A. Every utility furnishing service within the state shall maintain an office located in the state. The commission by order may require any utility or any officer or agent of any utility to produce within the state or provide access to, at such reasonable time and place as the commission may designate, any books, records, accounts or documents kept in any office or place within or without the state, or certified copies thereof, whenever the production thereof is reasonably required and pertinent to any matter under investigation before the commission.

B. Whenever the production of books, records, accounts or documents is reasonably required by the commission and pertinent to any matter under investigation before the commission, the commission may require the utility or any affiliated interest participating in a Class I or II transaction to produce or provide access to, at such reasonable time and place as the commission may designate, such books, records, accounts or documents.

C. Any person whose interest may be adversely affected by the production of any books, records, accounts or documents may petition the commission for a protective order for confidential or proprietary information. The commission shall determine the materiality and relevancy of the books, records, accounts or documents to any matter before the commission and determine whether such books, records, accounts or documents contain confidential or proprietary information. If the commission determines such books, records, accounts or documents contain confidential or proprietary information that is material and relevant to the proceeding, it shall determine whether the public interest requires that such books, records, accounts or documents be produced in any hearing or investigation held under the Public Utility Act [Chapter 62, Articles 1 to 6 and 8 to 13 NMSA 1978] or that an abstract of or the extraction of specific information from such books, records, accounts or documents be produced for use in any such hearing or investigation. Any books, records, accounts or documents determined under this section to contain confidential or proprietary information are not subject to the Public Records Act [Chapter 14, Article 3 NMSA 1978].

D. For so long as such information determined by the commission to contain confidential or proprietary information retains its confidential or proprietary character, any person who intentionally discloses such confidential or proprietary information is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined not less than five hundred dollars ($500) nor more than five thousand dollars ($5,000).

History: Laws 1941, ch. 84, § 29; 1941 Comp., § 72-517; 1953 Comp., § 68-5-17; Laws 1980, ch. 85, § 3; 1982, ch. 109, § 8; 1993, ch. 351, § 3.

Compiler's notes. — Sections 62-6-4 to 62-6-26.1 of the Public Utility Act are still effective as the repeal of Chapter 62, Article 6 by Laws 1998, Chapter 108, Section 82, effective July 1, 2003 Chapter 108, Section 82 was repealed prior to taking effect by Chapter 23, Section 1, Laws 2003. Although Laws 2003, Chapter 336, Section 8, amended Laws 1998, Chapter 82, as amended, an amendment of a repealed section is ineffective. See Quintana v. N.M. Dep't of Corrs., 100 N.M. 224, 668 P.2d 1101 (1983). Laws 2003, Chapter 416, Section 5 also repealed Laws 1998, Chapter 108, Section 82, as amended, a second time, however, that repeal is of no effect as the section had previously been repealed by Chapter 23, Section 1, Laws 2003.

The 1993 amendment, effective June 18, 1993, rewrote this section to the extent that a detailed comparison would be impracticable.

Law reviews. — For note, "The Public Service Commission: A Legal Analysis of an Administrative System," see 3 N.M.L. Rev. 184 (1973).

For comment, "Regulation of Electric Utilities and Affiliated Coal Companies - Determining Reasonable Expenses," see 26 Nat. Res. J. 851 (1986).