Fiscal impact reports (FIRs) are prepared by the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) for standing finance
committees of the Legislature. LFC does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of these reports if they
are used for other purposes.
F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR Herrera/Sanchez/Jaramillo
LAST UPDATED
ORIGINAL DATE 2
/25/25
SHORT TITLE
Close and Relocate Certain Magistrate
Courts
BILL
NUMBER House Bill 352
ANALYST Chavez
ESTIMATED ADDITIONAL OPERATING BUDGET IMPACT*
(dollars in thousands)
Agency/Program
FY25 FY26 FY27
3 Year
Total Cost
Recurring or
Nonrecurring
Fund
Affected
Courts
No fiscal
impact
At least ($12.2) At least ($321.3) At least ($321.3) Recurring General Fund
District
Attorneys
No fiscal
impact
Indeterminate
but minimal
Indeterminate
but minimal
Indeterminate
but minimal
Recurring General Fund
LOPD
No fiscal
impact
Indeterminate
but minimal
Indeterminate
but minimal
Indeterminate
but minimal
Recurring General Fund
Parentheses ( ) indicate expenditure decreases.
*Amounts reflect most recent analysis of this legislation.
Relates to House Bill 144
Conflicts with House Bill 188
Sources of Information
LFC Files
Agency Analysis Received From
Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) Administrative Office of the District Attorneys (AODA)
Law Offices of the Public Defender (LOPD)
New Mexico Attorney General (NMAG)
Agency Analysis was Solicited but Not Received From
New Mexico Municipal League (ML)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of House Bill 352
House Bill 352 (HB352) would restructure various magistrate courts in the state by closing,
relocating, or modifying operations in several judicial districts. HB352 would amend:
- Section 35-1-10 NMSA 1978 to eliminate the circuit magistrate court in Hatch.
- Section 35-1-12 NMSA 1978 to eliminate the magistrate court in Bayard and consolidate
Divisions 1 and 2 in Silver City, beginning on January 1, 2027.
- Section 35-1-16 NMSA 1978 to eliminate the circuit magistrate court in Jal and have the
magistrate court in Eunice ride circuit to Hobbs as needed.
- Section 35-1-20 NMSA 1978 to eliminate the magistrate circuit court in Thoreau. House Bill 352 – Page 2
- Section 35-1-24 NMSA 1978 to move the circuit magistrate court from Chama to Tierra
Amarilla, as needed, beginning on January 1, 2027.
- Section 35-1-27 NMSA 1978 to consolidate the San Juan magistrate division into one
location in Aztec, beginning on January 1, 2027.
- Section 35-1-29 NMSA 1978 to eliminate the circuit magistrate court in Pojoaque.
- Section 35-1-33 NMSA 1978 to eliminate the circuit magistrate court in Estancia.
This bill does not contain an effective date and, as a result, would go into effect 90 days after the
Legislature adjourns if enacted, or June 20, 2025.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
The Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) provides the following:
Annual Cost b
y Location
Location Landlord FY 2025 FY 2026 FY 2027
Bayard UIRC-GSA $44,448.00 $44,448.00 $44,448.00
Chama Santa Barbara Builders $64,0 89.96 $79,170.00 $81,545.10
Farmington UIRC-GSA $183,000.00 $183,000.00 $183,000.00
Hatch Village of Hatch $7,20 0.00 $7,200.00 $7,200.00
Jal City of Jal $5,040.00 $5,040.00 $5,040.00
Pojoaque None $0 $0 $0
Thoreau None $0 $0 $0
Estancia None $0 $0 $0
This legislation contains no appropriations. Removing Pojoaque, Thoreau, and Estancia
circuit courts will have no fiscal impact because those locations have no physical location
and have not been in operation for several years. Closing the Jal and Hatch locations will
reduce the lease costs for the Judiciary in addition to savings recognized in employee
travel, repairs, furniture, and maintenance.
Moving Bayard, and Farmington magistrate courts will eliminate the lease payments for
those facilities, which will reduce overall lease costs for the Judiciary in addition to
savings recognized in employee travel, repairs, furniture, and maintenance. These savings
can be redirected to efforts to improve the court locations in Silver City and Aztec to
accommodate the addition of judges and personnel.
Moving the Chama court to Tierra Amarilla will allow the district and magistrate courts
to operate in a single building through a cooperative effort between the judiciary and Rio
Arriba County.
