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State v. Smith1/12/2004
On March 19, 2003, HB 250, 2003 N.M. Laws Ch. 51, became law when signed by the Governor pursuant to its emergency clause. This law did not change the existing provision of Section 66-8-102(G).
On March 28, 2003, the Governor signed into effect HB 117, 2003 N.M. Laws Ch. 90, § 3, that extensively amended the sentencing provisions of the DWI statute by increasing the penalties for felony offenses for those who have committed four through seven offenses. Section 66-8-102. The law contained an emergency clause, making it effective upon its passage and signature by the Governor on March 28, 2003.
On April 5, 2003, the Governor signed another amendment to Section 66-8-102. In HB 278, the Legislature amended Section 66-8-102(G) yet again, eliminating the amendments that HB 117 created as subsections (H) through (J), and returning felony DWI sentencing to its original language. 2003 N.M. Laws Ch. 164 §10. This amendment contained no emergency clause and became law on July 1, 2003. This is the law currently appearing in New Mexico Statutes Annotated.
This case comes to the Court pursuant to its summary calendar disposition. We issue this formal opinion for two reasons: (1) the issue presented is clearly governed by existing law; and (2) clarifying the issue is one of immediate importance to the courts and practitioners concerned with which felony DWI sentencing regime should apply after July 1, 2003. The issue in this case is one concerning statutory enactment and compilation. That the controversy arises in the context of a pressing social problem (DWI) or has collateral consequences to federal highway funding issues is secondary to our role in determining this case.
We issued a calendar notice proposing to hold that Defendants should have been sentenced under HB 278 pursuant to a statutory provision requiring imposition of a lesser punishment if a defendant is sentenced after the effective date of an amendment reducing the sentence. The State responded with a memorandum in opposition. For the reasons that follow, we are unpersuaded and hold that HB 278 is the controlling law after July 1, 2003, and should have been applied in all three cases.
DISCUSSION
We hold that the sentences here are controlled by NMSA 1978, §12-2A-16(C) (1997) which provides: "If a criminal penalty for a violation of a statute or rule is reduced by an amendment, the penalty, if not already imposed, must be imposed under the statute or rule as amended." As Defendants had not been sentenced on July 1, 2003, the effective date of HB 278, we hold that the sentencing provisions contained therein should apply to Defendants' sentences.
In its memorandum in opposition, the State argues that a close review of the amendments to Section 66-8-102 during the 2003 legislative session indicate that the changes to the felony DWI provisions contained in HB 117 were intended to remain in effect beyond the July 1, 2003, effective date of HB 278. The Legislature made three independent changes to the DWI statute during the 2003 session. In drafting these amendments, the Legislature prefaced each amendment with language providing the statute section which was to be amended followed by the full text of the statute as amended. The first, titled "New Mexico Commercial Driver's License Act," and designated HB 250, was signed into law on March 19, 2003. See 2003 N.M. Laws Ch. 51. The bill retained the pre-existing felony DWI punishment contained in Section 66-8-102(G):
Upon a fourth or subsequent conviction pursuant to this section, an offender is guilty of a fourth degree felony, as provided in Section 31-18-15 NMSA 1978, and shall be sentenced to a jail term of not less than six mont
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