The Senate today passed a bill to eliminate court fees charged on top of fines for traffic and some criminal offenses.
New Mexico Chief Justice Shannon Bacon in her State of the Judiciary address in January said that the courts were advocating for the elimination of post-adjudication fees as a means of funding the judiciary and state programs. She called it an unjust practice of paying for government functions on the backs of those who can least afford it.
The current system collects about $16 million a year and funds programs including a crime laboratory and a traffic safety fund.
"We then take the basic fine, but then we add all these fees on top of it. And then we basically make our court system a collection agency," said Senator Daniel Ivey-Soto (D-Bernalillo).
"This doesn't affect the fines at all," he went on. "But it makes sure that programs designed to help people are paid for through the normal budgeting process."
Speaking in support of the bill, Senator Antoinette Sedillo Lopez (D-Bernalillo) said it did not make sense to fund programs through the process of fees, saying that they were costly to collect.
The state's Legislative Finance Committee also pointed out in an analysis that fee revenue fluctuates annually, making it an unreliable source of funding for public programs.
The bill passed by 35 votes to one, and now heads to the governor's desk.
