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State v. Smith1/12/2004
ting of jurisdictions having DWI offenses that may be used for purposes of determining whether a conviction is a second or subsequent offense. As the majority points out, the penalties stated in HB 278 were the same as what existed prior to HB 117. Importantly, too, for my views, the compliance with federal law was also removed, as Section 66-8-102(C) reverted to its pre-HB 250 state and did not include the .04 level for commercial drivers. This enactment was not subject to any emergency clause and became law according to its terms on July 1, 2003.
This specific history indicates that each bill has a different purpose. But for the restatement of earlier law required by the Constitution, each bill could be reconciled one with the other as enacting a law limited to the actual changes it makes to pre-2003 law in accordance with its title. When read against New Mexico's legislative backdrop of continuing concern for the DWI problem, it is inconceivable to me that the Legislature was engaged in "backing-off." The majority's construction nullifies the fact that HB 117 was passed as an emergency measure, as was HB 250. The majority's construction puts the state at jeopardy for receiving federal funding. The Legislature and public might find it absurd that, by enacting a provision in the ordinary course of dealing with intergovernmental agreements regarding DWI, the Legislature intended to repeal two emergency measures, one critical to the state's finances and the other intended to do something about one of the state's most intractable problems.
The majority believing otherwise, I respectfully dissent. I would uphold Defendants' sentences and instruct the compiler to compile all three laws as a synthesized whole in accordance with what was obviously the Legislature's intent.
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