Sandoval Co. Clerk's Office: State-wide marriage license fee increase starts June 20
SANDOVAL COUNTY, N.M. (KRQE) — Senate Bill 290 was signed into law on April 8, 2025. It increases the cost of marriage license fees in New Mexico for the first time in over 22 years. The Sandoval County Clerk's Office is reminding the public that increase goes into effect on Friday, June 20.
Story continues below
Entertainment: First-of-its-kind indoor pickleball facility coming to northeast Albuquerque
Community: Albuquerque church leaning on faith after 2 members killed by their son
Environment: What should New Mexicans do if they come across a raccoon?
Licenses are going from $25 to $55. Clerk Brady Romero said in a news release, 'It's important to note that marriage licenses in New Mexico have no expiration date. Couples can obtain their licenses now or closer to their wedding. The application process begins in person at our office and does require an appointment. After the ceremony, the signed certificate is returned to the Clerk's Office within 90 days for official recording.'
Fees collected for marriage licenses will be distributed as follows:
$20 to the county clerk's office for document preservation and technology improvements
$20 to the children's trust fund for child abuse prevention and support services
$15 to the county general fund
In Sandoval County, marriage license appointments are available Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Appointments can be scheduled by calling (505) 867-7572.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Saying 'I do' in New Mexico will now cost twice as much as marriage license fee increases
Formalizing a marriage these days is often not the difficult part; walk in and the paperwork is there waiting for you. But in New Mexico, it's about to become more than twice as expensive. For the first time in decades, the cost of a marriage license in New Mexico will increase, jumping from $25 to $55, effective June 20, following the passage of bipartisan legislation during the 2025 legislative session updating the fee structure. While the price is more than doubling, New Mexico's fee remains lower than in Texas or Arizona, where the cost can exceed $80. Some states charge as much as $115. According to a news release from the Santa Fe County Clerk's Office, the fee change supports long-term recordkeeping, child welfare programs and local services across the state. Santa Fe County is one of New Mexico's most popular wedding destinations. 'Most people only think about their marriage license once — on their wedding day,' Santa Fe County Clerk Katharine Clark said in a statement. 'But it's a legal document that can be needed decades later to access benefits, prove identity or navigate end-of-life paperwork. We want to ensure your record will be securely stored, easy to find, and legally valid when you need it." Senate Bill 290, signed by Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham this year, was sponsored by Sen. Linda Trujillo, D-Santa Fe. It increases marriage license fees and changes how they are distributed. The changes will result in increased funds for counties, according to a Legislative Finance Committee fiscal impact report for the bill. With the updated fee, the fund is expected to gain an estimated $32,500 annually to expand prevention programs and family support services statewide. Beginning June 20, according to the County Clerk's Office, the $55 marriage license fee will be distributed as follows: * $20 to county clerk's offices * $20 to the Children's Trust Fund, which supports community-based programs to prevent child abuse and neglect * $15 to the county general fund The Children's Trust Fund, administered by the Children, Youth and Families Department, previously relied mostly on specialty license plate revenue, the release from the clerk's office said. The higher fees could give pennywise couples an excuse to hold off on the nuptials; however, the Legislative Finance Committee analysis noted even with New Mexico's comparatively low license fees, the state's marriage rate has been skidding for the last decade. "In 2022, New Mexico had the lowest marriage rate in the country at 4.2 per 1,000 people," the report said. "Nevada, Utah, and Colorado were among the highest at 25.9, 9.9, and 7.5 per 1,000, respectively."
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
How a wildlife researcher is estimating Albuquerque's badger population
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) — A wildlife researcher is taking a look at how many American badgers are taking up shop in a 12-mile stretch of the Rio Grande Bosque. To make that happen, she's asking the people of Albuquerque to send any photos they have of badgers, specifically with their head stripes showing. Story continues below New Mexico Crime Files: Grocery store worker hands out semen-tainted yogurt Trending: Santa Fe man arrested after 'brandishing' gun at gas station New Mexico Strange: Holy dirt and healing water: A look at NM's miraculous locations News: National Guard deployment causes worry over New Mexico wildfire funds Ann Hunkins is a certified animal tracker and master's student at Prescott College. This badger research project was partly inspired by just how many badger digs Hunkins has been seeing in the bosque. Those digs posed the question – is there one overly-ambitious badger, or are there more like a dozen? 'So I'm working with the City of Albuquerque Open Space with this, and the idea is that it's going to help to inform land management decisions to know how many badgers are there, how they're using the land,' said Hunkins. 'Because we've also got a whole bunch of volunteers out there who are surveying the badger digs and uploading them into a monitoring app.' The study is limited to a 12-mile stretch of the Bosque from Alameda to Ceaser Chavez on the east side. Hunkins says trying to measure the entire greater Albuquerque area could lead to spotty results. The study is particularly trying to measure the 'range' of the badgers found in the bosque, meaning how far the animals are traveling. 'There was a badger digging at The Jackalope in the middle of town and badgers up on the Tramway, badgers in different parts of the city,' said Hunkins. 