SENATE BILL 534

48th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2008

INTRODUCED BY

H. Diane Snyder

AN ACT

MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR A DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ATTORNEY, ADVOCATE AND PARALEGAL TO TRAVEL THROUGHOUT THE STATE OFFERING BASIC LEGAL SERVICES AS WELL AS OUTREACH AND EDUCATION.

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

     Section 1. APPROPRIATION.--Two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) is appropriated from the general fund to the local government division of the department of finance and administration for expenditure in fiscal year 2009 to pay for a full-time domestic violence attorney, advocate and paralegal based in Bernalillo county at a nonprofit agency that offers comprehensive domestic violence services throughout the state. The attorney shall take the "have justice, will travel" program into rural areas, coordinating with local domestic violence providers and district attorneys and preparing legal forms as well as initiating a three-year plan to make domestic violence victims aware of the available legal services. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2009 shall revert to the general fund.

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