A bill that would seal eviction court records at filing and create a process to unseal records only when a landlord wins gained a committee do-pass recommendation after extensive testimony from housing advocates, landlords and property-industry representatives.

House Bill 253 would, in effect, make eviction dockets initially inaccessible to the public and to commercial tenant-screening companies. The bill adds a bifurcated approach: a sealed filing stays sealed if a tenant wins or the case is dismissed; if a landlord wins a judgment of possession, the record would be unsealed so the public could see the outcome. The bill also directs that records be resealed after three years.

Supporters, including housing-rights organizations, legal-aid advocates and eviction-prevention groups, said the current system allows out-of-state tenant-screening firms to capture filings (including cases that tenants win or that are dismissed) and then list those filings as permanent black marks on a renter’s record. “Eviction records create long lasting barriers,” said Maria Grego of the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty. Advocates described cases in which temporary hardships led to filings that then followed tenants for years, blocking housing and employment opportunities.

Opponents, including the Apartment Association of New Mexico and the New Mexico Association of Realtors, argued the bill would disadvantage small landlords who rely on public court records to screen applicants and who do not use commercial tenant-screening services. They said landlords use eviction data to assess financial risk and protect properties and other residents.

Committee members asked technical questions about which courts are covered (magistrate and metropolitan courts were cited), how bulk data requests would be handled, whether automatic resealing at three years should be delayed to allow the Administrative Office of the Courts time to perform a statewide review, and how the bill would interact with credit reporting or criminal records. Sponsors said the bill does not affect criminal records or credit reports directly and that the Judicial Technology Council would handle approved bulk requests for research or government purposes.

Committee action and votes
- Motion for a do-pass recommendation on House Bill 253 carried on a 3–2 roll call.

Supporters said the measure aligns with efforts in other states to reduce the long-term harms of eviction filings while allowing landlords access to records when they obtain a judgment of possession. Opponents said the three-year re-sealing timeframe could obscure information smaller landlords need for risk management and requested more implementation detail from the Administrative Office of the Courts.