Opinion No. 19-2339
August 6, 1919
TO: Mr. C. E. Waller, Commissioner, Department of Health, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
State Department of Health Not Authorized to Prohibit House of Prostitution.
OPINION
In reply to your letter of August 5th, wherein the query is propounded to this office as to whether there is any provision of law which gives the State Board of Health Department the authority to prohibit the maintenance of houses of prostitution, I advise that it was not the intention of the legislature, in Chapter 85, Session Laws of 1919, to confer such power on your department, and that the method by which houses of prostitution may be suppressed is fully covered by previous legislation.
You are being directed to the most recent version of the statute which may not be the version considered at the time of the judgment.