New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act

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The Inspection of Public Record Act is a series of laws designed to guarantee that the public has access to public records of governmental bodies in New Mexico.

The New Mexico Open Meetings Act legislates the methods by which public meetings are conducted.

To learn more about how to make a public records request in this state, please see: New Mexico FOIA procedures

[edit] Recent news

See also: New Mexico transparency headlines

[edit] Transparency blocking

• Pay-to-play lawsuit: Plaintiff files complaint after records request denied  Jun 11, 2009
• State agency won’t release GRIPgate records  Jun 11, 2009
• Lawyer: Public records not public  Jun 11, 2009

More transparency blocking news from across the country.

[edit] Litigation

• New Mexico appeals court orders police complaints released  Aug 18, 2010
• New Mexico Appeals Court exempts names and addresses from drivers licenses  Jul 14, 2010
• Albuquerque newspaper sues agency over public records  Jun 11, 2009

More FOIA litigation news from across the country.

[edit] Legislation

• Records Act 'sabotage' a Roundhouse mystery  Jun 11, 2009
• Bill limits access to criminal records  Jun 11, 2009
• Bills would make government more transparent  Jun 11, 2009

More FOIA legislation news from across the country.

[edit] Sunshine Guardians

No recent news. If you have news add it here

Other Sunshine Guardians from across the country.

[edit] Relevant legal cases

See also: Court cases with an impact on state FOIA

Here is a list of lawsuits in New Mexico. For more information go the page or go to New Mexico sunshine lawsuits.
(The cases are listed alphabetically. To order them by year please click the icon to the right of the Year heading)

Lawsuit	Year
Carlsbad Current-Argus and New Mexico Foundation for Open Government v. City of Carlsbad	2005
Republican Party v. New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department	2010
State, ex rel. Attorney General v. First Judicial District Court	1981

[edit] Proposed transparency legislation

[edit] 2010

See also Proposed transparency legislation, 2010

We do not currently have any legislation for New Mexico in 2010. To add some, please see WikiProject Proposed state sunshine legislation.

[edit] 2009

Main article: Proposed reforms in state sunshine laws, 2009

• Senate Memorial 45 (2008),^[1] sponsored by Senator Mark Boitano (R), requests that the Legislative Council Service "ensure[s] that the proceedings of the senate will be streamed on the internet beginning in 2009." The Senate appropriated $75,000 in 2005 for the purchase of equipment that would enable this, $30,000 of which has already been spent (cameras were purchased), but live video feed of the Senate still wasn't aired during 2009's regular session. However, Representative Janice Arnold-Jones (R) used her own resources to broadcast video of the House Taxation and Revenue Committee and the House Voters and Election Committee. Audio feed was available from the Senate.^[2]

• House Memorial 62,^[3] sponsored by Representative Thomas A. Anderson (R), requests that the roll-call votes of the House of Representatives be made available on the House website immediately following the vote. This Memorial was postponed indefinitely in the House Judiciary Committee.^[4]

• House Bill 103,^[5] sponsored by Representative Bill O'Neill (D), would exempt personal identifying information (such as social security numbers), building plans, and security system specifications from public inspection. Concerns over the bill have been expressed by those who perform background checks, saying that the bill "would be an insurmountable set-back" for screening job applicants. ^[6] The bill was postponed indefinitely by the House Business and Industry Committee.^[7]

• House Bill 200,^[8] sponsored by Roberto J. Gonzalez (D), would exempt "proprietary technical or business information" obtained by the Spaceport Authority from public inspection. The bill was postponed indefinitely by the House Judiciary Committee.^[9]

• House Bill 237,^[10] sponsored by Representative Andrew Barreras (D), sought to change how public school accountability reports are generated and issued. The bill was passed by the House (67-0) and, on March 15, 2009, was also passed by the Senate (31-1). It was subsequently vetoed by Governor Bill Richardson^[11] on March 25, 2009.^[12]

• House Bill 393,^[13] sponsored by Representative Joseph Cervantes (D), requires that all standing and conference committee meetings be open to the public, and that the public be given "reasonable notice" when any such meeting is scheduled. It allows members of the public to attend legislative meetings intended to channel proposed legislation to the chamber floors (standing committees), as well as meetings intended to relieve legislative discrepancies between the houses (conference committees). This bill was passed by the House (66-0) and by the Senate (33-8), and was signed into law by Governor Bill Richardson on April 6, 2009.^[14][12]

• House Bill 507,^[15] sponsored by Representative Ken Martinez (D), seeks to allow public records requests to be made via fax or e-mail so as to shorten the time in which a response must be made, require record custodian supervisors to approve decisions regarding exemptions, and to provide written explanations of exemptions. After the House Health & Government Affairs Committee added many exceptions and presented its substitute bill, Rep. Martinez said he could no longer support it.^[16] The bill was postponed indefinitely by the House Judiciary Committee.^[17]

• House Bill 534,^[18] sponsored by Representative Eleanor Chavez (D), sought to allow public records requests to be made electronically. It was passed by the House (64-0) and, on March 20, 2009, was also passed by the Senate (33-0). However, Governor Bill Richardson terminated the bill with a pocket veto.^[19]

• House Bill 546,^[20] introduced by Representative Al Park (D), calls for the creation a searchable online database of all state contracts "beginning on or after January 1, 2010 and having a value of more than twenty thousand dollars." This bill was passed by the House (65-0) and by the Senate (39-0), and was subsequently signed into law by Governor Bill Richardson on April 6, 2009.^[21][12] It will be effective January 1, 2010.^[20]

• House Bill 598,^[22] introduced by Representative Joseph Cervantes (D) on February 4, 2009, "allow[s] electronic requests pursuant to the Inspection of Public Records Act." The bill specifies that e-mail or facsimile requests will satisfy the "written request" required for the inspection of public records. It was passed by the House (64-0) and by the Senate (32-5), and was signed into law by Governor Bill Richardson on April 3, 2009.^[23][12]

