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HOUSE BILL 470
57TH LEGISLATURE - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - FIRST SESSION, 2025
INTRODUCED BY
Pamelya Herndon
AN ACT
RELATING TO CHILDREN; REVISING THE DEFINITION OF "NEGLECTED
CHILD" IN THE ABUSE AND NEGLECT ACT TO INCLUDE CIRCUMSTANCES
WHEN A CHILD HAS UNSUPERVISED ACCESS TO A FIREARM OR DEADLY
WEAPON.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
SECTION 1. Section 32A-4-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1993,
Chapter 77, Section 96, as amended) is amended to read:
"32A-4-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Abuse and Neglect
Act:
A. "abandonment" includes instances when the
parent, without justifiable cause:
(1) left the child without provision for the
child's identification for a period of fourteen days; or
(2) left the child with others, including the
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other parent or an agency, without provision for support and
without communication for a period of:
(a) three months if the child was under
six years of age at the commencement of the three-month period;
or
(b) six months if the child was over six
years of age at the commencement of the six-month period;
B. "abused child" means a child:
(1) who has suffered or who is at risk of
suffering serious harm because of the action or inaction of the
child's parent, guardian or custodian;
(2) who has suffered physical abuse, emotional
abuse or psychological abuse inflicted or caused by the child's
parent, guardian or custodian;
(3) who has suffered sexual abuse or sexual
exploitation inflicted by the child's parent, guardian or
custodian;
(4) whose parent, guardian or custodian has
knowingly, intentionally or negligently placed the child in a
situation that may endanger the child's life or health; or
(5) whose parent, guardian or custodian has
knowingly or intentionally tortured, cruelly confined or
cruelly punished the child;
C. "aggravated circumstances" includes those
circumstances in which the parent, guardian or custodian has:
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(1) attempted, conspired to cause or caused
great bodily harm to the child or great bodily harm or death to
the child's sibling;
(2) attempted, conspired to cause or caused
great bodily harm or death to another parent, guardian or
custodian of the child;
(3) attempted, conspired to subject or has
subjected the child to torture, chronic abuse or sexual abuse;
or
(4) had parental rights over a sibling of the
child terminated involuntarily;
D. "deadly weapon" means an object, instrument,
substance or device:
(1) that is likely to and that is used by a
person with the intention to cause great bodily harm or death;
or
(2) with which the death of a person can be
easily and readily produced;
[D.] E. "educational decision maker" means an
individual appointed by the children's court to attend school
meetings and to make decisions about the child's education that
a parent could make under law, including decisions about the
child's educational setting, and the development and
implementation of an individual education plan for the child;
[E.] F. "fictive kin" means a person not related by
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birth, adoption or marriage with whom a child has an
emotionally significant relationship;
G. "firearm" means a weapon that will or is
designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile
by the action of an explosion; the frame or receiver of any
such weapon; or any firearm muffler or firearm silencer; and
includes a handgun, rifle or shotgun;
[F.] H. "great bodily harm" means an injury to a
person that creates a high probability of death, that causes
serious disfigurement or that results in permanent or
protracted loss or impairment of the function of a member or
organ of the body;
[G.] I. "neglected child" means a child:
(1) who has been abandoned by the child's
parent, guardian or custodian;
(2) who is without proper parental care and
control or subsistence, education, medical or other care or
control necessary for the child's well-being because of the
faults or habits of the child's parent, guardian or custodian
or the failure or refusal of the parent, guardian or custodian,
when able to do so, to provide them;
(3) who has been physically or sexually
abused, when the child's parent, guardian or custodian knew or
should have known of the abuse and failed to take reasonable
steps to protect the child from further harm;
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(4) whose parent, guardian or custodian is
unable to discharge that person's responsibilities to and for
the child because of incarceration, hospitalization or physical
or mental disorder or incapacity; [or ]
(5) who has been placed for care or adoption
in violation of the law; provided that nothing in the
Children's Code shall be construed to imply that a child who is
being provided with treatment by spiritual means alone through
prayer, in accordance with the tenets and practices of a
recognized church or religious denomination, by a duly
accredited practitioner thereof is for that reason alone a
neglected child within the meaning of the Children's Code; and
further provided that no child shall be denied the protection
afforded to all children under the Children's Code; or
(6) whose parent, guardian or custodian
negligently allows a child to have access to a firearm or other
deadly weapon while the child is not under the supervision of
the child's parent, guardian or custodian or an adult
authorized by the child's parent, guardian or custodian;
[H.] J. "physical abuse" includes any case in which
the child suffers strangulation or suffocation and any case in
which the child exhibits evidence of skin bruising, bleeding,
malnutrition, failure to thrive, burns, fracture of any bone,
subdural hematoma, soft tissue swelling or death and:
(1) there is not a justifiable explanation for
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the condition or death;
(2) the explanation given for the condition is
at variance with the degree or nature of the condition;
(3) the explanation given for the death is at
variance with the nature of the death; or
(4) circumstances indicate that the condition
or death may not be the product of an accidental occurrence;
[I.] K. "relative" means a person related to
another person by birth, adoption or marriage within the fifth
degree of consanguinity;
[J.] L. "sexual abuse" includes criminal sexual
contact, incest or criminal sexual penetration, as those acts
are defined by state law;
[K.] M. "sexual exploitation" includes:
(1) allowing, permitting or encouraging a
child to engage in prostitution;
(2) allowing, permitting, encouraging or
engaging a child in obscene or pornographic photographing; or
(3) filming or depicting a child for obscene
or pornographic commercial purposes, as those acts are defined
by state law;
[L.] N. "sibling" means a brother or sister having
one or both parents in common by birth or adoption;
[M.] O. "strangulation" has the same meaning as set
forth in Section 30-3-11 NMSA 1978;
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[N.] P. "suffocation" has the same meaning as set
forth in Section 30-3-11 NMSA 1978; and
[O.] Q. "transition plan" means an individualized
written plan for a child, based on the unique needs of the
child, that outlines all appropriate services to be provided to
the child to increase independent living skills. The plan
shall also include responsibilities of the child, and any other
party as appropriate, to enable the child to be self-sufficient
upon emancipation."
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