Upon the annual certification of the compilation of 1978 by the New Mexico compilation commission, with the advice and approval of the advisory committee of the supreme court, the compilation shall be in force and recognized, referred to and used in all the courts and in all departments and offices of the state as the official compilation of the statutory law of New Mexico and may be cited as the "NMSA 1978", whether printed under an exclusive license of the content of the compilation or published electronically free of charge.

History: 1941 Comp., § 1-125, enacted by Laws 1953, ch. 39, § 7; 1953 Comp., § 1-1-7; Laws 1977, ch. 74, § 4; 2006, ch. 70, § 4; 2019, ch. 74, § 6.

Compiler's notes. — The annual certification of the commission and advisory committee is filed with the secretary of state. See 12-1-3 NMSA 1978 prior to the 2006 amendment of that section on NMOneSource.com.

The 2019 amendment, effective May 3, 2019, clarified that the compilation, whether printed under an exclusive license of the content of the compilation or published electronically free of charge, shall be recognized as the official compilation of the statutory law of New Mexico; after "Upon the", added "annual", after "shall be in force and", deleted "printed and electronic copies thereof shall be received", and added "whether printed under an exclusive license of the content of the compilation or published electronically free of charge".

Temporary provisions. — Laws 2019, ch. 74, § 9 provided:

A. On the effective date of this act, May 3, 2019, all state, local and district officers designated by the New Mexico compilation commission to receive distributions of sets of the compilation, replacement volumes or replacement pamphlets may dispose of such sets according to procedures set out for disposal of surplus property. Sets shall not be delivered or returned to the office of the commission in Santa Fe. The commission shall determine how many full sets of the printed statutes and other publications it will maintain for historical, reference and possible replacement purposes, and the remainder of the sets held by the commission may be disposed of according to procedures set out for the disposal of surplus property.

B. All contracts in effect on the effective date of this act, May 3, 2019, shall continue to be effective until the contract has been completed or the commission decides to terminate the contract.

C. On the effective date of this act, May 3, 2019, all references in law and other legal documents to the New Mexico statutes annotated or the NMSA 1978 shall be deemed to be references to the content of the master database.

The 2006 amendment, effective July 1, 2006, deleted the provision that the commission act through the secretary and provides for electronic copies of the official compilation or supplements.

Effect of omission of law from NMSA 1978. — Since NMSA 1978 is a compilation, not a revision or codification, i.e., it is gathered from other books and documents, a failure to refer to an enacted law in NMSA 1978 would not diminish the applicability of that enacted law. Loesch v. Henderson, 1985-NMCA-104, 103 N.M. 554, 710 P.2d 748.

Compilation presumptively official. — Compiled versions of statutes and court rules, certified by the compilation commission, are presumptively official. State v. Sandoval, 2003-NMSC-027, 134 N.M. 453, 78 P.3d 907.

Rules compilation. — Where the supreme court authorized the compilation commission to follow a set of drafting guidelines in the recompilation of the 1986 Supreme Court Rules Annotated, and the court approved the recompiled versions of the rules, instructions and forms, the version of the rules appearing in the 1986 Supreme Court Rules Annotated, and later in the New Mexico Rules Annotated, was the "official" version approved by the supreme court. State v. Sandoval, 2003-NMSC-027, 134 N.M. 453, 78 P.3d 907.