pg_0001

SB 158

Page 1

AN ACT

RELATING TO FUNERALS AND MEMORIAL SERVICES; LIMITING

DEMONSTRATIONS; PROVIDING PENALTIES; DECLARING AN EMERGENCY.

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

Section 1. SHORT TITLE.--This act may be cited as the

"Demonstrations at Funerals and Memorial Services Act".

Section 2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Demonstrations

at Funerals and Memorial Services Act:

A. "funeral" means the ceremonies, rituals,

processions and memorial services held at a funeral site in

connection with the viewing, burial, cremation or memorial of

or wake for a deceased person;

B. "funeral site" means a church, synagogue,

mosque, funeral home, mortuary, cemetery, grave site,

mausoleum or other place at which a funeral is being

conducted or is scheduled to be conducted within the next

sixty minutes or has been conducted within the last sixty

minutes; and

C. "targeted residential picketing" includes the

following acts:

(1) marching, standing or patrolling by one

or more persons directed solely at a particular residential

building in a manner that adversely affects the safety,

security or privacy of an occupant of the building; or

pg_0002

SB 158

Page 2

(2) marching, standing or patrolling by one

or more persons that prevents an occupant of a residential

building from gaining access to or exiting from the property

on which the residential building is located.

Section 3. PROHIBITED ACTS.--A person shall not, with

knowledge of the existence of a funeral or funeral site:

A. engage in any loud singing, playing of music,

chanting, whistling, yelling or noisemaking with or without

noise amplification, including bullhorns, auto horns and

microphones within five hundred feet of any ingress or egress

of that funeral site, when the volume of such singing, music,

chanting, whistling, yelling or noisemaking is audible at and

disturbing to the peace and good order of a funeral at that

funeral site;

B. direct abusive epithets or make any threatening

gesture that the person knows or reasonably should know is

likely to provoke a violent reaction by another person;

C. display within five hundred feet of any ingress

or egress of that funeral site any visual images that convey

fighting words or actual threats against another person;

D. knowingly obstruct, hinder, impede or block

another person's access to or egress from that funeral site

or a facility containing that funeral site, except that the

owner or occupant of property may take lawful actions to

exclude others from that property;

pg_0003

SB 158

Page 3

E. knowingly obstruct, hinder, impede or block the

progress of a vehicle participating in a procession to or

from a funeral site; or

F. knowingly engage in targeted residential

picketing at the home or domicile of any surviving member of

the deceased person's family or household on the date of the

funeral.

Section 4. PENALTIES.--Any person who violates Section

3 of the Demonstrations at Funerals and Memorial Services Act

is:

A. for the first offense, guilty of a petty

misdemeanor and shall be sentenced pursuant to the provisions

of Section 31-19-1 NMSA 1978;

B. for the second offense, guilty of a misdemeanor

and shall be sentenced pursuant to the provisions of Section

31-19-1 NMSA 1978; and

C. for the third and subsequent offenses, guilty

of a fourth degree felony and shall be sentenced pursuant to

the provisions of Section 31-18-15 NMSA 1978.

Section 5. INJUNCTIVE RELIEF.--In addition to the

criminal penalties provided in Section 4 of the

Demonstrations at Funerals and Memorial Services Act, the

court may enjoin conduct prohibited in Section 3 of that act

if there is credible evidence that a person is likely to

violate Section 3 of the Demonstrations at Funerals and

pg_0004

SB 158

Page 4

Memorial Services Act. Any surviving member of the deceased

person's immediate family who is threatened with loss or

injury by reason of a violation described in Section 3 of the

Demonstrations at Funerals and Memorial Services Act is

entitled to sue for and have injunctive relief in any court

of competent jurisdiction against any damage or threatened

loss or injury by reason of a violation thereof.

Section 6. SEVERABILITY.--If any part or application of

this act is held invalid, the remainder or its application to

other situations or persons shall not be affected.

Section 7. EMERGENCY.--It is necessary for the public

peace, health and safety that this act take effect

immediately.