Unless specified otherwise in the Governmental Conduct Act, any person who knowingly and willfully violates any of the provisions of that act is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) or by imprisonment for not more than one year or both. Nothing in the Governmental Conduct Act shall preclude criminal prosecution for bribery or other provisions of law set forth in the constitution of New Mexico or by statute.
History: Laws 1993, ch. 46, § 37.
ANNOTATIONSLegislative intent for willful and knowing violations. — The plain meaning of § 10-16-3 NMSA 1978 and § 10-16-17 NMSA 1978 indicates a legislative intent to provide for a misdemeanor penalty for a knowing and willful violation of the provisions of §§ 10-16-3(A) through § 10-16-3(C) NMSA 1978. State v. Gutierrez, 2020-NMCA-045, cert. granted.
In four separate cases, consolidated for appeal, where each case arose from an allegation of misconduct by a government official, and where the district court in each case dismissed the charges against the defendants, finding that violations of §§ 10-16-3(A) through § 10-16-3(C) NMSA 1978 were not crimes but ethical considerations and therefore the indictments failed to allege the commission of a criminal offense, or that even if Subsections A through C provided for criminal offenses, they were nevertheless void for vagueness, the district courts' dismissals of the counts charging defendants under Subsection A were improper because the plain meaning of § 10-16-3 NMSA 1978 and § 10-16-17 NMSA 1978 indicates a legislative intent to provide for a misdemeanor penalty for a knowing and willful violation of Subsection A, but the dismissals of the counts charging defendants under Subsections B through C were proper because those subsections fail to provide persons of ordinary intelligence a fair opportunity to determine whether their conduct is prohibited. State v. Gutierrez, 2020-NMCA-045, cert. granted.