HOUSE BILL 151

51st legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2013

INTRODUCED BY

Mary Helen Garcia

ENDORSED BY THE COURTS, CORRECTIONS AND JUSTICE COMMITTEE

AN ACT

RELATING TO COURTS; PROVIDING THAT MAGISTRATES WHO HOLD OFFICE IN DISTRICTS WITH A POPULATION OF MORE THAN TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND PERSONS IN THE LAST FEDERAL DECENNIAL CENSUS MAY BE ELECTED IN THAT DISTRICT AS LONG AS THERE IS NO BREAK IN SERVICE.

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

     SECTION 1. Section 35-2-1 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1968, Chapter 62, Section 41, as amended) is amended to read:

     "35-2-1. QUALIFICATION--PERSONAL QUALIFICATIONS.--

          A. Each magistrate shall be a qualified elector of, and reside in, the magistrate district for which [he] the magistrate is elected or appointed.

          B. No person is eligible for election or appointment to the office of magistrate unless [he] the person has graduated from high school or has attained the equivalent of a high school education as indicated by possession of a certificate of equivalency issued by the [state department of] public education department based upon the record made on the general educational development test.

          C. In magistrate districts with a population of more than two hundred thousand persons in the last federal decennial census, no person is eligible for election [or appointment] to the office of magistrate unless [he] the person:

                (1) is a member of the bar of this state and licensed to practice law in this state [but he shall not engage in the private practice of law during his tenure in office]; or

                (2) holds the office of magistrate in that district when the federal decennial census is published, as long as there is no break in service.

          D. In magistrate districts with a population of more than two hundred thousand persons in the last federal decennial census, no person is eligible for appointment to the office of magistrate unless the person is a member of the bar of this state and licensed to practice law in this state.

          E. A person holding the office of magistrate shall not engage in the private practice of law during tenure in office."

     SECTION 2. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 2013.

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