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

SPONSOR SPAC

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

3/12/07

HB

SHORT TITLE Application of DWI Revocation Laws

SB 1146/SPACS

ANALYST Earnest

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

NFI

NFI

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to and conflicts with Senate Bill 905

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Taxation and Revenue Department (TRD)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

The Senate Corporations and Transportation Committee (SCORC) Substitute for Senate Bill

1146 would add a new subsection to Section 66-5-29 of the Motor Vehicle Code regarding the

Mandatory Revocations of Licenses. The bill would allow the Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) to

use the same revocation process in current law for a driver with three or more DWI convictions

before June 17, 2005. Under current statute, the revocation period for persons with 3 or more

DWI convictions before June 17, 2005, is 10 years and interlock license and devices are optional.

The bill would give an individual the option of a shorter revocation period as long as they agree

to a mandatory interlock license and device. Those who have met the requirements of the

current statutes are eligible to apply for reinstatement of their license.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

No significant impact identified, but TRD estimates a substantial administrative impact to

implement the bill, in particular changes to the MVD database.

Senate Bill 1146/SPACS – Page

2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

According to TRD, the intent of the SCORC substitute for SB 1146 is to reconcile previous

amendments to the Motor Vehicle Code regarding license revocation and the interlock license

law. Current provisions require a person to have an interlock license for at least 3 years and no

violations of the interlock device in the previous six months for license reinstatement. Also

under current statutes the revocation period for persons with 3 or more DWI convictions before

June 17, 2005, is 10 years and interlock license and devices are optional.

Specifically, TRD states:

This bill is designed to deal with a legal issue that arose from the 2005 amendments to §

66-5-29 and § 66-5-5(D). In 2005, the legislature amended § 66-5-29 to provide that a

third DWI conviction causes a mandatory three-year license revocation and § 66-8-102

requires that an offender be ordered to install an interlock device and obtain an interlock

license for three years. It also amended § 66-5-5(D) to provide that a fourth conviction

causes a lifetime revocation. Prior to the 2005 amendment, § 66-5-5(D) stated that

anyone with three DWI convictions in a ten-year time period would not be eligible for a

license for ten years from the date of the last conviction. In 2003, the legislature enacted

the interlock license law, §§ 66-5-501 through 504 to allow anyone with an alcohol-

related revocation to obtain an interlock license, if the person chose to do so. The

problem is that the legislature never made any provision for the 2005 amendments to

apply retroactively. The result is that offenders with three convictions within a ten-year

time period prior to June 17, 2005, are unable to obtain a full license for ten years, while

offenders with a third DWI after June 17, 2005, only have a three-year revocation.

According to MVD over 13,000 people fall into this category. The bill would give the

persons with the pre-June 17, 2005, convictions the option of deciding whether they want

to continue with the ten-year revocation or take steps to get an interlock license and be

subject to the shorter revocation.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

TRD estimates that significant changes to MVD’s computer systems and processes would be

need to implement this bill. The necessary changes, including modifications to current

mainframe system to reflect the new license revocation provisions would require a total of 640

hours of programming time.

TRD does not indicate whether the changes could be performed with current resources.

CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP

TRD reports that Senate Corporations and Transportation Committee Substitute for Senate Bill

905 also amends Section 66-5-29. The amendments in SCORC Sub for SB 905 clarify that the

provisions of the section apply to revoking a person’s “driving privileges" as well as their

driver’s license. Those changes could easily be integrated into this bill to eliminate the conflict.

Senate Bill 1146/SPACS – Page

3

TECHNICAL ISSUES

TRD notes the following technical issue:

•

Page 3, paragraph C starting at line3: for consistency with the rest of the Motor Vehicle

Code, the reference to “offender" should be replaced with the word “conviction" in several

places.

C. A person who upon adjudication as a delinquent for driving while under the

influence of intoxicating liquor or drugs or conviction pursuant to Section 66-8-

102 NMSA 1978 is subject to license revocation under this section for an offense

pursuant to which the person was also subject to license revocation pursuant to

Section 66-8-111 NMSA 1978 shall have the person’s license revoked for that

offense for a combined period of time equal to:

(1) one year for a first conviction

offender

; or

(2) for a subsequent offender:

(2)

(a)

two years for a second conviction;

(3)

(b)

three years for a third conviction; or

(4)

the remainder of . . . .

BE/csd