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

SPONSOR Rodriguez

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/16/07

3/09/07 HB

SHORT TITLE Domestic Violence Homicide Review Team

SB 1092/aSPAC/aSFl

ANALYST Peery-Galon

ESTIMATED ADDITIONAL OPERATING BUDGET IMPACT (dollars in thousands)

FY07

FY08

FY09 3 Year

Total Cost

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

Total

NA

$100.0 $100.0

$200.0 Recurring General

Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC)

Department of Public Safety (DPS)

Crime Victims Reparation Commission (CVRC)

Department of Health (DOH)

Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD)

No Response Received From

Governor’s Office

SUMMARY

Synopsis of SFl Amendment

The Senate Floor Amendment 1 to Senate Bill 1092 removes language pertaining to subpoena

duces tecum, discovery or disclosure to not be used as evidence in any criminal or civil

proceeding in regards to confidentiality. The amendment states persons honoring the

confidentiality requirements of this section will not make disclosure of any matter related to the

teams’ review of a domestic violence related homicide or a sexual assault related homicide

except pursuant to appropriate court orders.

Synopsis of SPAC Amendment

The Senate Public Affairs Committee amendment to Senate Bill 1092 adds representatives from

the Aging and Long Term Services Department and Children, Youth and Families Department to

the Domestic Violence Homicide Review Team to be created in the proposed legislation.

Senate Bill 1092/aSPAC/aSFl – Page

2

Synopsis of Original Bill

Senate Bill 1092 amends the Crime Victims Reparation Act to create the Domestic Violence

Homicide Review Team for the purpose of reviewing the facts and circumstances of domestic

violence related homicides and sexual assault-related homicides in New Mexico, identifying the

causes of the fatalities and their relationship to government and non-government service delivery

systems, and developing methods of domestic violence prevention. The members of the

Domestic Violence Homicide Review Team are to be appointed by the director of the Crime

Victims Reparation Commission. The Domestic Violence Homicide Review Team has the

following duties: review trends and patterns of domestic violence-related and sexual assault-

related homicides in New Mexico; evaluate the responses of government and non-government

service delivery systems, recommending improvements; identify high-risk groups; collect

statistical data on such homicides; and improve collaboration between tribal, state and local

agencies to develop initiatives to prevent domestic violence.

The proposed legislation deems the records, reports, other information and communication for

purpose of reviewing domestic violence related homicides or sexual assaults to be confidential.

The review team members, persons providing information and person participating in a review

are to honor the confidentiality provisions and not disclose such information. The proposed

legislation provides that the review team members are not subject to civil liability from any act

related to a review, if the members act in good faith. Also, organizations, institutions, agencies

or persons providing testimony, records, reports or other information to the review team are not

subject to civil liability from providing such information, if they act in good faith.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

CVRC states it would require a recurring appropriation of $100 thousand to implement the

proposed legislation.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

DOH states the Senate Public Affairs committee amendment to Senate Bill 1092 strengthens the

opportunity for inter-departmental collaboration of the Domestic Violence Homicide Review

Team by including two other executive branch departments that work with domestic violence.

DOH reports domestic violence is a significant issue in New Mexico. A recent statewide

victimization survey indicated that nearly one in three women and one in seven men suffer from

domestic violence at some point in their lives. In 2005, women reported 237,750 incidents and

men reported 102,065 incidents of domestic violence in the state. Additionally, New Mexico

law enforcement officers reported that 4,600 children were present at the scene of a domestic

violence incident in 2005.

DOH states since 1997, the University of New Mexico (UNM) Department of Emergency

Medicine has periodically organized Intimate Partner Violence Death Review Teams on an ad

hoc basis to review and report on these deaths. In a 2006 report, Getting Away With Murder, the

UNM team reported on 30 homicides that were intimate partner related in 2001 and 2002. DOH

notes domestic violence homicide review teams allow for the systematic review of domestic

violence related deaths in order to help prevent future deaths, to protect the safety of battered

Senate Bill 1092/aSPAC/aSFl – Page

3

women and men, and to guide the development of policy to hold accountable both offenders and

the agencies responsible for protecting victims. Nationally there are domestic violence homicide

review teams in nearly every state and there are at least 12 states with statutes mandating the

activities of the review team.

CYFD reports the department is the lead agency for domestic violence services and

programming in New Mexico, but the proposed legislation does not identify the department to

have a member on the review team.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

AOC states there may be a minor administrative impact on the courts as the result of

participating on the Domestic Violence Homicide Review Team.

CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP

The proposed legislation has relationships to House Bill 216, House Bill 378, House Bill 423,

House Bill 620, House Bill 877, Senate Bill 83, Senate Bill 94, Senate Bill 177, Senate Bill 446,

Senate Bill 457, Senate Bill 820, Senate Bill 867 and Senate Bill 1076, all these bills deal with

domestic violence issues.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

In 2004, there were nearly 27,000 domestic violence cases in New Mexico, according to a June

2005 report for the State Department of Health. Using data from the Dept. of Public Safety, the

study revealed that there were 63 domestic violence homicide victims in 2004. The relationship

of the offender to the victim was known in only 42 of the 63 cases; however, of those 42 cases,

93% were perpetrated by someone known to the victim, males and females were victimized

almost equally, most of the victims were over age 66, while most of the offenders were males

between the ages of 19 and 25.

RPG/nt