I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Two bills that would require government agencies in New Mexico to accept requests for public records via e-mail and fax have been approved by the Legislature and sent to the governor for action.
Both House Bill 598, sponsored by Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces — which is the bill I’ve written about in the past — and House Bill 534, sponsored by Eleanor Chavez, D-Albuquerque, have been sent to the governor. I guess, assuming the governor supports the proposal, that he gets to choose between the bills.
The bills are simple: They would require that government agencies accept requests for public records via e-mail and fax.
Currently, the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act requires response to “oral” and “written” requests for public records, but there’s apparently no clear definition of what constitutes writing. Denying a request because it was sent electronically, and forcing someone to instead deliver the request in person or mail it, is one method some government agencies have used to make it more difficult to access public records.
I’ve faced that type of stonewalling in the past. Cervantes’ bill came in response to New Mexico State University’s assertion in 2007 that records requests I filed weren’t valid because they were sent via e-mail. The attorney general considered NMSU’s denial of my request and said that, though his office and the vast majority of state agencies treat e-mail requests as valid, state law doesn’t explicitly require that they be treated as valid.
Chavez’s bill was approved by the Senate on Friday on a vote of 33-0. Cervantes’ passed the Senate moments ago on a vote of 32-5.
