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New Mexico

Actions Underway

• New Mexico is a state-funded system. The county pays for the courthouses.
• New Mexico’s budget was reduced by $5.5 million (less than 4%) in FY09 and by an additional $5 million in FY10. The Legislature may come back into special session to make further cuts for FY10.
• New Mexico has a much higher than average poverty rate, severe underemployment, low literacy, and a high level of persons for whom English is not the primary language. Programs targeted at assisting vulnerable populations have been stopped and reversed by the state's revenue shortfall. The Judiciary has not fully succeeded in convincing legislators that courts are not just another state agency to share equally in reduced appropriations. Making that case in the interim between sessions and during the next legislative session will be the highest priority.
• The greatest stress is felt in the clerks' offices of district and magistrate courts, the trial level courts, where extended vacancies and rising case filings are threatening the ability of courts to function.
• All the ancillary court activities are curtailed, time to respond to public demands are lengthened, and frustration for court employees increases as courts are unable to deliver services routinely provided in the past and now expected to be provided.
• A significant effort is underway to restructure how traffic citations are handled. This is a long-term project but it may receive greater impetus as a result of fiscal considerations; a silver lining to the funding cloud.
  New Mexico is moving towards electronic filing and citations, and electronic DMS and integrated CMS, use of video conferencing and video arraignments and digital audio recording.
• New Mexico is considering the consolidation of adjudication, financial and clerical office functions.
• A modern, statewide case management system is being implemented. It requires uniform practice by courts and justice agency partners. Education of court and non-court staff is critical and has required a large investment of time and resources; it will continue to demand these as implementation continues. The result in increased efficiency, improved data management, greater performance measurement, and other areas is promising in the courts that are under the new system and should produce significant, measurable improvements in all areas in the next year as implementation spreads.

Reports and Articles

• Barry Massey. "New Mexico Courts Expect Budget Furloughs if Budget Cuts Deeply." Associated Press. September 8, 2009.

Gavel to Gavel

• Database. Search the Gavel to Gavel legislation database based on state, year, legislation category, or any combination.

State Links

• Court Budget Web Sites
• Strategic Planning
• State Budgets for 2009
• State Budget Offices