• House Bill 866,^[24] introduced by Representative Antonio "Moe" Maestas (D) on February 19, 2009, seeks to remove public access to the criminal records of convicted felons after a certain amount of time has passed from the completion of their sentence. The bill was postponed indefinitely by the House Judiciary Committee.^[25] A similar bill was vetoed by the Governor due to "technical flaws" in 2007.^[26]

[edit] New Mexico's transparency report card

A 2008 study, BGA - Alper Integrity Index, conducted by the Better Government Association and sponsored by Alper Services, ranked New Mexico #42 in the nation with an overall percentage of 43.30%. ^[27]

A 2007 study, Graded state responsiveness to FOI requests, conducted by BGA and the NFOIC, gave New Mexico 47 points out of a possible 100, a letter grade of "F", and a ranking of 27 out of the 50 states.^[28]

A 2002 study, Freedom of Information in the USA, conducted by IRE and BGA, ranked New Mexico's law as the 23rd best in the country, giving it a letter grade of "C-".^[29]

[edit] Features of the law

"Recognizing that a representative government is dependent upon an informed electorate, the intent of the legislature in enacting the Inspection of Public Records Act (14-2-4 NMSA 1978) is to ensure, and it is declared to be the public policy of this state, that all persons are entitled to the greatest possible information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of public officers and employees. It is the further intent of the legislature, and it is declared to be the public policy of this state, that to provide persons with such information is an essential function of a representative government and an integral part of the routine duties of public officers and employees." ^[30]

It is interesting to note that all government bodies that fall under New Mexico's Inspection of Public Records Act are required by law to both designate an individual as the official custodian of the records and to post the information regarding the procedures and fees for viewing and copying public records in a "conspicuous location" ^[31]

It is also interesting to note that if a records request is submitted to the wrong department, the custodian of that department must not only notify the person making the request that it is the wrong department, but must also forward the request to the correct department ^[32]

[edit] What records are covered?

Records include "all documents, papers, letters, books, maps, tapes, photographs, recordings and other materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics, that are used, created, received, maintained or held by or on behalf of any public body and relate to public business, whether or not the records are required by law to be created or maintained" ^[33]

[edit] Exemptions

Notable exceptions include:

• Medical records (14-2-1-A-1 and 14-6-1-A)
• Letters of reference and matters of opinions placed in personnel or student files (14-2-1-A-2 and A-3)
• Law enforcement records that reveal confidential sources, methods, information or individuals accused but not charged with a crime. (14-2-1-A-4)
• Donations to universities and museums where the donor has asked that the donated item be made confidential (14-2-1-A-5 and 14-3-A-1)
• Records containing the identity of applicants or nominees for the position of president of a public college or university, except that the governing board shall give public notice of the names of at least five finalists for the position at least 21 days before the date of final action. (14-2-1-A-7 and 14-2-1B)
• Public hospitals' trade secrets, attorney-client privileged information or business plans (14-2-1-A-6)
• Tactical response plans or procedures (14-2-1-A-8)
• Military discharge documents (14-2-1-A-9)
• As otherwise provided by law (14-2-1-A-12)

^[34]

However, custodians are required by law to separate exempt and non-exempt materials in the same source and release exempt materials. ^[35]

[edit] What agencies are covered?

The document includes all divisions of government and any body that receives any public funding.

[edit] Who may request records?

See also: List of who can make public record requests by state.

Anyone may request public documents in New Mexico. "Every person has a right to inspect public records of this state". ^[36]

[edit] Must a purpose be stated?

No statement of purpose is required by New Mexico statute.^[37]

[edit] How can records be used?

The law does place a restriction on the use of police reports, in that they canot be used to solicit victims for services. ^[38]

[edit] Time allowed for response

See also: Request response times by state.

New Mexico law allows for three business days to respond to records request. However, if the assigned custodian is unable to obtain the records in that time, he or she must notify the person making the request in writing when the records will be available. The records must be made available within 15 days of the receipt of the request. ^[39] However, the law does leave an outlet for what are deemed "excessively burdensome" requests in that the custodian merely make the materials available in a reasonable amount of time. ^[40]

[edit] Fees for records

The law allows for the charging of a reasonable fee not to exceed $1 a page and which cannot include the cost of assembling the records or determining its exemption status. ^[41]

[edit] Open meetings

"In recognition of the fact that a representative government is dependent upon an informed electorate, it is declared to be public policy of this state that all persons are entitled to the greatest possible information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of those officers and employees who represent them. The formation of public policy or the conduct of business by vote shall not be conducted in closed meeting. All meetings of any public body except the legislature and the courts shall be public meetings". ^[42]

[edit] Notable FOIA requests

[edit] 2009

Reporters William Selway and Martin Z. Braun used the New Mexico FOIA act to request a copy of the September 22, 2008 subpoena served on Gov. Bill Richardson's office by federal investigators. The subpoena shows that the federal grand jury is interested in the roles that former Richardson chief of staff David Contarino, political adviser Michael Stratton, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. banker Chris Romer may have played in the hiring of Richardson campaign donors to do lucrative bond work for the state government.^[43]

[edit] See also

• New Mexico FOIA procedures
• New Mexico transparency headlines
• New Mexico transparency advocates
• New Mexico transparency legislation
• Private agency, public dollars-New Mexico
• New Mexico Open Meetings Act
• New Mexico Foundation for Open Government

[edit] External links

• New Mexico statutes see chapter 14 for public records and chapter 10 for open meetings
• Attorney General Guide to OMA and IPRA
• Open Government Guide to New Mexico
• Past Articles on New Mexico

[edit] References

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