N.M. Sup. Ct. Order No. S-1-AO-2024-00005 (attachment) (introduction)

NEW MEXICO MAGISTRATE COURT POLICY DIRECTIVES

(Approved by Supreme Court Administrative Order No. S-1-AO-2024-00005)

Policy Directive No. 1 (Page 2)

Policy Relating to Acceptance of Personal Checks, Receipting of Monies Not

Readily Identifiable, and the Receipting of Bail

Policy Directive No. 2 (Page 5)

Policy Relating to Overages/Shortages in Monies Collected

Policy Directive No. 3 (Page 8)

Policy Relating to Leave Taken by Magistrates

Policy Directive No. 4 (Page 9)

Policy Establishing Mandatory Training Requirements for Magistrates and

Magistrate Court Clerks

Policy Directive No. 5 (Page 10)

Policy Relating to Records Inspection Requests

Policy Directive No. 6 (Page 11)

Policy Relating to the Use of Volunteers or Community Service Participants in the

Magistrate Court

POLICY DIRECTIVE NO. 1 1

(Reissued February 2024) 2

POLICY RELATING TO ACCEPTANCE OF PERSONAL CHECKS, 4

RECEIPTING OF MONIES NOT READILY IDENTIFIABLE, AND THE 5

RECEIPTING OF BAIL 6

This policy is issued in accordance with NMSA 1978, Section 35- 7-1 to 8

provide guidelines and directions regarding acceptance of personal checks for th e 9

payment of court costs and fines and the posting of bail. 10

Personal Checks. 11

Magistrates may exercise their discretion when accepting personal checks for 12

the payment of costs and fines, giving careful consideration to their knowledge of 13

the payer. If an individual has presented a bad check to the court, the court shall not 14

accept another check from that individual for twelve months. Courts shall send the 15

AOC a quarterly report on bad checks. Business checks and money orders are 16

acceptable forms of payment. 17

Monies Not Readily Identifiable. 18

Any money received in the mail, which is not readily identifiable (as to 19

defendant or docket number), must be receipted and deposited in the regular course 20

of business. The “other” category must be checked on the receipt form and a short 21

explanatory note must be sent with the deposit ticket to the accounting staff of the 22

Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC). The accounting staff will need all 23

available information pertaining to the money that cannot be identified (social 24

1 security number, address, telephone number, etc.). If possible, provide the

2 accounting staff with a photocopy of the check or money order. When the payment

3 is identified, the accounting staff must be notified and the proper accounts credited.

4 If the payment is identified during the same month as receipted, the clerk will make

5 an accounting entry to distribute properly the monies received. At the end of the

6 month, magistrate courts must issue a check to the suspense fund for money that

7 cannot be identified. If at a later date money deposited in the suspense fund is

8 identified, the court will have to write a letter to the AOC accounting staff requesting

9 that a state warrant be generated and sent to the court. The warrant will be sent to

10 the court for deposit into the Trust Account. If the money does not belong to the

11 court, the magistrate will issue a check to the proper individual or agency.

12 Money received in the mail, which is owed to the court but is payable to an

13 agency other than the magistrate court, may either be sent back to the defendant

14 (accompanied by a letter requesting the defendant to issue a new check to the

15 magistrate court), or be sent to the payee agency with a request to make the check

16 payable to the court.

17 If the defendant pays monies owed the magistrate court to another agency, the

18 court may contact the agency and request that the agency transfer to the court those

19 monies owed. The defendant continues to be responsible for the payment that is due

20 the court. The court may give an appropriate extension to allow the defendant time

to retrieve the money, but the responsibility of doing that should fall on the 1

defendant. The court should also process all paperwork necessary to finalize the 2

pending case. 3

Bail. 4

All bail accepted by the magistrate court shall be payable in American 5

currency, or by cashier's check, certified check, money order, or surety bond only. 6

No personal or company checks, or foreign checks or currency are to be accepted. 7

All magistrate courts shall review t he Cash Bond Record distributed by the 8

AOC accounting staff on a monthly basis to ensure that appropriate action has been 9

taken on each bond posted and that bonds are removed from the Cash Bond Record 10

when six months have elapsed unless the court has enter ed a written order 11

documenting good cause for extending the time. 12

All unclaimed cash bonds shall be remitted to the AOC for deposit in the 13

Magistrate Suspense Fund in accordance with Section 8.11-7 of the Magistrate Court 14

Administrative Procedures Manual. (See Administrative Procedures Manual for 15

processing instructions.) 16

This policy applies to all magistrate courts. 17

POLICY DIRECTIVE NO. 2 1

POLICY RELATING TO OVERAGES/SHORTAGES IN MONIES 4

COLLECTED 5

This policy is issued in accordance with NMSA 1978, Section 35- 7-1 to 7

provide guidelines and directions regarding any overages/shortages that may occur 8

during the collection of monies by the magistrate courts. 9

Overages. 10

Whenever overages occur and monies attri butable to the overages cannot be 11

identified, the overages amount collected must be deposited with regular daily 12

receipts. Any excess money received, which cannot be identified, is to be receipted 13

and deposited in the state general fund in the regular course of business. An 14

explanatory letter from the magistrate must accompany the next regular report to the 15

