Except as otherwise provided by law, the secretary of state shall turn over to the state treasurer the fees collected under the provisions of Chapter 53, Article 2 NMSA 1978 in the manner required by law. The secretary is not responsible for a fraudulent or worthless check, draft, warrant, order or other means of payment accepted in good faith for the payment of a fee or on behalf of a corporation, but the secretary may deduct the fee from money held to be paid into the state treasury. If a fraudulent or worthless check, draft, warrant or order is not made good immediately, it is the duty of the attorney general, as soon as the facts are made known to the attorney general, to institute suit against the corporation and, if sent by the incorporators, its incorporators in the name of the state for the recovery of the amount of the check, draft, warrant, order or other means of payment, and protest fees and costs of the action shall be assessed against the defendant.

History: Laws 1905, ch. 79, § 120; Code 1915, § 1004; Laws 1917, ch. 112, § 8; C.S. 1929, § 32-224; 1941 Comp., § 54-1002; 1953 Comp., § 51-12-2; 2001, ch. 200, § 10; 2015, ch. 66, § 2.

The 2015 amendment, effective July 1, 2015, required the secretary of state to turn over fees collected to the state treasurer; in the first sentence, deleted "The public regulation commission" and added "Except as otherwise provided by law, the secretary of state", and after "provisions of", changed "this article" to "Chapter 53, Article 2 NMSA 1978"; in the second sentence, changed "commission" to "secretary", after "payment accepted", deleted "by it", after "corporation, but", deleted "it shall be permitted to" and added "the secretary may"; and in the third sentence, after "facts are made known to", deleted "him" and added "the attorney general".

The 2001 amendment, effective July 1, 2001, inserted the section heading; substituted "public regulation commission" for "state corporation commission" throughout the section; in the second sentence, inserted "or other means of payment", substituted "money held by it to be paid into the state treasury" for "moneys in its hands to be covered into the state treasury"; in the third sentence, inserted "if sent by the incorporators", deleted "or directors" preceding "in the name of the state", inserted "or other means of payment" and deleted "or the defendants as they may be" from the end of the sentence.