AI Generated Opinion Summaries

This summary was computer-generated without any editorial revision. It is not official, has not been checked for accuracy, and is NOT citable.

Facts

• The case involves the Environmental Improvement Board (EIB) and the Water Quality Control Commission (WQCC) adopting environmental regulations after extensive rule-making processes. These regulations were submitted to the State Records Center for publication in the New Mexico Register. However, following an executive order by Governor Susana Martinez to suspend all proposed and pending regulations for review, the publication of these regulations was halted, prompting petitions for a writ of mandamus to compel publication (paras 2-3, 6-7).

Procedural History

• [Not applicable or not found]

Parties' Submissions

• Petitioners: Argued that the Governor and Secretary-designate exceeded their constitutional authority by ordering an independent agency to breach a clear, indisputable, and non-discretionary duty to publish the regulations. They sought an order compelling the State Records Administrator to publish the regulations and an order preventing the Governor and the Secretary from interfering with the publication process (para 7).
• Respondents: Contended that the petitioners lacked standing, the dispute was not ripe, mandamus was inappropriate due to existing factual issues, the State Records Administrator had discretion regarding publication timing, petitioners failed to exhaust administrative remedies provided by the Governor's Executive Order, and the Governor had authority to temporarily suspend publication of regulations (para 8).

Legal Issues

• Whether the State Records Administrator has a clear, indisputable, and mandatory duty to publish regulations filed with the State Records Center by the EIB and the WQCC, despite a request to delay publication (para 1).
• Whether petitioners have standing to compel the performance of a duty that is clear, indisputable, and non-discretionary (para 10).

Disposition

• The Supreme Court of New Mexico issued a writ of mandamus ordering the State Records Administrator to publish the regulations, finding that the administrator breached a clear, indisputable, and non-discretionary duty (para 23).

Reasons

• The Court, per Justice Edward L. Chávez, with Chief Justice Charles W. Daniels, Justices Patricio M. Serna, Petra Jimenez Maes, and Richard C. Bosson concurring, held that:
  The powers and duties of the EIB, the WQCC, and the Records Center do not fall under the Governor’s or the Secretary’s authority, and the Executive Order did not apply to the subject regulations as they were not under the Governor’s authority (para 1).
  Rules promulgated by the State Records Administrator mandate that regulations filed with the Records Center must be published within a specified timeframe after being properly submitted by the issuing authority, and the Records Center erred in not publishing the regulations submitted by the EIB and the WQCC (para 1).
  Petitioners have standing due to their active participation in the administrative rule-making proceedings and because the issue raised is of great public importance, specifically concerning the separation of powers doctrine (paras 9, 12-13).
  The State Records Administrator has adopted rules that mandate when regulations are to be published, thereby lacking discretion on the timing of publication for regulations submitted by an issuing authority (para 9).