A. Any person licensed pursuant to the provisions of the Liquor Control Act or any employee, agent or lessee of that person who permits a minor to enter and remain in any area of a licensed premises that is prohibited to the use of minors is guilty of a violation of the Liquor Control Act [60-3A-1 NMSA 1978].

B. A minor shall not enter or attempt to enter any area of a licensed premises that is posted or otherwise identified as being prohibited to the use of minors, except as authorized by regulation or as necessitated by an emergency. A person who violates the provisions of this subsection is guilty of a petty misdemeanor and shall be punished pursuant to the provisions of Section 31-19-1 NMSA 1978.

C. The director of the alcohol and gaming division of the regulation and licensing department shall adopt regulations classifying the types of licensed premises or areas of licensed premises where minors may be present. The director shall require that signs issued by the division be posted by licensees to inform the public, including minors, of the areas in licensed premises that are open to minors. The regulations may allow minors in those areas of licensed premises where:

(1) the consumption of alcoholic beverages is the primary activity, when a minor is accompanied by a parent, adult spouse or legal guardian;

(2) there is no consumption of alcoholic beverages; or

(3) the minor is at least eighteen years of age and licensed under the New Mexico Commercial Driver's License Act [66-5-52 to 66-5-72 NMSA 1978] and is making a delivery of packaged alcoholic beverages to a holder of a dispenser's, retailer's, restaurant, club, small brewer, winegrower, craft distiller, manufacturer's or rectifier or any other license that allows for the purchase and delivery of alcoholic beverages.

History: Laws 1981, ch. 39, § 90; 1991, ch. 119, § 5; 1993, ch. 68, § 25; 1994, ch. 50, § 1; 2019, ch. 103, § 1.

The 2019 amendment, effective July 1, 2019, allowed minors who are licensed under the New Mexico commercial driver's license act to deliver packaged alcoholic beverages; and added Paragraph C(3).

The 1994 amendment, effective May 18, 1994, added "regulations" at the end of the section heading; substituted "any area of a licensed premises that is prohibited to the use of minors" for "the licensed premises without lawful business" in Subsection A; in Subsection B, added the first sentence and substituted "A person who violates the provisions of this subsection" for "Any minor who enters and remains in the licensed premises without lawful business" in the second sentence; and rewrote Subsection C, which formerly defined "lawful business".

The 1993 amendment, effective July 1, 1993, substituted "person licensed pursuant to the provisions of the Liquor Control Act or any employee, agent or lessee of that person" for "retailer, dispenser, restaurant licensee, club licensee, canopy licensee or governmental licensee or its lessee" in Subsection A and added Subsection C.

The 1991 amendment, effective June 14, 1991, in Subsection B, substituted "petty misdemeanor and shall be punished pursuant to the provisions of Section 31-19-1 NMSA 1978" for "misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars ($100), no part of which shall be suspended".

Minor police officer permitted in licensed premises. — This section does not prohibit liquor licensees or their agents from permitting a police officer who is under 21 years of age and in the lawful performance of his duties to be in attendance in the licensed premises of a liquor establishment. 1975 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 75-59.