SANTA FE — State Rep. Andrea Romero, D-Santa Fe, has resigned from her part-time position at the First Judicial District Attorney’s Office after the New Mexico Department of Justice issued guidance stating it was unlawful for sitting lawmakers to work as DA’s office employees, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported Tuesday.

Romero said in a statement issued through the House Democratic caucus that she had accepted the position “after receiving prior guidance from the AG’s office that it was permissible.” She has declined to provide the underlying correspondence to the New Mexican.

In a letter to prosecutors Monday that did not name Romero, Attorney General Raúl Torrez attributed the confusion to a “narrow opinion” his office issued in 2024 addressing whether a lawmaker could serve as a special assistant district attorney — guidance he said was “limited to single, specified cases.” Torrez warned that any DA’s office employing a sitting legislator outside that narrow exception “should treat that arrangement as unlawful and correct it without delay.”

Romero’s role at the DA’s office lacked a written job description and was described variously in official documents as assistant district attorney, assistant trial attorney and document review attorney, according to the New Mexican.

House Republican Whip Alan Martinez, R-Rio Rancho, filed an ethics complaint with legislative leadership Aug. 28 over Romero’s employment, citing potential violations of NMSA §§ 2-1-3, 2-1-4 and 2-1-5 — statutes governing legislator compensation and state employment that carry felony penalties. Martinez also asked Torrez’s office to investigate whether Romero’s employment violated state law, along with the role First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies played in authorizing it.

“Representative Romero must immediately release the full AG legal opinion she says gave her the green light to take this state position,” Martinez said in the release. “She does not get to hide behind selective excerpts while serious legal and ethical questions remain unanswered.”

A separate ethics complaint was filed with the State Ethics Commission by Española resident Pablo Lujan. The First Judicial District Attorney’s Office said in a Facebook post it was “disappointed” by Torrez’s conclusion but would comply.

This is a developing story.