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 Maestas
LAST UPDATED
ORIGINAL DATE 2/18/25
SHORT TITLE
Moving Traffic Violation Deferred
Sentences
BILL
NUMBER Senate Bill 154
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
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
AODA No fiscal impact
Indeterminate
but minimal
Indeterminate
but minimal
Indeterminate
but minimal
Recurring General Fund
Cost to Counties No fiscal impact At least $19.2 At least $19.2 At least $37.4 Recurring General Fund
Parentheses ( ) indicate expenditure decreases.
*Amounts reflect most recent analysis of this legislation.
Sources of Information
LFC Files
Agency Analysis Received From
Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) New Mexico Attorney General (NMAG) New Mexico Sentencing Commission (NMSC) Corrections Department (NMCD) Department of Public Safety (DPS) Agency Analysis was Solicited but Not Received From
Department of Transportation (NMDOT)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Senate Bill 154
Senate Bill 154 (SB154) would add a new section to the Motor Vehicle Code, Section 66-8-142
NMSA 1978. The proposed section would prohibit the courts from deferring the sentence of a
person who commits a moving traffic violation if the individual has, within the past year, a
sentence deferred for a moving traffic violation. The bill defines a “moving traffic violation” to
include the following offenses:
Failure to obey traffic-control devices,
Failure to obey traffic-control signals,
Speeding,
Failure to yield, Senate Bill 154 – Page 2
Reckless driving,
Careless driving, and
Racing on highways.
SB154 would amend Section 31-20-3 NMSA 1978, the section that governs orders that defer or
suspend sentencing to exempt Section 66-8-142 NMSA 1978. The bill also provides a technical
amendment to section 31-20-3 NMSA 1978 to properly identify, by name, the Corrections
Department.
SB154’s provisions would apply to traffic violations that occur on or after the effective date.
The effective date of this bill is July 1, 2025.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
The Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) explains that since the bill prohibits the court
from deferring sentencing, it could result in increased penalties which could encourage more
defendants to invoke their right to trials and jury trials. Possible increases in trials and jury trials
would require additional judge time, courtroom staff time, courtroom availability, and jury fees.
The Law Offices of the Public Defender (LOPD) would also expend additional resources to
defend indigent individuals, who can no longer get their sentence deferred, in trials or jury trials
that would not have occurred with current law. District attorneys would likewise need to expend
additional resources if more defendants invoke their right to trial.
Incarceration drives costs in the criminal justice system, so any changes in the number of
individuals in prison and jail and the length of time served in prison and jail that might result
from this bill could have moderate fiscal impacts. SB154 defines a “moving traffic violation” to
include offenses that could be generally classified as misdemeanors. Because the offenses will no
longer be deferred and could be charged as a misdemeanor, that will likely increase the
population of New Mexico’s jails, consequently increasing long-term costs to state and county
general funds. LFC estimates a marginal cost (the cost per additional inmate) of $19.2 thousand
per county jail inmate per year, based on incarceration costs at the Metropolitan Detention
Center. This analysis assumes that one additional person a year will enter a jail as a result of
SB154.
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
AOC provides the following analysis:
1) A deferral of a moving traffic violation ticket can allow and encourage people to take
steps to improve their driving behavior or address other issues specified to be addressed
in a deferral. There is a question as to whether the SB154 prohibition against deferrals
will deter people from improving their driving or address other specified issues. Given
that the prohibition only applies if a person has had a sentence for a moving traffic
violation deferred within the past year, however, an additional moving traffic violation
might indicate that a person is not learning and not improving their driving and imposing
an immediate fine may provide more deterrence against additional moving traffic
violations and encourage a person to actually improve their driving. Senate Bill 154 – Page 3
2) While it might be argued that prohibiting a court from granting a deferral of a sentence
of a person who commits a moving traffic violation violates the doctrine of separation of
powers set out in N.M. Constitution, Art. III, Section 1, the New Mexico Supreme Court,
in State v. Mabry, 1981-NMSC-067, 96 N.M. 317, 630 P.2d 269 (1981), held that
mandatory sentencing does not violate the doctrine of separation of powers. While the
court was addressing mandatory sentencing and not a prohibition on deferrals, in both
instances, the discretion of the court was removed, so it is possible that the reasoning
employed by the court in State v. Mabry might apply.
The New Mexico Sentencing Commission (NMSC) provides the following:
SB154 does not specify how to determine whether a person has received a deferred
sentence “within the past year” – i.e., whether the time is measured from (and to) the date
of the deferred disposition or the date of the offense.
It is also unclear whether SB154’s applicability clause applies to both the new offense
and the previous (deferred) disposition, or if deferred dispositions that occurred before
the bill’s effective date could be used to prevent a deferred sentence for any moving
traffic violation incurred after the bill’s effective date.
Department of Public Safety (DPS) provides the following:
DPS believes passage of this bill will help provide a deterrent to dangerous driving
activity and as a result have a positive impact on roadway safety. This bill lists seven (7)
traffic violations to which this amendment would apply. The first four (4) listed are
penalty assessment misdemeanors with no jail jurisdiction. Therefore, removing the
ability to receive a deferred sentence the second time an offender commits one of these
moving violations provides a deterrent to hopefully keep them driving more safely. A
deferred sentence, if successfully completed, would allow the offender to keep the points
of their driver’s license. The crimes listed in (B)(5) - (7) have ninety (90) days of possible
jail jurisdiction and possible fines. Being able to receive a deferred sentence to those
charges is a major benefit to the offender, and removing the ability to get a deferred
sentence after having previously received one is a significant consequence that would
hopefully deter that conduct in the future. Reckless driving, careless driving, and racing
on highways are particularly dangerous driving behaviors and present a significant safety
concern to the motoring public at large. Moreover, this kind of driving has become more
pervasive in recent years, putting the motoring public at risk.
OTHER SUBSTANT IVE ISSUES
NMSC provides the following:
In FY 2024, there were a total of 46.2 thousand dispositions for the traffic offenses listed
in SB 154. Of these, just over 40 percent (18.7 thousand) received a deferred disposition.
It is difficult to determine how many deferrals would be prevented by SB154, but the vast
majority (91.6 percent) of the total dispositions for traffic offenses listed in SB154 were
for violations of Section 66-7-301 (speeding), which carries fines but no jail time.
FC/rl/SL2