Santa Fe New Mexican staff:
Strategic Water Supply flows on through: After years of discussion and more than an hour of debate on Friday, the Senate approved the Strategic Water Supply Act — which allows for the treatment and reuse of brackish water — in a 33-6 vote.
House Bill 137 will now go to the governor’s desk.
In its final form, HB 137 would allow the state to enter $40 million in contracts to research and develop brackish water projects and reduce the state’s reliance on fresh water.
The bill was amended in February to remove its most controversial provision, which would have allowed the treatment of fracking wastewater.
Though it no longer includes its most controversial provision, the proposal nonetheless garnered some criticism on Friday. A handful of senators argued the bill violates the anti-donation clause because it provides no meaningful consideration to state government. Others simply let their disagreement be known.
“This is not strategic and this is not a plan, when we’re throwing darts at the wall to see what sticks,” said Sen. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces.
GATO gives up the ghost: A highly publicized proposal to create the equivalent of the federal Department of Government Efficiency in state government met an untimely death on the penultimate day of the session.
Senate Bill 484, sponsored by Sen. Jay Block, R-Rio Rancho, finally got a hearing Friday in the Senate Rules Committee, which tabled the measure 6-2.
At this point in the session, the bill was essentially dead on arrival.
“I am disappointed that Democrats, who claim to champion transparency, delayed consideration of this bill until the 11th hour and ultimately voted to kill it,” Block said in a statement. “I am committed to my constituents and the good people of New Mexico to continue these efforts in order to restore trust, accountability, and proper stewardship at the state level of government.”
Block tweeted after the vote he wasn’t giving up on his proposed Government Accountability to Taxpayer Office, or GATO.
“After being limited to only 30 minutes of debate by the chair of the rules committee, GATO was tabled,” he wrote. “Seeing the writing on the wall, I also voted to table the bill.”
‘Homicide scholarship’ makes FOX News: The Senate early Friday shot down a bill designed to clamp down on juvenile offenders.
But not before it was featured on FOX News.
“New Mexico Democrats voted to hand offenders like my son’s killer $2,000 a month — some twisted reward for shattering my family,” Rep. Nicole Chavez, an Albuquerque Republican whose son was killed in a drive-by shooting, told the conservative news outlet.
House Bill 255 was designed to give judges more flexibility when it comes to addressing juvenile crime, to include adding voluntary manslaughter to the list of crimes for which teenagers may be subject to stiffer penalties.
The House Judiciary Committee amended the measure to include a monthly stipend for youth who aged out of foster care and formerly incarcerated youth under a three-year pilot program, prompting Republicans to brand it the “homicide scholarship”.
Although the Senate Judiciary Committee stripped the proposed stipend from the bill, the measure failed to pass the Senate 13-24.
Oil royalty rate hike awaits the pen: Senate Bill 23, which increases the oil and gas royalty rate on premium state lands from 20% to 25%, passed the House in a late night, 37-31 vote Thursday.
Though opponents have long framed the proposal as unfriendly to oil and gas producers, sponsor Rep. Matthew McQueen, D-Galisteo, during House floor debate argued the change as the state seeking a fair deal for its prime oil and gas tracts.
“New Mexico is home to some of the most sought-after natural resources in the world, yet we’re currently charging well below even the standard market rates,” McQueen said in a statement.
State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard heralded the decision as a “historic” choice. She stopped leasing the state’s prime oil and gas tracts last year after lawmakers failed to pass an increase in royalty rates.
“Now that this bill has cleared both chambers of the Legislature, we are just one step removed from a billion dollars in new money for our public schools, universities and hospitals,” Garcia Richard said.
Search and rescue updates clear chambers: A proposal to speed up dispatching for search and rescue personnel is heading to the governor’s desk, after the Senate voted to concur with minor technical changes made in the House.
Senate Bill 353, sponsored by Sens. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces, and Shannon Pinto, D-Tohatchi, based on requests from state search and rescue officials, would create standardized criteria to “promptly notify” search and rescue personnel in emergency scenarios.
Quotes of the day: ”Where do I file an ethics complaint this late in the session?” —Rep. Derrick Lente, D-Sandia Pueblo, after Rep. Miguel Garcia, D-Albuquerque, said he noticed a lot of Indigenous people in the House chamber and offered what he called a Native American joke: “Why do all Indians go to heaven? Because they have reservations.”
“Thank you for getting a mayor off my butt.”
“Which mayor would that be? … Does his name rhyme with Lennings?”
“I think I could come up with a lot of rhymes, Mr. Speaker, for his name, none of which would be appropriate on this floor.” —Rep. Mark Murphy, R-Roswell, and House Speaker Javier Martínez, D-Albuquerque, joking after the 62-0 House vote to pass Senate Bill 383, which would let municipalities like Roswell that have suffered damage from flooding levy a gross receipts tax to help fund rebuilding. The mayor of Roswell is Tim Jennings.