Combining the Grant and San Juan County magistrate courts will provide the citizens of
those counties with modern, efficient courthouses that improve access to justice and are
more centrally located in those communities.
There will be no impact on the number of magistrate judges or judiciary personnel.
House Bill 352 – Page 3
The estimated additional operating budget impact reflects the lease costs savings from the
closure of the circuit magistrate court in Hatch and the circuit magistrate court in Jal for FY26.
The two locations will be the only savings since the rest of the affected magistrate court or
circuit courts will not come into effect until FY27. The value listed under FY27 reflects the total
savings from HB352 on the judiciary.
The Law Offices of the Public Defender (LOPD) points out that their clients may face more
bench warrants which could affect attorney caseloads to some degree, unless adjustments are
made to allow clients to appear remotely or to address travel problems. However, there could be
some savings for public defenders by reducing travel time to the circuit courts. The same can be
said for district attorney’s offices since, if there are adjustments to allow remote appearances,
HB352 will lessen administrative burden by closing magistrate courts and providing savings in
travel time. Because both agencies may face operating expenses that can be mitigated through
possible rule changes and cost savings from travel; therefore, this analysis assumes the fiscal
impacts to these agencies cost are indeterminate but minimal.
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
AOC provides the following:
This legislation is focused on reorganizing the judicial infrastructure in New Mexico to
improve use of resources and improving access to justice.
Eliminating the non-operational courts in Pojoaque, Thoreau, and Estancia has no impact
on the public or the judiciary. Closing underutilized locations will directly reduce costs
that can be used on other efforts aimed at improving access to justice. These efforts can
include justice station placement and expanded hours of operation. Relocating courts to
more centralized locations across the state eliminates confusion among the public and
pools resources for greater efficiency.
Chama, Hatch, and Jal often have one employee working alone. This is a security
concern for these employees and the public. Additionally, if the single employee is ill,
attends training, or takes a vacation, these locations will either close to the public or the
district will have to send an employee from another location.
Total Cases Filed b
y Fiscal Year
FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY FY
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Hatch 18 51 17 33 16 27 14 13 22
Jal 74 86 123 93 91 143 142 70 61
Chama 685 836 694 380 438 339 341 417 460
Pojoaque 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Estancia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
House Bill 352 – Page 4
LOPD provides the following:
LOPD is concerned closing or moving magistrate courts that serve remote indigent
clients will result in further hardships for them. These clients already face the expense
and difficulty of getting to court; moving them further away may result in more bench
warrants and additional hardship on clients.
Some of the locations in which courts reside or to which magistrates currently ride circuit
are a notable distance from each other and are in counties with a large geographic size:
Espanola to Chama: 81 miles (Rio Arriba county size: 5,896 square miles);
Espanola to Tierra Amarilla: 66 miles (Rio Arriba county size: 5,896 square
miles);
Las Cruces to Hatch: 44 miles (Dona Ana county size: 3,814 square miles);
Gallup to Thoreau: 33 miles (McKinley county size: 5,455 square miles); and
Eunice to Jal: 24 miles (Lea county size: 4,394 square miles).
Other locations are not as far apart, but for clients with unreliable transportation or
working much-needed jobs or family care-taking near their homes may still face
significant challenges to travel to courts further away:
Pojoaque to Santa Fe: 19 miles (Santa Fe county size: 1,911 square miles);
Farmington to Aztec: 16 miles (San Juan county size: 5,538 square miles);
Estancia to Moriarty: 16 miles (Torrance county size: 3,346 square miles); and
Silver City to Bayard: 11 miles (Grant county size: 3,968 square miles).
Additionally, although some magistrate courts have extremely low case counts year-over-
year, more centralized magistrate courts may lose community-focused nuance.
CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP
The New Mexico Attorney General notes the following bills relate to or conflict with HB352:
HB144 establishes a riding circuit to Chaparral, alternating between the two magistrates
in Alamogordo. HB144 would have a circuit from Otero magistrate district to Chaparral,
and HB352 would have a circuit from Dona Ana magistrate district to Chaparral.
HB188 expands the seven magistrates in Dona Ana magistrate district to rotate riding
circuit to Anthony, Sunland Park, Chaparral, and Hatch. This would conflict with HB352
because HB352 provides that magistrates would regularly ride circuit only to Anthony
and no longer to Hatch.
FC/rl/hj