A. The state registrar or other custodian of vital records shall not permit inspection of or disclosure of information contained in vital records or copying or issuance of a copy of all or part of any record except as authorized by law.

B. The department shall provide access to record level data required by the New Mexico health policy commission. The New Mexico health policy commission may only release record level data obtained from vital records in the aggregate. For the purposes of this subsection, "record level data" means one or more unique and non-aggregated data elements relating to a single identifiable individual. The department may authorize the disclosure of data contained in vital records for other research purposes.

C. When one hundred years have elapsed after the date of birth or fifty years have elapsed after the date of death, the vital records of these events in the custody of the state registrar shall become open public records, and information shall be made available in accordance with regulations that provide for the continued safekeeping of the records; provided that vital records of birth shall not become open public records prior to the individual's death.

History: 1953 Comp., § 12-4-47, enacted by Laws 1961, ch. 44, § 25; 1981, ch. 309, § 21; 1994, ch. 59, § 1; 2017, ch. 87, § 29.

The 2017 amendment, effective June, 16, 2017, removed the provision making it unlawful for any person to permit inspection or to disclose information contained in vital records, and prohibited the state registrar or other custodian of vital records from permitting inspection of or disclosing information contained in vital records; in Subsection A, deleted "It is unlawful for any person to" and added "The state registrar or other custodian of vital records shall not", after "inspection of or", deleted "to disclose" and added "disclosure", after "contained in vital records or", deleted "to copy" and added "copying", and after "or", deleted "issue" and added "issuance of"; and in Subsection B, after the first occurrence of "New Mexico health policy commission", deleted "and the health information system created in the Health Information System Act", and after the second occurrence of "New Mexico health policy commission", deleted "and the health information system".

The 1994 amendment, effective March 4, 1994, in Subsection B, added the first three sentences and inserted "other" in the last sentence; and substituted "that provide" for "which shall provide" in Subsection C.

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 66 Am. Jur. 2d Records and Recording Laws §§ 12 to 30.

False news reports as to births, betrothals, marriages, divorces or similar marital matters as libel and slander, 9 A.L.R.3d 559.

76 C.J.S. Records § 60 et seq.