2023 New Mexico Statutes › Chapter 1 - Elections › Article 19 - Campaign Practices › Section 1-19-29 - Time and place of filing reports.

A. Except as otherwise provided in this section, all reporting individuals shall file with the secretary of state no later than the second Monday in April and October a report of all expenditures made and contributions received on or before the first Monday in those months and not previously reported. The report shall be filed biannually until the provisions specified in Subsection F, G or H of this section have been satisfied.
B. In an election year, instead of the biannual reports provided for in Subsection A of this section, all reporting individuals, except for public officials who are not candidates in an election that year, shall file reports of all expenditures made and contributions received or, if applicable, statements of no activity, according to the following schedule:
(1) no later than the second Monday in April, a report of all expenditures made and contributions received on or before the first Monday in April and not previously reported;
(2) no later than the second Monday in May, a report of all expenditures made and contributions received on or before the first Monday in May and not previously reported;
(3) no later than the second Monday in September, a report of all expenditures made and contributions received on or before the first Monday in September and not previously reported;
(4) no later than the second Monday in October, a report of all expenditures made and contributions received on or before the first Monday in October and not previously reported; provided that if the second Monday of October is a state holiday, the report shall be made on the following day;
(5) no later than the Thursday before a primary, general or statewide special election, a report of all expenditures made and contributions received by 5:00 p.m. on the Tuesday before the election and not previously reported. Any contribution or pledge to contribute that is received after 5:00 p.m. on the Tuesday before the election and that is for more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) in a nonstatewide election, or more than three thousand dollars ($3,000) in a statewide election, shall be reported to the secretary of state either in a supplemental report on a prescribed form within twenty-four hours of receipt or in the report to be filed no later than the Thursday before a primary, general or statewide special election, except that any such contribution or pledge to contribute that is received after 5:00 p.m. on the Friday before the election may be reported by 12:00 noon on the Monday before the election;
(6) no later than the thirtieth day after a primary election, a report by all reporting individuals, except those individuals that become candidates after the primary election, of all expenditures made and contributions received on or before the twenty-fifth day after the primary election and not previously reported;
(7) no later than the thirtieth day after a statewide special election, a report of all expenditures made and contributions received on or before the twenty-fifth day after the statewide special election and not previously reported; and
(8) no later than January 7 after a general election, a report of all expenditures made and contributions received on or before December 31 after the general election and not previously reported.
C. If a candidate, political committee, campaign committee or public official has not received any contributions and has not made any expenditures since the candidate's, committee's or official's last report was filed with the proper filing officer, the candidate, committee or official shall only be required to file a statement of no activity, which shall not be required to be notarized, in lieu of a full report when that report would otherwise be due and shall not be required to file a full report until the next required filing date occurring after an expenditure is made or a contribution is received.
D. In an election year, a public official who is not a candidate shall file biannual reports of expenditures made and contributions received or statements of no activity in accordance with the schedule provided for in Subsection A of this section.
E. A report of expenditures and contributions filed after a deadline set forth in this section shall not be deemed to have been timely filed.
F. Except for candidates, campaign committees and public officials who file a statement of no activity, each candidate, campaign committee or public official shall file a report of expenditures and contributions pursuant to the filing schedules set forth in this section, regardless of whether any expenditures were made or contributions were received during the reporting period. Reports shall be required until the reporting individual delivers a report to the secretary of state stating that:
(1) there are no outstanding campaign debts;
(2) all money has been expended in accordance with the provisions of Section 1-19-29.1 NMSA 1978; and
(3) the bank accounts have been closed.
G. If, during a nonelection year, a political committee has not received any contributions or made any coordinated or independent expenditures since it filed its last report pursuant to this section, it need not file any report under this section until the next reporting period, if any, in which it receives contributions or makes expenditures. A political committee that has not received any contributions or made any coordinated or independent expenditures for a continuous period of at least one year may cancel its registration as a political committee by submitting an appropriate request in writing to the secretary of state. The committee shall retain the obligation to submit a new registration pursuant to Section 1-19-26.1 NMSA 1978 in the event that its future activities meet the requisites for registration under that section.
H. A reporting individual who is a candidate within the meaning of the Campaign Reporting Act because of the amount of contributions the candidate receives or expenditures the candidate makes and who does not ultimately file a declaration of candidacy or a nominating petition with the secretary of state and does not file a statement of no activity shall file biannual reports in accordance with Subsection A of this section.
I. Reports required by this section shall be subscribed and sworn to by the candidate or the treasurer of the political committee or, in the case of candidates for judicial office, by the treasurer of the candidate's campaign committee. A report filed electronically shall be electronically authenticated by the candidate or the treasurer of the committee using an electronic signature in conformance with the Electronic Authentication of Documents Act [14-15-1 to 14-15-6 NMSA 1978] and the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act [Chapter 14, Article 16 NMSA 1978]. For the purposes of the Campaign Reporting Act, a report that is electronically authenticated in accordance with the provisions of this subsection shall be deemed to have been subscribed and sworn to by the candidate or the treasurer of the committee who was required to file the report.
J. Reports required by this section shall be filed electronically by all reporting individuals.
K. Reporting individuals may apply to the secretary of state for exemption from electronic filing in case of hardship, which shall be defined by the secretary of state.
History:
1978 Comp., § 1-19-29, enacted by Laws 1993, ch. 46, § 5; 1995, ch. 153, § 5; 1997, ch. 12, § 1; 1997, ch. 112, § 3; 2003, ch. 66, § 3; 2007, ch. 202, § 1; 2009, ch. 67, § 4; 2019, ch. 262, § 7.
