Opinion ID: 2791898
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The “Every Person” Language

Text: {29} Following the initial adoption of child abuse legislation by New Mexico and other 9 states, the American Humane Association in 1966 endorsed legislation proposing to place a reporting duty on all persons rather than only on identified categories, on the theory that alerting authorities to child abuse was a “‘universal obligation of all responsible citizens and all community agencies.’” Paulsen, supra, at 5 & n.17 (quoting 1966 American Humane Association recommendations for legislation). {30} Initially, three states, Nebraska, Tennessee, and Utah, adopted universal reporting by either “requiring all adults to report while also enumerating certain professional groups or simply requiring all adults to report.” Brown & Gallagher, supra, at 40 & n.25. Indiana followed suit in 1971, amending its designated reporter statute to one “that would subsequently be mimicked by fifteen other states.” Id. at 42. The Indiana statute “enumerated certain categories of professionals that were required to report while also putting the duty on all persons in the state.” Id. {31} In 1973, New Mexico became one of those states by amending its reporting statute (1) to broaden the class of reporters by substituting the language “or any other person having reason to believe [a child has been abused]” in Chapter 360, Section 2(A) of New Mexico Laws of 1973 for the language “or any ordained minister of an established church, having reason to believe [a child has been abused]” in Chapter 157, Section 2 of New Mexico Laws of 1965 after the designated occupations listing that ended with “school teacher or social worker acting in his or her official capacity,” and (2) to make reporting mandatory (“shall report”) instead of simply permissive (“may report”). {32} Also in 1973, the federal government passed the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment and Adoption Reform Act, see 42 U.S.C. §§ 5101-5107 (2012), which required every state to enact mandatory, rather than permissive, child abuse reporting statutes in order to be eligible for federal funding. Brown & Gallagher, supra, at 43 & n.41, 45. The Children’s Bureau reported that as of November 2013 all states had mandatory reporting statutes, the majority limiting the duty to identified categories but eighteen states placing all persons under a duty to report. See United States Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau, Mandatory Reporters of Child Abuse and Neglect, at 1-2 & n.9 (2013), available at https://library.childwelfare.gov/cwig/ws/library/docs/gateway/Record?w= NATIVE%28%27SIMPLE_SRCH+ph+is+%27%27Mandatory+Reporters+of+Child+Ab use+and+Neglect%27%27%27%29&upp=0ℴ=native%28%27year%2FDescend%2 7%29&rpp=25&r=1&m=2& (last visited March 6, 2015). {33} Sixteen of the eighteen states that impose reporting duties on everyone, including New Mexico, “specify certain professionals who must report but also require all persons to report suspected abuse or neglect, regardless of profession.” Id. at 2 & n.9, 15-57 (naming New Mexico and the fifteen other states and citing and summarizing the reporting statutes of these states). This combination of identified occupations and broadly inclusive language has been widely recognized as imposing universal reporting requirements. The broadest category of mandated reporters are those indicated by 10 provisions that specify “any person, including but not limited to . . .” followed by a listing of specified professions required to report, or that begin with a listing of professions that must report, then conclude with the phrase, “or any other person . . . .” United States Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau Issue Paper, Current Trends in Child Maltreatment Reporting Laws, at 3 & n.9 (September 2002), available at https://library.childwelfare.gov/cwig/ws/library/docs/gateway/Record?w= NATIVE%28%27SIMPLE_SRCH+ph+is+%27%27Current+Trends+in+Child+Maltreat ment+Reporting+Laws%27%27%27%29&upp=0ℴ=native%28%27year%2FDesce nd%27%29&rpp=25&r=1&m=1& (last visited March 6, 2015) (citing New Mexico as one of the eighteen states whose statutes impose a duty on “any person who suspects child abuse or neglect”); see also Brown & Gallagher, supra, at 42 & n.34 (listing New Mexico among the states that followed Indiana’s lead in combining identified occupations with “any person” or “any other person” language to impose duties to report child abuse on all persons and not just those identified); Mary Harter Mitchell, Must Clergy Tell? Child Abuse Reporting Requirements Versus the Clergy Privilege and Free Exercise of Religion, 71 Minn. L. Rev. 723, 729 (1987) (“[M]any statutes, in addition to or instead of listing those persons required to report, simply impose the duty to report on ‘any person’ who suspects child abuse.” (footnote omitted)). {34} It is helpful to consider the persuasive interpretations of similar statutory schemes by authorities in other jurisdictions. See Sec. Ins. Co. of Hartford v. Chapman, 1975-NMSC-052, ¶ 19, 88 N.M. 292, 540 P.2d 222 (“Of course, the decisions of other states, if any, which have statutory provisions comparable to ours, with which we are here concerned, are persuasive but not binding on us.”). Florida, Idaho, Kentucky, New Hampshire, and Texas are among the sixteen states with child abuse reporting laws similar to the New Mexico law, identifying specific professionals while simultaneously requiring “any other person” or “any person” or “other person” to report. See Fla. Stat. Ann. § 39.201(1)(a), (d) (West 2014) (“Any person who . . . has reasonable cause to suspect[] that a child is abused . . . shall report such knowledge[,] . . . [and r]eporters in the [listed] occupation categories are required to provide their names . . . .”); Idaho Code Ann. § 161605(1) (West 2005) (“Any physician, . . . social worker, or other person having reason to believe that a child . . . has been abused . . . shall report . . . .”); Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 620.030(1) (West 2013) (“Any person who . . . has reasonable cause to believe that a child is . . . abused shall immediately . . . report . . . .”); N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 169-C:29 (West 1979) (“Any physician, . . . social worker, . . . or rabbi or any other person having reason to suspect that a child has been abused . . . shall report . . . .”); Tex. Fam. Code Ann. § 261.101(a)-(b) (West 2013) (“A person having cause to believe that a child’s . . . health or welfare has been adversely affected by abuse . . . shall immediately make a report . . . and . . . [any listed] professional shall make [the] report not later than the 48th hour after the hour the professional first suspects [the abuse].”). Idaho, Kentucky, and Texas courts and the Florida Attorney General have interpreted the scope of the duty to report under their similarly worded statutes to extend to all persons. See Quiring v. Quiring, 944 P.2d 695, 702 11 (Idaho 1997) (relying on the prior enumeration of the mandatory reporting statute, Idaho Code Ann. § 16-1619(a) (1989), to conclude that a wife was obligated to report her husband’s sexual abuses of their child despite an alleged agreement between the two to refrain from reporting); Norton Hosps., Inc. v. Peyton, 381 S.W.3d 286, 289, 291-92 (Ky. 2012) (relying on the mandatory reporting statute, Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 620.030, in holding a hospital immune from liability for mistakenly overreporting the blood alcohol content of a mother giving birth); Rodriguez v. State, 47 S.W.3d 86, 88-89 (Tex. Ct. App. 2001) (relying on the Texas Family Code Annotated, Section 261.101, in requiring adults to report abuse of a child by the child’s mother); Fla. Att’y Gen. Op. 2004-57 (2004) (recognizing that the Florida Statutes Annotated, Section 39.201(1) (2003) “has led to confusion as to the persons actually considered mandated reporters, i.e., all persons or just the list of professions” and concluding that the Florida statute “imposes a responsibility on any person who knows of or has reasonable cause to suspect child abuse . . . to report such abuse”). {35} Our research has found no published judicial opinion in any other state that has construed its combined specific and general statutes as imposing obligations only on the identified occupations. And we see no reason to construe New Mexico’s statute in such a manner, particularly in light of its history. We have been presented with no persuasive argument that, when the Legislature followed the lead of other states in 1973 in adding “or any other person” at the end of the list of previously described reporters, it meant anything other than “any other person.” Interpreted otherwise, the amendment would have been meaningless. As has been observed elsewhere, we believe that “[s]pecific mention of various professional groups, but inclusion of ‘anyone,’ is a feature of [a reporting statute] that tends to focus the requirement of reporting on the specific groups, while retaining the advantages of a broad reporting class.” Donald Stuart, Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse in Nebraska, 8 Creighton L. Rev. 791, 793-94 (1975) (footnote omitted) (discussing the Nebraska statute that was one of the first to combine specific occupational listings with a universal requirement to report