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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Carraro

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/7/2006

HB

SHORT TITLE Sex Offender Definition & Registration

SB 669

ANALYST McOlash

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

None

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC)

Attorney General’s Office (AGO)

Corrections Department (CD)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 669 proposes certain changes to the Current Sex Offender Registration and Notifica-

tion Act, Section 29-11A-1 NMSA 1978 et.seq. The changes include the definition of a sex of-

fender to include visitors from another state who will be in New Mexico for more than twenty-

four hours and the time limits for registration (twenty-four hours instead of ten days). Other re-

quirements include specific information regarding property and motor vehicles owned by the sex

offender. The proposed law also adds two additional criminal offenses to the lifetime reporting

requirement: aggravated indecent exposure and enticement of a child

The Act contains an emergency clause

.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

AOC

There will be a minimal administrative cost for statewide update, distribution, and documenta-

tion of statutory changes. Any additional fiscal impact on the judiciary would be proportional to

Senate Bill 669 - Page 2

the enforcement of this law and commenced prosecutions because of stricter registration re-

quirements. New laws, amendments to existing laws, and new hearings have the potential to in-

crease caseloads in the courts, thus requiring additional resources to handle the increase.

CD

The proposed amendments to the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act would result in

a moderate increase in costs to the Corrections Department due to an increase in the number of

felony convictions for failure to register. It is expected that there would be a fairly large number

of new offenders due to the twenty-four hour time limit. The new offenders would significantly

increase the number of people incarcerated or on probation.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The bill provides for criminal penalties for noncompliance with the registration requirements as

follows:

Willfully or knowingly failing to comply, fourth degree felony

Second or subsequent failure, third degree felony

Willfully or knowingly providing false information while complying, fourth degree fel-

ony

Second or subsequent provision of false information, third degree felony

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

AGO

It is unclear whether the proposed revisions comply with the federal law regarding sex offender

registration and notification. Currently, New Mexico’s sex offender registration and notification

law complies with federal law requirements. New Mexico would forfeit federal grants and mon-

ies if it does not comply with the federal law.

POSSIBLE QUESTIONS

Should lifetime registration be required where enticement of a child does not involve a “sex of-

fense”.

Will law enforcement be able to enforce the “visiting” sex offender registration requirement.

Is 24-hours a reasonable time for registration or to establish a residency.

Currently offenders must register once a year prior to December 31. Does the 90-day registration

requirement significantly improve enforcement.

All felons are currently required to provide DNA samples that are placed in the DNA index. Is

the section in the bill requiring that sex offenders to provide a DNA sample redundant.

AMENDMENTS (AGO)

1.

Include a provision defining “owns” for Section D (6) regarding the ownership of all mo-

tor vehicles. Partial ownership of the motor vehicle should fall within this requirement.

Senate Bill 669 - Page 3

2.

Define “residence” to require some independent, third party receipt or other documenta-

tion such as a lease agreement.

3.

Special attention should be directed to the federal legislation for state sex offender regis-

tration and notification requirements to ensure compliance and federal funding.

It would be much less confusing to have the bill read, “If an offender is required to register in

another state as a sex offender, they must also register when visiting New Mexico.”

BMC/yr