ANNOTATIONS
Repeals and reenactments.
— Laws 1993, ch. 46, § 5 repealed former 1-19-29 NMSA 1978, as amended by Laws 1981, ch. 331, § 6, relating to time of filing reports, and enacted the above section, effective July 1, 1993.
Temporary provisions.
— Laws 2019, ch. 262, § 16 provided that the secretary of state, in consultation with the attorney general, shall promulgate rules to implement the amendatory provisions of this act by August 1, 2019.
The 2019 amendment,
effective July 1, 2019, revised campaign finance reporting deadlines and reporting thresholds and reporting requirements for independent and coordinated expenditures, added additional reporting after a statewide election for expenditures and contributions not otherwise previously reported, and allowed a political committee to cancel its registration after a period of no activity by filing a request with the secretary of state; in Subsection A, after "shall file with the", deleted "proper filing officer by 5:00 p.m. on" and added "secretary of state no later than", after "biannually until the", deleted "reporting individual's bank account has been closed and the other", and after "Subsection F", added "G or H"; in Subsection B, Paragraph B(1), deleted "by 5:00 p.m. on" and added "no later than", in Paragraph B(2), deleted "by 5:00 p.m. on" and added "no later than", in Paragraph B(3), deleted "by 5:00 p.m. on" and added "no later than", in Paragraph B(4), deleted "by 5:00 p.m. on" and added "no later than", and after "previously reported", added "provided that if the second Monday of October is a state holiday, the report shall be made on the following day", and in Paragraph B(5), deleted "by 5:00 p.m. on" and added "no later than", after "Tuesday before the election", added "and not previously reported", after "that is for", deleted "five hundred dollars ($500) or", after "more", added "than one thousand dollars ($1,000)", after "in a", deleted "legislative or", after "nonstatewide", deleted "judicial", after "election, or", deleted "two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500)", after "more", added "than three thousand dollars ($3,000)", after "reported to the", deleted "proper filing officer" and added "secretary of state", and after "report to be filed", deleted "by 5:00 p.m. on" and added "no later than", in Paragraph B(6), deleted "by 5:00 p.m. on" and added "no later than", after "primary", deleted "general or statewide special", after "a report", added "by all reporting individuals, except those individuals that become candidates after the primary election", and after "after the", added "primary", and added Paragraphs B(7) and B(8); in Subsection C, after "candidate", added "political committee, campaign committee"; in Subsection F, in the introductory clause, after "candidates", added "campaign committees", after "activity, each", deleted "reporting individual" and added "candidate, campaign committee or public official", and after "report to the", deleted "proper filing officer" and added "secretary of state"; deleted former Subsection G and added a new Subsection G; in Subsection H, after "petition with the", deleted "proper filing officer" and added "secretary of state"; and in Subsection I, after "political committee", added "or, in the case of candidates for judicial office, by the treasurer of the candidate's campaign committee".
The 2009 amendment,
effective June 19, 2009, in Subsection A, deleted "Annually" at the beginning of the sentence; after "second Monday in", changed "May" to "April and October"; and after "first Monday in", changed "May" to "those months"; and in the last sentence, changed "annually" to "biannually"; in Subsection B, after "election year" changed "in addition to the May report" to "instead of the biannual reports"; after "except for", deleted "persons who file a statement of exceptions pursuant to Section 1-19-33 NMSA 1978, candidates who file a statement of no activity" and after "contributions received", added "or, if applicable, statements of no activity"; added Paragraphs (1) through (3) of Subsection B; in Subsection C, after "candidate", added "or public official" and after "candidate", added "or official"; in Subsection D, deleted all of the former language which provided that the due date of the report was the thirteenth day after the election, and added new language; in Subsection F, after "candidates" added "and public officials" and deleted "annually" after "contributions"; in Subsection G, deleted "annually" after "contributions"; in Subsection H, deleted the former language which required the filing of a report of contributions not later than the second Monday in May for a primary election or the second Monday in October for a general election; and added "file biannual reports in accordance with Subsection A of this section".
The 2007 amendment,
effective June 15, 2007, added new Subsections C and I.
The 2003 amendment,
effective January 1, 2006, added Subsections H and I.
The 1997 amendment,
effective June 20, 1997, rewrote Subsection B(2); and in Subsection E, inserted "regardless of whether any expenditures were made or contributions were received during the reporting period. Reports shall be required".
The 1995 amendment,
effective June 16, 1995, inserted "and place" in the section heading; deleted former Subsections A through D, listing the proper place and time for filing reports of expenditures and contributions required from candidates for office; added Subsections A through F; redesignated former Subsection E as Subsection G and inserted "amount of" preceding "contributions he receives", deleted "pursuant to the provisions of Subsection D of Section 1-19-26 NMSA 1978" following "expenditures he makes", and substituted the language beginning "or a nominating petition" at the end for "shall file a report of expenditures and contributions not later than thirty days after the deadline for filing a declaration of candidacy".
A political committee may make a coordinated expenditure on an advertisement that advocates both the election of clearly identified candidates and the passage of a clearly identified ballot question.
— The Campaign Reporting Act, generally, does not purport to regulate the contents of a political committee's advertisements, and therefore, where a political committee intends to make a coordinated expenditure on an advertisement that advocates both the election of clearly identified candidates and the passage of a clearly identified ballot question, there is no violation of the Campaign Reporting Act. Whether an advertisement refers to a ballot question is immaterial to its classification as a coordinated or independent expenditure. For the coordinated expenditure, however, the political committee would be subject to contribution limits and disclosure requirements. 2022 Op. Ethics Comm'n No. 2022-08.