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HOUSE BILL 153
57TH LEGISLATURE - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - FIRST SESSION, 2025
INTRODUCED BY
Sarah Silva
AN ACT
RELATING TO JOURNALISM; ENACTING THE PROTECT REPORTERS FROM
EXPLOITATIVE STATE SPYING ACT; REPEALING AND ENACTING SECTIONS
OF THE NMSA 1978.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
SECTION 1. [NEW MATERIAL] SHORT TITLE.--This act may be
cited as the "Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying
Act".
SECTION 2. [NEW MATERIAL] DEFINITIONS.--As used in the
Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying Act:
A. "covered journalist" means a person who
regularly gathers, prepares, collects, photographs, records,
writes, edits, reports, investigates or publishes news or
information that concerns local, national or international
events or other matters of public interest for dissemination to
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the public;
B. "covered service provider" means a person that,
by an electronic means, stores, processes or transmits
information in order to provide a service to customers of the
person, including:
(1) a telecommunications carrier and a
provider of an information service;
(2) a provider of an interactive computer
service and an information content provider;
(3) a provider of a remote computing service;
and
(4) a provider of an electronic communication
service to the public;
C. "document" means writings, recordings and
photographs, as those terms are defined by Rule 11-1001 NMRA;
D. "journalism" means gathering, preparing,
collecting, photographing, recording, writing, editing,
reporting, investigating or publishing news or information that
concerns local, national or international events or other
matters of public interest for dissemination to the public;
E. "personal account of a covered journalist" means
an account with a covered service provider used by a covered
journalist that is not provided, administered or operated by
the employer of the covered journalist;
F. "personal technology device of a covered
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journalist" means a handheld communications device, laptop
computer, desktop computer or other internet-connected device
used by a covered journalist that is not provided or
administered by the employer of the covered journalist;
G. "protected information" means any information
identifying a source who provided information as part of
engaging in journalism and any records, contents of a
communication, documents or information that a covered
journalist obtained or created as part of engaging in
journalism; and
H. "state entity" means an entity or employee of
the executive branch or an administrative agency of the state
government with the power to issue a subpoena or issue other
compulsory process.
SECTION 3. [NEW MATERIAL] LIMITS ON COMPELLED DISCLOSURE
FROM COVERED JOURNALISTS.--In any matter arising under state
law, a state entity shall not compel a covered journalist to
disclose protected information unless a court in the judicial
district in which the subpoena or other compulsory process is,
or will be, issued determines by a preponderance of the
evidence, after providing notice and an opportunity to be heard
to the covered journalist, that:
A. disclosure of the protected information is
necessary to prevent, or to identify any perpetrator of, an act
of terrorism; or
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B. disclosure of the protected information is
necessary to prevent a threat of imminent violence, significant
bodily harm or death, including specified offenses against a
minor.
SECTION 4. [NEW MATERIAL] LIMITS ON COMPELLED DISCLOSURE
FROM COVERED SERVICE PROVIDERS.--
A. In any matter arising under state law, a state
entity shall not compel a covered service provider to provide
testimony or any document consisting of any record, information
or other communications stored by a covered provider on behalf
of a covered journalist, including testimony or any document
relating to a personal account of a covered journalist or a
personal technology device of a covered journalist, unless a
court in the judicial district in which the subpoena or other
compulsory process is, or will be, issued determines by a
preponderance of the evidence that there is a reasonable threat
of imminent violence unless the testimony or document is
provided and issues an order authorizing the state entity to
compel the disclosure of the testimony or document.
B. A state entity seeking to compel the provision
of testimony or any document described in Subsection A of this
section shall inform the court that the testimony or document
relates to a covered journalist.
C. A court may authorize a state entity to compel
the provision of testimony or a document pursuant to this
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section only after the state entity seeking the testimony or
document provides the covered journalist on behalf of whom the
testimony or document is stored pursuant to Subsection A of
this section with:
(1) notice of the subpoena or other compulsory
request for such testimony or document from the covered service
provider not later than the time at which the subpoena or
request is issued to the covered service provider; and
(2) an opportunity to be heard before the
court before the time at which the provision of the testimony
or document is compelled.
D. Notice and an opportunity to be heard pursuant
to Subsection C of this section may be delayed for not more
than forty-five days if the court involved determines there is
clear and convincing evidence that the notice would pose a
clear and substantial threat to the integrity of a criminal
investigation or would present an imminent risk of death or
serious bodily harm, including specified offenses against a
minor.
E. The forty-five-day period described in
Subsection D of this section may be extended by the court for
additional periods of not more than forty-five days if the
court involved makes a new and independent determination that
there is clear and convincing evidence that providing notice to
the covered journalist would pose a clear and substantial
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threat to the integrity of a criminal investigation or would
present an imminent risk of death or serious bodily harm under
current circumstances.
SECTION 5. [NEW MATERIAL] LIMITATION ON CONTENT OF
INFORMATION.--The content of any testimony, document or
protected information that is compelled pursuant to Sections 3
and 4 of the Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying
Act:
A. shall not be overbroad, unreasonable or
oppressive and shall, as appropriate, be limited to the purpose
of verifying published information or describing any
surrounding circumstances relevant to the accuracy of the
published information; and
B. shall be narrowly tailored in subject matter and
period of time covered so as to avoid compelling the production
of peripheral, nonessential or speculative information.
SECTION 6. [NEW MATERIAL] RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.--
Nothing in the Protect Reporters from Exploitative State Spying
Act shall be construed to prevent the state from pursuing an
investigation of a covered journalist or organization that is:
A. suspected of committing a crime;
B. a witness to a crime unrelated to engaging in
journalism;
C. suspected of being an agent of a foreign power,
as defined in Section 101 of the federal Foreign Intelligence
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Surveillance Act of 1978;
D. an individual or organization designated under
Executive Order 13224 (50 U.S.C. 1701);
E. a specially designated terrorist, as that term
is defined in Section 595.311 of Title 31 of the Code of
Federal Regulations, or any successor thereto; or
F. a terrorist organization, as that term is
defined in Section 212(a)(3)(B)(vi)(II) of the federal
Immigration and Nationality Act.
SECTION 7. REPEAL.--Section 38-6-7 NMSA 1978 (being Laws
1973, Chapter 31, Section 1) is repealed.
SECTION 8. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the
provisions of this act is July 1, 2025.
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