The Santa Fe New Mexican:
The New Mexico Legislature packed its 2024 session with hundreds of measures addressing a wide range of topics, from public safety to affordable housing to cloud seeding.
Most of the bills introduced in the 30-day session failed to clear both the House and Senate, including a high-profile program to cover workers’ wages for up to 12 weeks of leave due to a medical condition or to care for a new baby or a loved one with an illness.
The House voted 36-34 against Senate Bill 3, the Family and Medical Leave Act, less than 24 hours before the session ended. The bill’s sponsors were devastated but noted in a statement “big change takes time.”
Here’s how several other notable measures fared.
What passed
Legislation signed by the governor
House Bill 1: The so-called feed bill appropriates $43 million to cover costs of the legislative session.
House Bill 141: A salary increase for New Mexico Supreme Court justices.
House Bill 171: New high school graduation requirements, removing Algebra 2 and allowing more community preference on two class units.
Legislation that passed both chambers
Money matters
House Bill 2: The spending plan for fiscal year 2025, which is over $10.2 billion.
House Bill 148: A measure authorizing funding for dozens of water projects, including in Santa Fe County.
House Bill 177: A state fund to help draw federal money for infrastructure, water and clean energy projects.
House Bill 195: An expansion of the Opportunity Enterprise Revolving Fund to make loans to finance workforce and affordable housing projects.
House Bill 252: An omnibus tax package expected to cost the state an estimated $217 million in fiscal year 2025.
Senate Bill 272: About $1.4 billion in capital outlay for new projects statewide.
Environment
House Bill 41: A measure establishing clean transportation fuel standards and reducing “carbon intensity” levels of transportation fuels.
Public safety
House Bill 129: A seven-day waiting period to allow for a background check to purchase a firearm.
Senate Bill 5: A ban on carrying a firearm within 100 feet of a polling place.
Senate Bill 96: An increase in the maximum penalty for second-degree murder to 18 years and attempted second-degree murder to nine years.
Senate Bill 271: A measure allowing judges more leeway in deciding to order a repeat felony suspect jailed while awaiting trial.
Education
House Bill 151: A measure requiring policies at colleges and universities to include an “affirmative consent standard” for sexual activity.
Senate Bill 137: A mandate on training hours for school board members that also requires campaign finance reporting for any candidate spending more than $1,000.
Senate Bill 239: Changes to the New Mexico Lottery Scholarship and Opportunity Scholarship giving students more flexibility to schedule classes.
Regulations
Senate Bill 6: Changes to the Cannabis Regulation Act, including providing procedures for background checks and allowing liquor license holders to obtain a cannabis retail license.
Senate Bill 37: The Meat Inspection Act, giving the state Livestock Board authority over the safety and quality of meat and poultry processed in the state.
Health care
Senate Bill 15: The Health Care Consolidation Oversight Act, allowing the insurance superintendent to oversee hospital mergers and acquisitions.
Senate Bill 17: The Health Care Delivery and Access Act, assessing fees on hospitals and creating a fund aimed at leveraging federal Medicaid dollars, largely to aid struggling rural hospitals.
What Failed
Money matters
House Bill 179: An increase in alcohol excise taxes by an average of about 25 cents per serving. The House Taxation and Revenue Committee chose to take no action on the bill.
Environment
House Bill 133: Changes to the Oil and Gas Act regulating well placements, increasing fines and royalty rates and increasing the maximum bonding amounts that drillers pay upfront. A House Judiciary Committee substitute was sent to the House floor, where it stalled.
Senate Bill 24: An increase in the top royalty rate charged for oil and gas development on state lands from 20% to the market rate of 25%. It stalled in the Senate Finance Committee.
Public safety
House Bill 114: Civil penalties on gun manufacturers and dealers for false advertising and failing to secure firearms in their shops. It passed two committees but stalled on the House floor.
House Bill 127: An increase to the age at which a person could purchase and possess automatic and semiautomatic firearms, to 21 from 18. It stalled on the House floor.
House Bill 137: The Gas-Operated Semiautomatic Firearms Exclusion Act, requiring semi-automatic rifles to have permanently fixed magazines of no more than 10 rounds. The House Judiciary Committee moved a substitute bill to the House floor, where it didn’t get a hearing.
Senate Bill 122: A measure that would place the burden of proof on defendants in violent crime cases, requiring them to demonstrate why they should be allowed remain out of jail until their trial. The Senate Health and Public Affairs Committee voted 5-4 to table it.
Senate Bill 145: A measure prohibiting local governments from entering into agreements with federal agencies to hold asylum seekers in immigration detention centers. It failed on a vote in the Senate.
Education
House Bill 71: The Student Loan Bill of Rights, imposing licensing requirements for student loan providers, prohibiting deceptive practices, discharging private loans due to a permanent disability and creating a student loan ombudsman. After passing through two House committees, it didn’t get a hearing on the House floor.
House Bill 134: An appropriation of $100 million for a new Tribal Education Trust Fund. It passed the House on a unanimous vote and cleared the Senate Finance Committee but stalled on the Senate floor.
Ballot measures
Several joint resolutions asking statewide voters in a general election to approve constitutional amendments failed in the session, most because they didn’t get a hearing on the House floor.
House Joint Resolution 1: Calling for all regular sessions to last 45 days.
House Joint Resolution 2: Ending the practice of pocket vetoes, in which legislation dies because a governor takes no action on it.
House Joint Resolution 5: Extending all regular legislative sessions to 60 days.
House Joint Resolution 7: Establishing a commission to compile a report on the feasibility of paying lawmakers a salary.
Senate Joint Resolution 6: Creating a commission to oversee the Children, Youth and Families Department.
Senate Joint Resolution 9: Creating a state school board and removing oversight of the Public Education Department from the governor.
