SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - A New Mexico lawmaker who faced questions about spending public funds before being elected pulled a bill Friday that would have forced media outlets to delete “irrelevant” material from their archives.
State Rep. Andrea Romero withdrew a measure she called the “Right to Be Forgotten Act” after she was hit with harsh criticism and accused of attacking the First Amendment.
Under the proposal, news organizations would have been required to take down information a person deemed “inaccurate, irrelevant, inadequate or excessive,” or face steep fines.
The person could demand the material be removed if it was “no longer material to current public debate or discourse,” according to the bill’s language.
The bill drew strong reactions from media groups and transparency advocates for allowing the state government to potentially decide what information could remain on news sites.
New Mexico Foundation for Open Government executive director Melanie Majors compared the proposal to walking into a library and destroying books.
“The intent of the bill was to protect victims of revenge porn, cyber bullying, and others,” Romero said in a statement. “I understand that the language was far more sweeping than intended, and I would never want to - in any way - undermine the First Amendment.”
Before being elected, Romero headed an agency of New Mexico municipalities created to promote Los Alamos National Laboratory. She faced criticism for asking to be reimbursed for Washington Nationals tickets, expensive alcohol and fancy restaurant outings.
Romero later told The Associated Press that she “demonstrated poor judgment” by asking for the reimbursements.
The New Mexico state auditor released a report in August that said the agency Romero once led - the Regional Coalition of LANL - approved improper reimbursement for alcohol, food, travel and baseball tickets. Another independent audit found Los Alamos County tried to revise existing documents in a possible attempt to conceal thousands of dollars in unlawful reimbursements.
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