A judicial district that collects an alternative dispute resolution fee pursuant to Section 34-6-45 NMSA 1978 shall create an "alternative dispute resolution fund" of the judicial district. Money in the fund shall be used to defray the cost of operating alternative dispute resolution programs established by judicial district court rule approved by the supreme court, including but not limited to arbitration, mediation and settlement facilitation programs. No part of the fund shall revert at the end of any fiscal year.
History: Laws 1986, ch. 26, § 1; 1989, ch. 324, § 27; 1994, ch. 37, § 1.
The 1994 amendment, effective May 18, 1994, rewrote the section heading, which formerly read: "District court arbitration fund created; administration; distribution"; and rewrote the section.
Law reviews. — For comment, "Problems with Court-Annexed Mandatory Arbitration: Illustrations from the New Mexico Experience," see 32 N.M. Rev. 181 (2002).