required number of insertions by reasons beyond the control of the publisher shall not be declared illegal if the publication has been made in one issue of the publication [and provided further that if in any county in this state there has not been published any newspaper for the prescribed period at the time when any such notice or advertisement is required to be published, the notice or advertisement may be published in any newspaper having a general circulation or published and printed in whole or in part in that county and that can be obtained by single copy in that county]."
SECTION 2. Section 14-11-11 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1912, Chapter 49, Section 6, as amended) is amended to read:
"14-11-11. OFFICIAL PROCEEDINGS--PUBLICATION [OF].--[SEC. 5.] All publications of proceedings of boards of county commissioners, city and town councils, boards of trustees, boards of education or school directors and of all other officers of any county, municipality, district or other subdivision of the state [which] that are required by law to be made shall be published once only. In all counties, cities or towns in which the [publication] population is not less than seventy-five percent English speaking, the publication of such notices in English shall be sufficient; [that] in all counties, cities and towns in which the population is not less than seventy-five percent Spanish speaking, the publication of such notices in the Spanish language shall be sufficient; [that] and in all counties, cities and towns in which the [publication] population using either language is between twenty-five percent and seventy-five percent of the whole, [such] the notices shall be published in both English and Spanish, provided there [be legal] are newspapers published in both languages [in the county, city or town by different publishers] meeting the requirements set forth in Section 14-11-2 NMSA 1978; otherwise, publication in either language shall be sufficient. [And provided further that] In the case of question or disagreement as to the percentage of the population of any county, city or town using either language, the district judge of the judicial district of which [such] the county, city or town is a part shall determine [such] the percentage upon [such] information as [he] the judge may have without special investigation in the matter, and [his] the judge's opinion and determination [thereon] shall be conclusive."
SECTION 3. Section 14-11-13 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1965, Chapter 254, Section 1, as amended) is amended to read:
"14-11-13. OFFICIAL SPANISH NEWSPAPERS.--For the purpose of publishing legal notices in Spanish as required by law for any agencies of the state, the Santa Rosa News published at Santa Rosa, the Santa Fe New Mexican and the Santa Fe News, both published at Santa Fe, El Hispano and El Semanario de Nuevo Mexico, both published at Albuquerque, the Alpha News published at Las Vegas, the Rio Grande Sun published at Espanola, the Taos News published at Taos, the Camino Real published at Santa Fe and Mas New Mexico published at Santa Fe and Albuquerque are recognized as official Spanish language newspapers of this state. Any legal notices and advertisements from agencies of the state required to be published in Spanish shall be published in an official Spanish language newspaper."
SECTION 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is January 1, 2022.
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