AOC. 16

Shortages. 17

End of Month reports describing the circumstances surrounding any shortage 18

must be provided to the Chief Judge, CFO and CEO. Shortages over $10.00 must 19

be reported with the standardized monthly revenue report. 20

If the aggregate total of all shortages for any magistrate court exceeds One 21

Hundred Dollars ($100.00) during any one fiscal year, or if the number of recorded 22

shortages during a fiscal year exceeds five (5) shortages even though the hundred 23

dollar ($100.00) limit is not breached, the director of the AOC may request that the 1

AOC internal auditors perform an audit of the financial records of the court. A 2

formal response to all audit findings by the magistrate will be required. 3

If the ceiling of One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) per fiscal year is exceeded 4

by any magistrate court, or if the aggregate number of shortages during a fiscal year 5

exceeds five (5), depending on the circumstances, the internal auditors may conduct 6

a formal audit or a review of court documents. The internal auditor will hold an exit 7

audit conference with the magistrate, chief judge, and court executive officer and 8

appraise them of the findings. A response by the Chief Judge and CEO/CFO to the 9

audit findings must be filed with the AOC within ten (10) working days. The audit 10

findings and the recommendations for corrective action will be presented to the AOC 11

director. 12

Any employee may be required to re imburse the State for the amount in 13

controversy if, after an investigation and formal audit, negligence or impropriety is 14

shown on the part of the employee. If the director determines adequate measures 15

are being taken to prevent future shortages, the dire ctor may waive the required 16

payment. If the director waives the required payment, the matter is concluded. If 17

the director finds negligence or impropriety and does not waive the required 18

payment, the Supreme Court shall determine whether the employee should 19

reimburse the State. (See Administrative Procedures Manual for processing 20

1 instructions.) Any and all improprieties may be referred to law enforcement for

2 prosecution.

POLICY DIRECTIVE NO. 3 1

POLICY RELATING TO LEAVE TAKEN BY MAGISTRATES 4

This policy is issued in accordance with NMSA 1978, Section 35-7-1, to 6

provide guidelines and directions regarding the leave taken by magistrates. 7

A Magistrate judge shall hold no other outside employment that may conflict 8

with judicial duties. NMSA 1978, § 35-1-36.1. Being a Magistrate is a full time job, 9

and as elected public servants, magistrate judge s must be prepared to put in more 10

than forty (40) hours per week if required. 11

All magistrates shall notify the district court chief judge of their judicial 12

district of any absences longer than two days from the office and advise the chief 13

judge as to whether or not the magistrate judge has been able to arrange for 14

coverage by another magistrate during the absence so that the chief judge may 15

prepare an orderly staffing plan as required by Rule 23-109(B)(12) NMRA. 16

POLICY DIRECTIVE NO. 4 1

POLICY ESTABLISHING MANDATORY TRAINING REQUIREMENTS 4

FOR MAGISTRATES AND MAGISTRATE COURT CLERKS 5

This policy is issued in accordance with NMSA 1978, Section 35-7-1, to 7

provide guidelines and directions regarding training and continuing education for 8

magistrates and magistrate court clerks. 9

As a qualification for continued employment, and in furtherance of uniting 10

the magistrate and courts and maintaining consistent procedure, each magistrate and 11

magistrate court clerk shall attend the Conference sponsored by the Court Education 12

Institute, unless excused in writing. 13

Each clerk shall receive advance notice of the Conference. If the magistrate 14

or clerk is unable to attend, a letter stating the reasons for excusal must be submitted 15

to the Chief Judge, who will forward to the Chief Justice. If the request is denied, 16

the magistrate or clerk will be expected to attend and participate. If the request is 17

granted, the person excused will make alternate arrangements with the Court 18

Education Institute to view the recording of the conference within four months of 19

the conference. 20

This policy applies to all Magistrates and magistrate clerks. 21

POLICY DIRECTIVE NO. 5 1

POLICY RELATING TO RECORDS INSPECTION REQUESTS 4

This policy is issued in accordance with NMSA 1978, Section 35-7-1, to 6

provide guidelines for implementing the Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA). 7

All IPRA requests submitted to a magistrate court shall be processed according to 8

the direction of the district court chief judge of the judicial district in which the 9

magistrate court is located. 10

POLICY DIRECTIVE NO. 6 1

POLICY RELATING TO THE USE OF VOLUNTEERS, INTERNS, OR 4

COMMUNITY SERVICE PARTICIPANTS IN THE MAGISTRATE 5

COURT 6

This policy is issued in accordance with NMSA 1978, Section 35-7-1, to 8

provide guidelines regarding the use of volunteers, community service participants, 9

and paid or unpaid interns in the magistrate courts. 10

A. Volunteers and Interns. 11

The magistrate courts may allow volunteers and interns to assist the court 12

provided that the courts adhere to the following directives. A “volunteer” or an 13

“unpaid intern” is any person who performs any type of clerical or other work for 14

the court who is not a judicial branch employee or who is not paid for the work by 15

funds appropriated to the Administrative Office of the Courts or funds appropriated 16

to the District courts. A “paid intern” is defined as a person paid for the work by 17

funds appropriated to the District court. A person assigned to the court under a DWI 18

local program grant is a court volunteer. 19