Ethics & Transparency Bills Sponsored By Senator Ivey-Soto

Click on the bill number and title to be taken to the bill on the New Mexico Legislature website.

This Senate Rules change -- which was adopted by the Senate -- ensures that no legislation is pre-filed at a time when legislators may also accept political contributions for their campaigns.

This bill would have required judges to impose sanctions on parents who interfere with visitation or time share of a minor child. It also would have required a court appointed Guardian Ad Litem to receive training and certification.

This proposed Constitutional Amendment would have tasked the State Ethics Comission with biennially determining salaries for all state elective officers, and would have removed elected officers from the process of setting their own compensation.

This proposed Constitutional Amendment would have changed the length of legislative sessions from 60 days one year and 30 days the next to a consistent 45 days each year.

This bill -- which is now law -- creates accountability and establishes clear timelines to protect taxpayers who file a protest of taxes charged by the state.

This bill -- which is now law -- clarifies that lobbyists must report 100% of lobbying expenditures, and must disclose names and details for any expenditure over $100.00.

This bill -- which is now law -- protects people from discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation and gender identity by removing the minimum threshold of employees that were previously required in a business before such discrimination would be unlawful under the New Mexico Human Rights Act.

This bill would have allowed owners or tennants to appeal an Eviction Order to the District Court in their County instead of having to appeal to an Appellate Court in Santa Fe. It also would have protected victims of domestic violence whose abuser was evicted from a common dwelling.

This bill would have mandated that all administrative rules imposed by state agencies automatically expire after 12 years, unless renewed following notice and comment.

This bill would have created the State Ethics Commission. Senate Bill 668, on which Senator Ivey-Soto collaborated, created the State Ethics Commission and provides the process by which any New Mexican can hold state public officials accountable for their actions while in office.

This bill -- which is now law -- prohibits the practice of civil asset forfeiture without a criminal conviction. The law also establishes that any local jurisdiction pursuing civil asset forfeiture following a criminal conviction may not retain any proceeds beyond their costs, which is subject to public reporting and audit.

This bill -- which is now law -- requires Home Inspectors, who enter private residences and make recommendations on largest asset most people will own, to be licensed and undergo a criminal background check.

This proposed Constitutional Amendment would have allowed each County Commission to recommend that local probate matters be handled at the District Court instead of maintaining a separate Probate Court in that County.

This bill -- which is now law -- provided much needed transparency and oversight to the court administered guardianship process in response to a series of investigative reports by the Albuquerque Journal which highlighted abuses of the elderly and other vulnerable persons.

This bill -- the content of which was passed into law in 2019 through Senate Bill 191 -- clarifies that lobbyists must report 100% of lobbying expenditures, and must disclose names and details for any expenditure over $100.00.

This bill would have provided greater disclosure and transparency when a competitive Request for Proposals is cancelled by any public body spending public dollars.

This bill -- which was Pocket Vetoed -- would have allowed a political party convention to nominate the party's nominee for Lieutenant Governor, much like the national conventions nominate each party's nominee for Vice President.

This bill – which was signed into law – allows for termination of parental rights when a child is conceived from forced sexual conduct.

This bill would have revised the state Forfeiture Act to permit local law enforcement to collaborate with the Feds and would have required a conviction before local governments could seize property as a result of criminal activity.

This bill – which was pocket vetoed – would have refined and expanded the existing Confidential Address Program designed to protect victims of domestic violence whose lives are at risk.

This bill – which was vetoed – would have closed a loophole and required the aggregate amount of all money spent on lobbying to be disclosed.

This bill would have provided the details for the implementation of a state ethics commission. An ethics commission as a constitutional amendment will be on the November 2018 ballot, and following that, the Legislature will revisit implementation language such as this bill.

This bill – which was signed into law – reforms the administrative rule making process when state agencies create law. Versions of this bill have been introduced over the last nine years, but did not become law until HB 58 in 2017.

This bill – which was signed into law as HB 261 – provided emergency funding to the Judicial Branch of government for FY 2017.

This bill – which was signed into law – requires the Secretary of State to provide technologies to make it easier for blind people to vote using paper ballots. Additional language from HB 455 and other sources was added to this bill to clean up various sections of the Election Code.

This bill would have required individual Legislator capital outlay funding designations to be made public after each Legislative Session.

This bill – which was pocket vetoed – would have aligned the Election Day for all local, non-partisan public bodies with taxation authority to November of the odd numbered year.

This bill -- which is now law -- gives state regulators tools to crack down on international money laundering in New Mexico. We were the only border state without this legislation in place.

This proposed Constitutional Amendment would have ensured that all eligible qualified electors would be registered to vote before each election.

This proposed Constitutional Amendment would have authorized an independent body to investigate members of the Legislature, the concept of which was adopted by the Legislature and will be on the 2018 General Election ballot.

This bill (and HB 551 in 2015) would have created licensure and background checks for people performing home inspections. The bill was supported by the Realtors Association.

This bill (and HB 108 in 2013) would have made administrative rule-making by state agencies more consistent and accountable. It was supported by the Association for Commerce and Industry.

This bill -- passed by the Legislature and vetoed by the Governor -- would have allowed efficiency in public auditing by permitting a component unit to select its own qualified auditor. In the last fiscal year, this bill could have saved taxpayers almost $1 Million Dollars.

This bill -- the content of which is now law through HB 250 (2016) -- was an earlier attempt to implement the Uniform Money Services Act, which was finally passed in 2016.

This bill would have moved the Animal Sheltering Licensing Board from Regulation & Licensing to the Environment Department. It was supported by Animal Protection Voters and the Humane Society.

This bill -- which was passed by the Legislature but pocket vetoed by the Governor -- would have protected real estate records by requiring a reason before duplicate documents should be recording affecting the title to a person's property.

This bill was an attempt to require oral public comment in public meetings. It was supported by the Foundation for Open Government.

This bill would have made it easier to appoint members of the state Human Rights Commission and would have streamlined the first hearing in that process.

This bill -- which is now law -- implements several updates to the Uniform Commercial Code, encouraging interstate commerce in New Mexico.

This bill -- which is now law -- modernized many aspects of marriage laws, many of which had not been updated since the 1800s.

This bill -- which is now law -- clarified the laws for real estate records and public access to such records at the County Clerk's Office.

This bill would have implemented a consistent and accountable process to placing a lien on a person's property and would have required notice of the lien.

This bill -- which is now law -- all public bodies must post meeting agendas 72 hours before the meeting and must post them on their website. The bill was supported by the Foundation for Open Government and by the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce which gave an award to the sponsors after the bill was signed into law.

This bill would have removed needless bureaucratic hurdles to refunds issued to taxpayers by the government.

This bill would have prohibited the golden parachute buyouts with public funds when coaches or school superintendents leave office.

To see a complete list of Daniel's bills or to learn more about his committee assignments, click here!