AGO IAL080107.

• Case Date: August 01, 2007
• Court: New Mexico

New Mexico Attorney General Opinions 2007. AGO IAL080107. August 1, 2007IAL080107The Honorable Mary Jane GarciaNew Mexico State SenatePO Box 22Dona Ana, NM 88032 Re: Opinion Request - The 2007 Gift Act as Applied to Legislator's Attendance at Regional Conference of Women in GovernmentDear Senator Garcia: You have requested our advice regarding the application of the New Mexico Gift Act, 2007 N.M. Laws, Ch. 226 (the "Act"), to your attendance at an out-of-state regional conference on July 9 through July 11, 2007. We understand that you serve as the Western Region Director of Women in Government, a national, non-profit bi-partisan organization of women state legislators.(fn1) We further understand that as regional director, you are required to attend Women in Government's 10th Annual Regional Conference July 9th through July 11th in Anchorage, Alaska. We are assuming for purposes of this analysis that the organization will be paying for all or part of the travel, food and lodging expenses associated with your attendance at the conference. Based on our examination of the relevant constitutional, statutory and case law authorities, and the information available to us at this time, we conclude that Women in Government's payment of your reasonable expenses to attend the regional conference and your acceptance of said payment does not constitute a violation the Act. As a preliminary matter, there are several rules of statutory construction that guide our analysis. First, in construing a statute, our goal is to give primary effect to legislative intent, which intent is evidenced primarily through the statute's language. SeeSouter v. Ancae Heating and Air Conditioning, 2002-NMCA-078, 132 N.M. 608, 611. Second, under the plain meaning rule, we give statutory language its ordinary and plain meaning unless the Legislature indicates a different interpretation is necessary. SeeCooper v. Chevron, 2002-NMSC-020, 132 N.M. 382, 388. The Gift Act states, in pertinent part:

A state officer or employee or a candidate for state office, or that person's family, shall not knowingly accept from a restricted donor.and a restricted donor shall not knowingly donate to a state officer or employee.a gift of a market value greater than two hundred fifty dollars ($250).

2007 N.M. Laws, Ch. 226, § 3(A).

The Act generally defines "restricted donor" as a

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