House Bill 253 (HB 253) relates to court records and requires that certain court records pertaining to an eviction be sealed, and provides a process for petitioning to unseal a court record.  

 House Bill 253 (HB 253) enacts a new section of property law that applies to all evictions filed under the Uniform Owner-Resident Relations Act and the Mobile Home Park Act that are filed after the bill’s effective date.  
HB 253 requires that upon the commencement of an eviction case, the court record must be sealed. The record will be unsealed if the court grants an owner possession of the property unless the parties agree to keep the record sealed, the resident appeals, or if the court sets aside the order granting the owner possession.  
The unsealed record is available to the public for three years, after which the court will seal the record.  During these three years when the record is unsealed, the resident can petition the court to seal it again if it would be in the interest of justice and those interests are not outweighed by the public’s interest in accessing the record. 
The court cannot publish the names of the parties in a sealed court record online or sell or transfer the names to a third party.  However, the names of parties can be used for court administration purposes.  
HB 253 provides that a resident in a sealed eviction case is not liable for not disclosing the eviction in response to an inquiry from a third party.  
The bill provides a procedure to petition the court to unseal a record.  The petitioner must show a compelling need, such as for scholarly, educational, journalistic, or governmental purposes.  There is no filing fee for this petition. For a bulk record request, a sealed court record can only be unsealed by directive from the Judicial Technology Council.  Also, an authorized attorney can obtain a copy of the sealed court record without showing a compelling need.   

 Current law does not provide a specific procedure to seal eviction cases.  New Mexico Rules presume that court records are subject to public access unless sealed by order of the court or otherwise protected by statute.  Any party may motion to seal a court record, and the court may order a record to be sealed if it finds an overriding interest that overcomes the right of public access to the court record.   

 The House Judiciary Committee Substitute for HB 253 (HJC CS/HB 253) is the same as the original bill except for the following:
1. An "authorized attorney" is to be determined by the courts, not the Administrative Office of the Courts.
2. A court record is sealed only upon written request of the owner (not automatically).