'So that's part of the study too, to try to find out where, how far the badgers are penetrating in the city.' She says badger range in general can vary from 25 square kilometers to 200 square kilometers. To the untrained eye, badger digs may look like coyote tracks, Hunkins explains. The difference is that badger digs are a little smaller and they're very asymmetrical, almost 'pigeon-toed.' They will usually show five toes on each foot, opposed to the four toes on coyote tracks. You can identify a badger based on its head stripe in the same way you can identify a person based off their fingerprint, making it crucial that submitted photos show off the badger's stripes. 'That was one of the things that got me on board to do the study. I was like, 'oh, so we can do it with camera tracking then,'' said Hunkins. 'We don't have to actually trap the badgers. We just need pictures of them… When we get those pictures, and then if we can match them with pictures from other cameras at other times, it just gives us a whole picture of what badgers are doing in the Bosque and in the whole city.' Badgers play a role in controlling rodent and insect populations. Hunkins say her team has been seeing 'shallow foraging digs,' where they're digging up insect groves beneath Cottonwood trees. They believe the badgers are going after the cottonwood leaf beetle groves under those trees. Badgers also tend to go after squirrels and gophers. 'I had a man tell me that he had a badger move into his backyard, and like two days later, all the squirrels were gone because the badger had taken care of them,' said Hunkins. 'Now sometimes that can be a problem for people because they'll dig up the entire yard, but usually it's not a problem because they'll just come in, target the species and go. They don't stay very long in any one place. So it's not like they're going to take up residence in your yard for a long period of time.' In New Mexico, American badgers are not considered an endangered species or a species of concern, although it's a different story in some areas. In British Columbia, American badgers are considered endangered, and over in California, they're considered a species of special concern. Hunkins says the primary threat for them would be the general loss of habitat from human activity, buildings, or roads. The study will come to a close in August. Hunkins will be analyzing the results throughout autumn. Photos of badgers can be submitted to abqbadgerphotos@ Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Progress takes time, and New Mexico children can't afford to wait
New Mexico ranked last for child well-being in the 2025 edition of the annual national KIDS COUNT report. (Photo by Gino Gutierrez for Source NM) New Mexicans are a people of strength, resilience, and deep-rooted pride—shaped by our commitment to community and our dedication to the well-being of families. That's why it's painful to reconcile our values with the news in this week's release of state rankings on child well-being from the Annie E. Casey Foundation's annual KIDS COUNT® Data Book. Once again, New Mexico is ranked 50th. Two things are true: progress takes time—and our children can't afford to wait. This year's data reflects conditions from 2023—before the full impact of many recent policy changes has had time to take hold. These include expanded child care assistance, increased Pre-K funding, and expanded health care access. These efforts matter, and in time, they will move the needle. But today, too many children are still waiting for the resources they need. We can't expect our ranking to change if we don't develop a comprehensive set of bold, targeted policies to uplift the children in our state. This legislative session, NM Voices for Children and our partners fought hard for such policies. We championed Paid Family and Medical Leave, a strong family-first safety net, but it died in the Legislature. We advocated for a fairer tax system so that families struggling to meet basic needs would be supported, but it was vetoed. We stood with Native leaders to support Indigenous-led education, and preserve Native sovereignty, languages, and cultures within the education system, but it was left unsigned. This must change. Despite these setbacks, we have made real and measurable progress. New Mexico is a national leader in free child care for most families and free school meals for all students. We also made historic investments in early childhood education, a state Child Tax Credit to help working families meet basic needs, and expanded health care access for more New Mexican families. Many of these gains have been hard won over the past seven years, thanks to the leadership of our current governor and legislators. We must also recognize that meaningful progress spanned across multiple administrations, such as the 2013 Medicaid expansion, which expanded vital health care to thousands more New Mexicans. Let's remember the lessons of past transitions. For instance, previous administrations have made decisions that disrupted critical services, such as behavioral health care. As we approach an election year and a new governor sets their agenda, we must remain focused, loud, and strong in advocating to put children first. Too many children and families face unaffordable housing and limited access to employment opportunities with benefits and a living wage. Looming federal proposals threaten to make the situation worse. Deep cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, and education programs would hurt millions of New Mexicans. Here, three in four children rely on Medicaid, and more than one-third of SNAP recipients are children. For immigrant families, the fear of deportation continues to block access to vital services. But there is reason for hope. New Mexico has the tools, the vision, and the collective will to lead. Just as we have made progress on early childhood education, tax fairness, and expanding Medicaid, we must do the same in housing, K–12 education, economic mobility, and protection of mixed-status families to ensure that all children can thrive. We need our state's leaders to make housing affordable, raise the minimum wage, pass paid family and medical leave, and advance culturally relevant education. Once these laws are passed and the budget is signed, we need swift and effective implementation, so our kids don't have to wait. New Mexico's future depends on how we care for our children and families today. This means building a state where every child has a real shot at a bright, healthy, and secure future—regardless of their zip code, race, or immigration status. We must not lose sight of the fact that our work is about the lives of children.