0001|                               AN ACT
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0002| RELATING TO COURTS; CLARIFYING THE DUTIES OF CHILD SUPPORT HEARING
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0003| OFFICERS; AMENDING A SECTION OF THE NMSA 1978.
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0004| 
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0005| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
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0006|      Section 1.  Section 40-4B-4 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1988, Chapter
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0007| 127, Section 4, as amended) is amended to read:
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0008|      "40-4B-4.  CHILD SUPPORT HEARING OFFICERS--APPOINTMENT--TERMS--
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0009| QUALIFICATIONS--COMPENSATION.--
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0010|           A.  Child support hearing officers shall be appointed by and
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0011| serve at the pleasure of the judges of the judicial districts
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0012| determined pursuant to Subsection D of this section.  Each hearing
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0013| officer shall be selected by a majority of the district court judges
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0014| in the judicial district to which he is assigned.  The child support
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0015| hearing officers shall be paid pursuant to a cooperative agreement
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0016| between the human services department and the judicial districts.
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0017|           B.  Child support hearing officers shall be lawyers who are
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0018| licensed to practice law in this state and who have a minimum of five
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0019| years experience in the practice of law, with at least twenty percent
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0020| of that practice having been in family law or domestic relations
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0021| matters.  Child support hearing officers shall devote full time to
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0022| their duties as judicial employees and shall not engage in the private
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0023| practice of law or in any employment, occupation or business
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0024| interfering with or inconsistent with the discharge of their duties.
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0025|           C.  A child support hearing officer is required to conform
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0001| to Canons 21-100 through 21-500 and 21-700 of the Code of Judicial
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0002| Conduct as adopted by the supreme court.  Violation of any such canon
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0003| shall be grounds for dismissal of any child support hearing officer. 
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0004| Child support hearing officers shall be employees of the judicial
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0005| branch of government and shall not be subject to the Personnel Act. 
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0006| Their compensation shall be set by the judges who appoint them, but
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0007| such compensation shall not exceed eighty percent of the current
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0008| salary for district court judges.
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0009|           D.  Child support hearing officers shall serve in such
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0010| judicial districts as the secretary deems appropriate considering
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0011| the case loads and case needs of the state's Title IV D program."  
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0012|                                                
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