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

SPONSOR

Campos

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/19/07

2/7/07 HB

40/aHJC

SHORT TITLE

Curry County Magistrate Districts & Elections

SB

ANALYST

C. Sanchez

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

NFI

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Administrative Office Of The Courts (AOC)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of HJC Amendment

On page 2, line 1, the amendment strikes the first “shall" and inserts in lieu thereof “may".

Synopsis of Original Bill

House Bill 40 creates districts for magistrate courts in Curry County. Currently Curry County

has two magistrates who are elected at large. House Bill 730 proposes to assign precincts to

Curry County Magistrate District Divisions. The jurisdiction of both magistrates remains

district-wide.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The LFC is unaware of fiscal implications for the courts at this time. The Secretary of State did

not respond regarding the effects of election costs.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The divisions proposed are the same ones proposed in the settlement agreement presented for

House Bill 40/aHJC – Page

2

approval in Chavez, et al. v. Vigil Giron

, Civ. No. 05-579 RHS/RLP in the United States District

Court for the District of New Mexico. (Settlement Agreement, Exhibit A). The Settlement

Agreement has not been approved by the Federal Court. The LFC understands the case is to be

set for trial at a later date.

According to the settlement agreement, the proposed minority majority district is 60% minority

when all minorities are combined, 50.49% Hispanic, and 56.96% Hispanic and Black combined.

(Settlement Agreement, p. 11)

A major difference between the settlement agreement and the bill is that the settlement

agreement requires magistrates to live in their divisions whereas the bill does not.

The judiciary has taken no position on the bill.

WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL

The status quo will be maintained.

CS/mt:csd