New Mexico tanning laws for salon owners

What New Mexico's tanning law covers

New Mexico has no statewide tanning-salon law. NMOneSource, the New Mexico Compilation Commission's legal research site, searches the full text of the current New Mexico Statutes Annotated, the New Mexico Administrative Code and the session laws together. A search for the exact word "tanning" finds one current statute, NMSA 1978, § 30-9-20, plus the older annual editions of that same chapter, the 2007 act that created it (Laws 2007, chapter 238) and a 1914 attorney general opinion on tanning deer hides. No rule in the Administrative Code uses the word.

The search reads the body of each law, not just its headings. The "tanning booth" in § 30-9-20 sits inside subsection A(1), and the exact word "esthetician" finds the occupational licensing rules in Title 16 of the Administrative Code. The index is also current: "psilocybin" finds the 2026 session laws and the health rules in Title 7. A search without the EXACT operator also matches other word forms: in chapter 12, for example, it matches the Spanish words "tan" and "tanta" in the Spanish-language state song and the state poem. City and county rules are outside this page, so check with your local government before you open.

The one statute that names tanning matters to salons. Under § 30-9-20, intentionally viewing, photographing or recording another person's intimate areas without their knowledge and consent while they are in a tanning booth is voyeurism: a misdemeanor, or a fourth degree felony if the person is under 18.

At the front desk

With no state tanning law, what happens at your desk is your own policy. These basics are still worth running:

1. Pick a minimum age and write it down. New Mexico sets none, so the choice, and whether a parent can sign for a younger client, is yours.
2. Take a date of birth for every client before their first UV session, so your age policy can be checked.
3. Have each client sign a warning statement before their first session. No New Mexico law requires one; our tanning consent form guide covers what one usually contains.
4. Follow the exposure schedule and maximum time on each unit's label. Federal rules cover the equipment itself; see our FDA tanning bed rules guide.
5. Keep cameras out of tanning rooms and make sure no one can see or record inside them (§ 30-9-20).
6. Keep your own visit and incident records. No state retention period or injury-report deadline applies.

What changed recently

Nothing. The Legislature's keyword search reads the full text of bills, memorials, resolutions and fiscal impact reports. It finds no legislation containing "tanning" in any session from the 2024 regular session through the 2026 regular session, including the special sessions. The same search over the 2026 regular session finds "psilocybin" inside the General Appropriation Act of 2026, so the index covers the latest session.

Across every session since 1996, it finds six bills. Two from 2001, a tax-credit bill and a bill on unlawful filming, are not about salons. The other four are tanning bills, and all of them died: Senate Bill 513 of 2009, "Tanning Facility Safety Standards"; Senate Bill 430 of 2011, "Ban Tanning Device Use for People Under 18"; and House Bill 212 of 2017 and House Bill 421 of 2019, each titled the "Indoor Tanning Act". House Bill 212 passed the House 38 to 24 in 2017, then was sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee and postponed indefinitely. House Bill 421 got furthest. It passed the House 30 to 26 on March 11, 2019, and the Senate committee it was sent to reported it with a do-pass recommendation on March 14, 2019, but it was then postponed indefinitely.

How TanVision helps

TanVision's minimum age is 18 by default, and a session cannot start without a date of birth on file. If your house policy bars minors from UV beds, set Minors and UV rooms to No at Settings > Tanning rules: check-in then refuses UV rooms to a client under the minimum age even with guardian consent on file, while consent still opens spray and red light rooms. At Yes, the default, consent on file lets a younger client start a session in any room, UV included, with only a warning on screen.

Clients sign your warning statement on their own phone or a tablet with consent forms, and each signed record keeps the signature and the exact wording. A session cannot start without a signed statement on file. Exposure safety refuses any typed time above the room's own maximum, and the gap between UV sessions is yours to set at Settings > Tanning rules; a gap of 0 only warns. Each client record shows recent visits newest first, consent status and notes. TanVision has no waiver expiry or re-sign interval. With a USB 2D barcode scanner, Scan ID reads the barcode on the back of a US or Canadian driver's license or ID card, fills in the client's details and records the day the ID was checked; it does not compare the photo with the person. Compare other states on the tanning laws by state page.