N.M. Stat. § 12-8-2 (2026)

As used in the Administrative Procedures Act:

    A. "agency" means any state board, commission, department or officer authorized
by law to make rules, conduct adjudicatory proceedings, make determinations, grant
licenses, impose sanctions, grant or withhold relief or perform other actions or duties
delegated by law, and which is specifically placed by law under the Administrative
Procedures Act;

   B. "adjudicatory proceeding" means a proceeding before an agency, including but
not limited to ratemaking and licensing, in which legal rights, duties or privileges of a
party are required by law to be determined by an agency after an opportunity for a trial-
type hearing; but does not include a mere rulemaking proceeding, as provided in
Section 3 [12-8-3 NMSA 1978] of the Administrative Procedures Act. It also includes the
formation and issuance of any order, the imposition or withholding of any sanction and
the granting or withholding of any relief, as well as any of the foregoing types of
determinations or actions wherein no procedure or hearing provision has been
otherwise provided for or required by law;

   C. "license" includes the whole or part of any agency permit, certificate, approval,
registration, charter, membership, statutory exemption or other form of permission
required by law;

   D. "licensing" includes the agency process respecting the grant, denial, renewal,
revocation, suspension, annulment, withdrawal, amendment, limiting, modifying or
conditioning of a license;

   E. "party" means each person or agency named or admitted as a party or properly
seeking and entitled as of right to be admitted as a party, whether for general or limited
purposes;

   F. "person" means any individual, partnership, corporation, association,
governmental subdivision or public or private organization of any character other than
an agency;

   G. "rule" includes the whole or any part of every regulation, standard, statement or
other requirement of general or particular application adopted by an agency to
implement, interpret or prescribe law or policy enforced or administered by an agency, if
the adoption or issuance of such rules is specifically authorized by the law giving the
agency jurisdiction over such matters. It also includes any statement of procedure or
practice requirements specifically authorized by the Administrative Procedures Act or
other law, but it does not include:

      (1)     advisory rulings issued under Section 9 [12-8-9 NMSA 1978] of the
Administrative Procedures Act;

       (2)     regulations concerning only the internal management or discipline of the
adopting agency or any other agency and not affecting the rights of, or the procedures
available to, the public or any person except an agency's members, officers or
employees in their capacity as such member, officer or employee;
      (3)     regulations concerning only the management, confinement, discipline or
release of inmates of state penal, correctional, public health or mental institutions;

        (4)    regulations relating to the use of highways or streets when the substance
of the regulations is indicated to the public by means of signs or signals; or

          (5)   decisions issued or actions taken or denied in adjudicatory proceedings;

    H. "rulemaking" means any agency process for the formation, amendment or repeal
of a rule;

    I. "order" means the whole or any part of the final or interim disposition, whether
affirmative, negative, injunctive or declaratory in form, by an agency in any matter other
than rulemaking but including licensing;

     J. "sanction" includes the whole or part of any agency:

       (1)   prohibition, requirement, limitation or other condition affecting the freedom
of any person or his property;

          (2)   withholding of relief;

          (3)   imposition of any form of penalty;

          (4)   destruction, taking, seizure or withholding of property;

       (5)    assessment of damages, reimbursement, restitution, compensation,
taxation, costs, charges or fees;

          (6)   requirement, revocation, amendment, limitation or suspension of a license;
or

          (7)   taking or withholding of other compulsory, restrictive or discretionary
action;

     K. "relief" includes the whole or part of any agency:

        (1)    grant of money, assistance, license, authority, exemption, exception,
privilege or remedy;

      (2)     recognition of any claim, right, interest, immunity, privilege, exemption or
exception; or

       (3)   taking of any other action upon the application or petition of, and beneficial
to, any person;
    L. "agency proceedings" means any agency process in connection with rulemaking,
orders, adjudication, licensing, imposition or withholding of sanctions or the granting or
withholding of relief; and

   M. "agency action" includes the whole or part of every agency, rule, order, license,
sanction or relief, or the equivalent or denial thereof, or failure to act.

History: 1953 Comp., § 4-32-2, enacted by Laws 1969, ch. 252, § 2.

                                    ANNOTATIONS

Cross references. — For applicability of act, see 12-8-23 NMSA 1978.

Act inapplicable to state corporation commission (now public regulation
commission). — The Administrative Procedures Act applies, only to an agency "which
is specifically placed by law under the Administrative Procedures Act." There is no
provision in the law subjecting the state corporation commission (now public regulation
commission) to the provisions of the APA. In re Generic Investigation into Cable
Television Servs., 1985-NMSC-087, 103 N.M. 345, 707 P.2d 1155.

Act inapplicable to workers' compensation administration. — The Administrative
Procedures Act is not applicable to workers' compensation administration. Bryant v.
Lear Siegler Mgt. Servs. Corp., 1993-NMCA-052, 115 N.M. 502, 853 P.2d 753.

Act inapplicable to regents of museum of New Mexico. — The Administrative
Procedures Act is not applicable to the actions of the board of regents of the museum of
New Mexico since that act is applicable only to agencies specifically placed by law
under the Administrative Procedures Act. Livingston v. Ewing, 1982-NMSC-110, 98
N.M. 685, 652 P.2d 235.

Law reviews. — For article, "How to Stand Still Without Really Trying: A Critique of the
New Mexico Administrative Procedures Act," see 10 Nat. Resources J. 840 (1970).

For survey, "Administrative Law," see 6 N.M. L. Rev. 401 (1976).

For article, "Survey of New Mexico Law, 1979-80: Administrative Law," see 11 N.M. L.
Rev. 1 (1981).

For 1984-88 survey of New Mexico administrative law, see 19 N.M.L. Rev. 575 (1990).