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SB 307: PUBLIC RECORDS CHANGES

An Act Relating To Public Records; Adding And Removing The Types Of Documents That Must Be Acknowledged Before Being Filed And Recorded; Removing A Notice Requirement Of The Expiration Of A Tax Lien; Allowing The Digitizing Of Certain Information Fifty Years After Recording; Updating Certain Cross-references In The Law; Requiring And Standardizing County Recording Indexes, Forms And Procedures; Making Governmental Agencies Subject To The Uniform Electronic Transactions Act; Repealing A Requirement That County Commission Minutes Be Published In A Newspaper; Reconciling Multiple Amendments To The Same Section Of Law In Laws 2011.

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MILD SB 307
PUBLIC RECORDS CHANGES

Legislative URL:
SB 307 on nmlegis.gov
Emergency Clause:
No
Germane:
N/A
Location:
Signed
Action:
[4] SPAC/SJC-SPAC [12] DP-SJC [14] DP [21] PASSED/S (32-5) [30] HVEC/HJC-HVEC [36] DP-HJC [51] DP/a [52] fl/a- PASSED/H (65-0) [44] s/cncrd SGND (Apr.5) Ch.214.
Issue(s):

Related Legislators

Bill Sponsor:

Related Documents

Downloads:
Introduced
SPAC Committee Report
SJC Committee Report
Final Senate Vote
HVEC Committee Report
HJC Committee Report
Final House Vote
House Floor Amendment 1
Fiscal Impact Report
Final Version
Summary

The bill makes a number of amendments to current law regarding public records, including adding and removing types of documents that must be acknowledged by a notary in order to be recorded. It removes the exemption for certain mining location notices that allowed such notices to be recorded without being acknowledged. The types of mining location notices involved are those for “mining claims upon a vein or lode of quartz or other rock in place bearing gold, silver, cinnabar, lead, tin, copper or other valuable deposit” (Sections 69-3-1 and 69-3-12 NMSA 1978) and amended or additional notices related to those claims.

 

Under New Mexico law (Section 14-12A-2 NMSA 1978), a notary acknowledges a document when a person:

  • “appears in person before the notary public and presents a document;
  • is personally known to the notary public or identified by the notary public through satisfactory evidence; and
  • indicates to the notary public that the signature on the document was voluntarily affixed by the person for the purposes stated within the document and, if applicable, that the person had due authority to sign in a particular representative capacity.”

 

Acknowledgements are designed to help prevent fraud. Thus, one potential benefit of the bill’s removing the exemption for mining notices might be that it will decrease fraud in the recording on mining location notices to the extent that any such fraud exists.

 

Date of Summary:  1/31/2013