AGO IAL050306.

Case DateMay 03, 2006
CourtNew Mexico
New Mexico Attorney General Opinions 2006. AGO IAL050306. May 3, 2006The Honorable Don Tripp New Mexico House of RepresentativesP.O. Box 1369 Socorro, New Mexico 87801 RE: Opinion Request - Term limits for elected municipal officialsDear Representative Tripp: You have requested our opinion regarding whether term limits apply to municipal elected officials. As discussed below, after reviewing the New Mexico Constitution, statutory provisions and case law, and on the information available to us, we believe that term limits for municipal elected officials are illegal under New Mexico law. The New Mexico Court of Appeals reached the same conclusion in the 1995 Cottrell v. Santillanes case. The rationale for the conclusion is based on Article VII, §Section 2(A) of the New Mexico Constitution, which lists the eligibility requirements for holding any elective office in the state. "Every citizen of the United States who is a legal resident of the state and is a qualified elector therein, shall be qualified to hold any elective public office except as otherwise provided in this constitution." The term "qualified" has been interpreted to mean "eligible". ". See,Gibbany v. Ford, 29 N.M. 621, 225 P. 577 (1924). This "Qualifications Clause" gives every person with the necessary qualifications the right to hold office. In Gibbany, the Supreme Court stated that "[t]he Legislature has no power to add restrictions upon the right to hold office beyond those provided in the Constitution, because the constitutional provision [Article VII, §2] is not a negative one, providing that no person shall be eligible to hold an office unless he possess certain qualifications, as is often the case in other states, but is a positive provision, giving the right to every person possessing the qualifications therein set forth to hold office, except as otherwise provided in the Constitution itself. Manifestly therefore, the Legislature is without power to make added restrictions as a qualification to the right to hold the office of [city councilor]. To permit it to do so would authorize the super-addition of requirements to hold office beyond those provided by the Constitution." ." Id. at 625. The other constitutional provision addressing municipal elected officials is found in Article V, §13 and addresses the residency requirement. It reads...

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