RELATING TO LAW ENFORCEMENT; INCREASING EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR PROSPECTIVE STATE POLICE OFFICERS; INCREASING SALARY LEVELS FOR ALL STATE POLICE OFFICERS; MAKING AN APPROPRIATION.

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

Section 1. Section 29-2-6 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1941, Chapter 147, Section 6, as amended) is amended to read:

"29-2-6. QUALIFICATIONS OF MEMBERS.--

A. Members of the New Mexico state police, except the chief, shall:

(1) at the time of their appointment, be citizens of the United States;

(2) at the time of their appointment, have reached twenty-one years of age;

(3) at the time of their appointment, have completed not less than sixty hours of college credit;

(4) be of good moral character and not have been convicted of a felony or infamous crime in the courts of this state or other state or any country or in the federal courts; and

(5) pass a physical examination the New Mexico state police may require.

B. A person shall not be commissioned a member of the New Mexico state police who is related by blood or marriage within the fourth degree to a member of the public safety advisory commission."

Section 2. APPROPRIATION.--Four million seventy-three thousand four hundred dollars ($4,073,400) is appropriated from the general fund to the department of public safety for expenditure in fiscal year 1999 for the purpose of providing all state police officers with a salary increase, subject to satisfactory job performance. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 1999 shall revert to the general fund.

Section 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 1998.

HB 12

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