A. The salaries of all district attorneys, assistant district attorneys and other employees of their offices shall be paid from the time when the district attorney or assistant district attorney qualifies and from the time when other employees begin their duties.

B. All salaries and expenses of the offices of the district attorneys, except the expenses of maintenance and upkeep of quarters occupied by the district attorneys and their staffs, shall be paid from funds appropriated to the district attorneys in the respective judicial districts upon warrants drawn by the secretary of finance and administration in accordance with budgets approved by the state budget division of the department of finance and administration.

C. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent an agreement between an incorporated municipality or a county and a district attorney whereby the district attorney agrees to assign an assistant to the municipality or county and the municipality or county agrees to reimburse the department of finance and administration to the credit of the district attorney's budget for all or a portion of the assistant's salary or expenses.

D. The provisions of this section shall not be interpreted to prevent a district attorney from contracting with an Indian nation, tribe or pueblo within the boundaries of the district attorney's judicial district for the purpose of authorizing the district attorney or his staff to:

(1) serve as a tribal prosecutor; or

(2) prosecute alleged violations of tribal codes by tribal members in tribal courts.

E. If a district attorney enters into a contract, as provided in Subsection D of this section, the district attorney shall be reasonably compensated for the expenses of staff and equipment.

History: Laws 1913, ch. 54, § 3; Code 1915, § 1871; Laws 1925, ch. 120, § 4; C.S. 1929, § 39-203; 1941 Comp., § 17-105; Laws 1945, ch. 73, § 2; 1949, ch. 102, § 2; 1951, ch. 125, § 2; 1953, ch. 89, § 2; 1953 Comp., § 17-1-5; Laws 1968, ch. 69, § 54; 1975, ch. 302, § 3; 1977, ch. 247, § 148; 1980, ch. 4, § 1; 2001, ch. 178, § 1.

The 2001 amendment, effective July 1, 2001, inserted subsection designations A, B, and C, and added Subsections D and E.

Payment of expenses of civil litigation. — A district attorney may use funds appropriated pursuant to Subsection B of Section 36-1-8 NMSA 1978 to pay litigation expenses incurred in a civil damages action. 2008 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 08-04.

Condemnation actions. — Where a district attorney or his assistants have incurred actual expenses while engaged in carrying out their duties in participating in condemnation actions brought by a county to condemn a right-of-way for portions of a new highway, these expenses should be paid out of the court fund of the county seeking to acquire such right-of-way. 1963-64 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 63-79.