Ooooh, finally something I can respond to! From the Legislative Drafting
Manual[1]:

    Assignment of Session Law Chapter Numbers

    After the governor signs a bill, it is sent to the Office of
    the Secretary of State. The secretary of state assigns the
    next available chapter number and the act becomes part of
    the session laws for that year.

 [1] https://www.nmlegis.gov/Publications/Legislative_Procedure/drafting_manual.pdf

(Thank you, Akkana, for having pointed me to nmlegis Publications)

What this means in practice: signed *BILLS* [2] (only bills) will get
a sequential chapter number: Feed Bill is 2026 chapter 1, etc. Where
it gets nasty is in bills like 2026 SB38[3] which read:

    REPEAL.--Laws 2020, Chapter 69, Section 6 is repealed

Which is super horrible because a normal human has to go to the SOS
web site, find 2020 laws, then find Chapter 69, then find the original
bill, then find what section of NM code it changed. Phew.

 [2] https://nmlegiswatch.org/bills/signed
 [3] https://nmlegiswatch.org/bills/SB38

I'm working on code for my bill web site that will archive past
legislation, index it by year and chapter, and provide useful
hyperlinks for humans. I couldn't get it done in time for this
year, but it should be live by next session.

HTH,
Ed
--
Ed Santiago  [he/him]          Toolsmith          ...@edsantiago.com



On Mon, 2 Mar 2026 18:50:10 -0700, Akkana Peck via Action wrote:
>I think the word "chaptered" probably relates to being incorporated into
>a chapter of the NM legal code. But that's just a guess; I've never
>found anything on nmlegis or elsewhere that explains the term.
>
>        ...Akkana
>
>Richard Mason via Action writes: > Chaptered is the next step
>after the Governor signing. > > Pocket veto means vetoed by in
>action > > On Mon, Mar 2, 2026 at 4:49 PM Joanne Turnbull via
>Action < > action@mailman.swcp.com> wrote: > > > Sorry to be so
>“dumb” but: > > > > 1. Does ‘chaptered’ mean waiting
>the governor’s signature? > > > > 2. ‘Pocket veto’ means
>vetoed by inaction? > > > > Joanne Turnbull > > 207-831-0310 > >
>turnbulljoanne@gmail.com _______________________________________________
>Action mailing list Action@mailman.swcp.com
>https://mailman.swcp.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/action


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