NMAGO 99-03.

• Case Date: August 04, 1999
• Court: New Mexico

New Mexico Attorney General Opinions 1999. NMAGO 99-03. August 4, 1999 OPINION OF Opinion No. 99-03 PATRICIA A. MADRID Attorney General BY: Elizabeth A. Glenn Assistant Attorney General TO: Darren P. White, Secretary John W. Wheeler, Chief Counsel Department of Public SafetyP.O. Box 1628 Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504-1628 QUESTIONS: 1. Are members of the public limited by the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act ("SORN Act") to requesting information about one individual sex offender at a time? 2. Is the Department of Public Safety precluded by either the SORN Act or the Inspection of Public Records Act (NMSA 1978, §§ 14-2-1 to -12) ("IPRA") from posting all sex offender information made available by the SORN Act on a web site or other easily accessible public forum? CONCLUSIONS: 1. No. Members of the public may make requests for available information about more than one particular sex offender, including blanket requests for information about all sex offenders who live in a certain area or in the state as a whole. 2. No. The Department of Public Safety may post all publicly available sex offender information on a web site or other public forum. FACTS: During the regular 1999 legislative session, the Sex Offender Registration Act, now the SORN Act, was amended to permit public access to information about certain sex offenders. See 1999 N.M. Laws, Ch. 19 (codified at NMSA 1978, Ch. 29, Art. 11A).(fn1) This opinion addresses questions that have arisen concerning the permissible means of making that information publicly available. ANALYSIS: 1. Pertinent Provisions of the SORN Act. The SORN Act requires a sex offender, as defined in the statute, residing or, if a nonresident, employed or attending school in New Mexico to register with the county sheriff for the county in which the sex offender resides, works or attends school. NMSA 1978, § 29-11A-4(A), (C). The Act requires a sex offender to provide specified information to the sheriff at the time of registration. § 29-11A-4(B), (D). Once registered, a sex offender must renew his or her registration annually. § 29-11A-4(H). Each county sheriff is required to maintain a local registry of sex offenders in his jurisdiction, and to forward registration information obtained from sex offenders to the Department of Public Safety. § 29-11A-5(A), (B). The...