IAL 07-02.

• Case Date: July 09, 2007
• Court: New Mexico

New Mexico Attorney General Opinions 2007. IAL 07-02. July 9, 2007OPINION OF GARY K. KINGAttorney General Opinion No. 07-02BY: Sally Malave Assistant Attorney General TO: The Honorable Antonio "Moe" MaestasState Representative - District 16State Capitol Building Room 203B CN Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501 QUESTION: Whether the Legislature in 2008 may enact legislation to require the New Mexico house of representatives to redistrict its membership without conflicting with Subsection D of Article IV, § 3 of the state constitution, given that the court, rather than the Legislature, redistricted the New Mexico house of representatives following the 2000 decennial census? CONCLUSION: The Legislature may not reapportion its membership until after publication of the official report of the 2010 federal census. ANALYSIS: Article IV, Section 3 of the New Mexico Constitution sets forth the number of members in each house of the Legislature and their qualifications and requires the election of senators and representatives from single-member districts. Subsection D of the provision then states:

Once following publication of the official report of each decennial census hereafter conducted, the legislature may by statute reapportion its membership.

N.M. Const. art. IV, § 3(D). The drafters of the constitution are presumed to give the words they use their plain, natural and usual meaning. See City of Farmington v. Fawcett, 114 N.M. 537, 544 (Ct. App.), cert. quashed, 114 N.M. 532 (1992) (citation omitted). The language of the constitution controls if it is "plain, definite, and free from ambiguity." See id. The above-quoted constitutional provision is clear. It permits the Legislature to reapportion its membership only once by statute each decade following publication of the official report of a federal decennial census.(fn1) The purpose and intent of requiring decennial reapportionment is to ensure substantially equal representation based on population.(fn2) See Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533, 579 (1964). State constitutional framers generally prohibited reapportionment more than once every ten years because they wanted to ensure that State Legislatures could not reapportion themselves periodically for purely partisan reasons. See Bone Shirt v. Hazeltine, 700 N.W.2d 746, 756 (S.D. 2005) (Konenkamp, J., concurring specially). In accordance with this constitutional provision, the New Mexico Legislature reapportioned its membership by statute, albeit partially, in 2002. Following publication...