child abuse). {36} Subsequent amendments have consistently maintained the broad scope of the 1973 expansion of the New Mexico statute. In the course of making other amendments in 1993, the Legislature placed the inclusive language at the beginning instead of the end of the listed occupations and emphasized that the list that followed was not exclusive. Compare 1993 N.M. Laws, ch. 77, § 97(A) (“Every person, including but not limited to a licensed physician [and other listed occupations] . . . shall report [child abuse].”), with 1973 N.M. Laws, ch. 360, § 2(A) (“Any licensed physician [and other listed occupations] or any other person . . . shall report [child abuse].”). {37} The 2003 deletion of “but not limited to” following “[e]very person, including” does not change our analysis. See 2003 N.M. Laws, ch. 189, § 1(A). Chapter 189 of New Mexico Laws of 2003 was titled, “Relating to the Children’s Code: Clarifying a Member of the Clergy’s Duty to Report Child Abuse.” Its significant effect was to add at the end of the occupational listing the language “or a member of the clergy who has information that is not privileged as a matter of law,” clarifying that clergy were not required to disclose protected 12 communications. See 2003 N.M. Laws, ch. 189, § 1(A). In the process of achieving that sole objective in 2003, the 2003 act made some routine clerical cleanups, such as replacing the commas in the occupational listing with semicolons and deleting the “but not limited to” language, in accordance with the New Mexico Legislative Council Service’s Legislative Drafting Manual 31 (2000, amended 2008) (“There is no need to write ‘includes but is not limited to’; the word ‘includes’ implies an incomplete listing. Put another way, ‘includes’ includes the concept of ‘not limited to’.”). There is absolutely no indication in the legislative history that by complying with its own technical drafting manual, the Legislature intended to make an unannounced policy change from the universal reporting requirement that had existed for thirty years to a sharply limited requirement. {38} Accordingly, we conclude that the social worker in this case was a mandated reporter under the Abuse and Neglect Act. Because this case is not an enforcement proceeding under the act but is instead a proceeding to compel discovery and testimony in our courts, we must now address the matter of evidentiary privileges applicable in judicial proceedings. C. Application of Evidentiary Privileges 1. Evidentiary Privileges and Separation of Powers {39} When analyzing in-court evidentiary privileges, as opposed to out-of-court confidentiality and reporting requirements, it is important to start with the recognition that this Court’s “constitutional power . . . of superintending control over all inferior courts carries with it the inherent power to regulate all pleading, practice and procedure affecting the judicial branch of government.” State ex rel. Anaya v. McBride, 1975-NMSC-032, ¶ 10, 88 N.M. 244, 539 P.2d 1006 (citing Article III, Section 1 and Article VI, Section 3 of the New Mexico Constitution); see also Albuquerque Rape Crisis Ctr. v. Blackmer, 2005-NMSC-032, ¶ 5, 138 N.M. 398, 120 P.3d 820 (“[W]e have exercised our superintending control under Article VI, Section 3, to revoke or amend a statutory provision when the statutory provision conflicts with an existing court rule.”). With respect to privileges in particular, if a statutory privilege is not consistent with a rule of this Court, “the statutory privilege is not given effect and the constitutional or court rule privilege prevails.” Blackmer, 2005-NMSC-032, ¶ 11. Accordingly, the provisions of Section 61-31-24(A) that arguably create social worker evidentiary privileges cannot prevent court-ordered disclosure of communications that would be mandated by the discovery and evidence rules of this Court. {40} We turn now to an analysis of those rules. 2. Social Worker Privilege in the New Mexico Rules of Evidence Rule 11-501 NMRA of the New Mexico Rules of Evidence provides that, [u]nless required by the constitution, these rules, or other rules adopted by 13 the supreme court, no person has a privilege to . . . refuse to be a witness; . . . refuse to disclose any matter; . . . refuse to produce any object or writing; or . . . prevent another from being a witness, disclosing any matter, or producing any object or writing. {41} We have been presented with no argument that a constitutional provision prohibits court-ordered disclosure of the counseling communications in this case, nor is there an argument that any nonevidentiary rule of this Court protects communications with a social worker from disclosure, such as might arise with officers