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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR M Sanchez
ORIGINAL DATE
LAST UPDATED
2/9/07
HB
SHORT TITLE Municipal Elections by County Clerk
SB 360
ANALYST Wilson
ESTIMATED ADDITIONAL OPERATING BUDGET IMPACT (dollars in thousands)
FY07
FY08
FY09 3 Year
Total Cost
Recurring
or Non-Rec
Fund
Affected
Total
See Below
Recurring Local
Governments
Funds
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
LFC Files
Responses Received From
Attorney General’s Office (AGO)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
Senate Bill 360 requires county clerks to administer municipal elections in certain municipalities
Municipal clerks are removed from the municipal election process.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
Budgets need to be adjusted so that the county clerks get additional funding for handling the
municipal elections.
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
The bill title section states “Requiring County Clerks to Administer Municipal Elections in
Certain Municipalities." It is unclear where in the bill “certain municipalities" is defined and
explained.
The AGO notes that a canon of statutory construction is that the legislature cannot abolish a
position or agency by implication. This bill will likely withstand this legal challenge because the
municipal clerk will still maintain other duties such as keeping minutes of city council meetings
pursuant to NMSA 1978, Section 3-13-1.