A. The "civil legal services commission" is created. The commission shall be composed of five members, all of whom have experience with the civil legal matters affecting low-income persons. The members shall be appointed as follows:

(1) two members appointed by the governor;

(2) two members, both of whom shall be attorneys, appointed by the supreme court; and

(3) one member, who shall be an attorney, appointed by the state bar of New Mexico.

B. The initial appointee of the state bar shall serve for three years. One of the initial members appointed by the governor and one of the initial members appointed by the supreme court shall serve for one year and the other initial members appointed by the governor and by the supreme court shall serve for two years. Thereafter, the terms of all members shall be for three years.

C. Staff and meeting space for the commission shall be provided by the local government division of the department of finance and administration. The commission shall elect a chair and such other officers as it deems appropriate and shall meet at the call of the chair. Members of the commission shall receive per diem and mileage pursuant to the Per Diem and Mileage Act [10-8-1 to 10-8-8 NMSA 1978] and shall receive no other compensation.

D. The commission shall:

(1) pursuant to the Procurement Code [13-1-28 to 13-1-199 NMSA 1978], solicit proposals for disbursements from the civil legal services fund;

(2) enter into contracts for the expenditure of the civil legal services fund, less administrative costs as provided in Subsection E of this section, for the purpose of improving civil legal services for low-income persons. The contracts shall be entered into with nonprofit organizations:

(a) whose mission is to provide a range of free legal services to New Mexicans living in poverty and who demonstrate the capacity to cooperate with state and local bar associations, pro bono programs and private attorneys to increase the availability of free legal services to impoverished New Mexicans; or

(b) whose programs increase and coordinate statewide access to and provisions of civil legal services for persons living in poverty through the use of technology; provided that no more than fifty percent of the annual expenditures from the civil legal services fund shall be used for purposes of this subparagraph; and

(3) adopt such rules as are necessary to carry out the provisions of this section.

E. The local government division of the department of finance and administration, pursuant to rules of the commission, shall administer the contracts and programs provided for in this section; provided that no more than five percent of the annual expenditures from the civil legal services fund shall be for administrative costs. The division shall require an annual accounting from each organization receiving funds pursuant to this section.

F. Money disbursed pursuant to this section shall not be used by a recipient to:

(1) support lobbying, as defined in the Lobbyist Regulation Act [Chapter 2, Article 11 NMSA 1978]; or

(2) bring suit against the state.

G. The "civil legal services fund" is created in the state treasury. All earnings of the fund shall be credited to the fund, and any unexpended or unencumbered balance in the fund shall not revert to another fund at the end of a fiscal year. Disbursements from the fund shall be by warrant drawn by the secretary of finance and administration pursuant to vouchers signed by the director of the local government division of the department of finance and administration. Money in the fund is appropriated to the local government division and the civil legal services commission for the purposes of carrying out the provisions of this section.

H. As used in this section, "civil legal services" means a full range of free legal services provided by attorneys or attorney-supervised staff in noncriminal matters to low-income persons living in New Mexico.

History: Laws 2001, ch. 277, § 3 and Laws 2001, ch. 279, § 3.

Cross references. — For the district court docket fee imposed for the civil legal services fund, see 34-6-40 NMSA 1978.

For the magistrate and metropolitan court docket fee imposed for the legal services fund, see 35-6-1 NMSA 1978.

For attorney's duty to perform pro bono legal service, see 16-601 NMRA.

Duplicate laws. — Laws 2001, ch. 277, § 3, and Laws 2001, ch. 279, § 3 enact identical new sections of the law, effective July 1, 2001. Both have been compiled as 34-14-1 NMSA 1978.