of the court subject to the regulatory authority of the Supreme Court. Cf. Rule 16-106 NMRA (providing that no attorney may disclose protected information concerning a client, whether in or out of court, except in accordance with the rule). {42} The only remaining issue is whether the communications are protected from court-ordered disclosure by Rule 11-504 of the New Mexico Rules of Evidence, providing a specific privilege for a person’s professional communications with physicians and mental health counselors, specifically including licensed social workers. {43} The basic privilege applicable to communications with physical and mental health professionals provides that “[a] patient has a privilege to refuse to disclose, or to prevent any other person from disclosing, a confidential communication made for the purpose of diagnosis or treatment of the patient’s physical, mental, or emotional condition . . . .” Rule 11-504(B). The privilege generally seeks to ensure that a patient can communicate fully with a mental health professional without the risk that the information will be used against the patient in a court proceeding. See Blackmer, 2005-NMSC-032, ¶ 15 (recognizing as well that such uninhibited communication “serves the public interest by facilitating the administration of appropriate treatment”). {44} Privileges often have limits, particularly where there are conflicting interests that may outweigh the interests of confidentiality. See, e.g., Rule 11-503(D) NMRA (defining exceptions to the lawyer-client privilege, including where the client is obtaining counsel in “[f]urtherance of crime or fraud”); Rule 11-505(D) NMRA (defining exceptions to the spousal privilege, including when one spouse is charged with a crime against the child of either spouse). A privilege exception that was specifically added to the rule for health professionals in 1990 provided, No privilege shall apply for confidential communications concerning any material that a physician, psychotherapist, state or nationally licensed mental-health therapist, or patient is required by law to report to a public employee or public agency. Rule 11-504(D)(4). {45} Before the 1990 amendment of Rule 11-504, there was a potential conflict between 14 our privilege rules and a provision, now encoded in NMSA 1978, Section 32A-4-5 (2009) of the Abuse and Neglect Act, that purported to legislate an exception to any applicable “physician-patient privilege or similar privilege or rule against disclosure” relating to required child abuse reporting matters “in any proceeding.” See § 32A-4-5(A); 1965 N.M. Laws, ch. 157, § 5 (original enactment of this provision). This statutory exception to health care worker privileges was a feature of the Children’s Bureau 1963 model act for reporting child abuse and has been adopted in most, if not all, jurisdictions. See Brown & Gallagher, supra, at 39, 67-68 & n.154; Paulsen, supra, at 36-37. Providing a privilege exception in the model statutes was understandable because in most states the legislative branch regulates evidentiary privileges, unlike in New Mexico and other states with similar constitutional structures where regulation of court practice and procedure is under judicial branch authority. See, e.g., State v. Sypult, 800 S.W.2d 402, 406 (Ark. 1990) (Newbern, J., concurring) (noting that “the Supreme Court of New Mexico relied on almost identical language in the New Mexico constitution as authority for” its adoption of rules of evidence and that the “step has been taken not only in New Mexico . . . but also in Florida, in Montana, and in Wisconsin” (internal quotation marks and citation omitted)). The Arkansas Supreme Court held that a court’s “deference to legislation involving rules of evidence and procedure will be given only to the extent the legislation is compatible with [that court’s] established rules.” Sypult, 800 S.W.2d at 405. {46} By adopting the 1990 privilege exception for our own court rules furthering the disclosure purposes underlying New Mexico’s reporting statute, we ensured that our “physician-patient privilege or similar privilege,” specifically Rule 11-504, the privilege rule relating to physical and mental health professionals, did not prevent mandated in-court disclosure of what otherwise would have been protected communications. {47} Because Mr. Stearns was a mandated reporter under the Abuse and Neglect Act, and because the social worker communications provisions in the New Mexico Rules of Evidence deny protection from in-court disclosure of matters that are required by law to be reported out of court, the communications between Defendant and Mr. Stearns are not shielded from compelled disclosure by evidentiary privilege.