Bayleigh Garcia, center, writes in her notepad while seated in the House gallery at the state Capitol with her group from Santo Domingo Pueblo Tuesday, March 11, 2025. The group spent the morning visiting lawmakers and touring the Roundhouse. Photo by Matt Dahlseid/The New Mexican
The Santa Fe New Mexican:
Popcorn and a beer: Cheers to independent theaters.
The Senate gave two thumbs up Tuesday to a proposal to create a special independent theater dispensing license that would allow independent theaters to serve beer and wine to customers during movie screenings or other events.
Alcohol consumption would be limited.
Theaters could serve no more two 6-ounce servings of wine or two 12-ounce servings of beer per customer “for the purpose of exhibiting movies or hosting live productions and events,” said Sen. Leo Jaramillo, D-Española, sponsor of Senate Bill 159.
A business must be owned and operated by a New Mexico resident or a registered business in the state to qualify as an independent theater. It also has to have been operating for at least a year, which Jaramillo said “showed stability with the theater … and ready for this license.”
Jaramillo said after the vote he’s hopeful SB 159 will help independent theaters attract customers and combat attendance declines.
Lowering health insurance premiums: A bill designed to lower health insurance premiums for a large number of state employees cleared the Senate on a 36-2 vote Tuesday.
Senate Bill 376 would put the employer contribution of the state or any of its executive, judicial or legislative departments at 80% with employees picking up the remaining 20%.
“It replaces the outdated salary brackets with that 80/20 split,” said Sen. Liz Stefanics, D-Cerrillos, who co-sponsored the measure with Sen. George Muñoz, D-Gallup.
Two Democrats — Senate President Pro Tempore Mimi Stewart of Albuquerque and Sen. Bill Soules of Las Cruces, both retired educators — cast the dissenting votes.
Stewart called SB 376, which doesn’t cover public school employees, unfair.
“It’s just really kind of outrageous to start supposedly fixing our health care system on the backs of the lowest-paid people in this state,” she said.
Stewart said efforts to offer educators the 80/20 match, especially for lower paid employees in the education system, have yet to materialize.
“In the southern part of the state, they go into Mexico to get their health care because they can’t afford the premiums,” she said.
Stefanics said a bill “to provide support for the educators” will be introduced in the next legislative session.
“The unions, including educator unions, supported this bill based upon that promise,” she said.
Stewart, however, expressed skepticism about such a promise.
Surface water protections advance: An overhaul of New Mexico’s water regulation system is flowing toward the finish line.
After securing approval from the House Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee Tuesday in a 5-4, party-line vote, the proposal will head to the House floor next for final passage.
Senate Bill 21, sponsored by Sens. Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, and Bobby Gonzales, D-Ranchos de Taos, as well as Rep. Kristina Ortez, D-Taos, would allow the state to take over administration of permits for the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
In essence, the bill would mirror federal protections that were in place for decades until a 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision disrupted protections for waters that don’t flow year-round — which make up about 95% of New Mexico’s waters, Wirth told the committee on Tuesday.
“All of our waters in New Mexico are critical to protect. … What this bill’s trying to do, again, is to have New Mexico take over. Why should we have Texans in Dallas doing our water?” Wirth said, referring to the EPA’s Dallas office.
The proposal secured support from Laguna, Pojoaque and Tesuque pueblos, with representatives from the pueblos noting it would uphold both state and tribal water standards.
“On the Pueblo of Laguna, water is life,” Laguna Pueblo lobbyist J.D. Bullington told the committee. “And the surface waters of the pueblo … have been providing life and sustainability to the people of Laguna for hundreds and hundreds of years.”
However, SB 21 faced opposition from the committee’s four Republicans, who expressed concerns over its rulemaking requirements. Under the bill, the state’s Water Quality Control Commission would be empowered to adopt rules to implement the discharge program, a process that could last until 2027 or 2028.
Rep. Rod Montoya, R-Farmington, said he was “very concerned” about that, arguing rulemaking could result in an unequal balance of perspectives.
“Those who are regulated sometimes don’t have the same seat at the table that people who want entities to be regulated have. I think it’s been very disproportionate in the past,” Montoya said.
Increasing statute of limitations in childhood sexual abuse suits: The House on Tuesday unanimously passed House Bill 73, which would increase the statute of limitations for a plaintiff to bring a civil action as a result of childhood sexual abuse.
Under New Mexico’s current law, plaintiffs must file litigation before their 24th birthday or within three years of disclosing the abuse to a medical or mental health care provider.
HB 73 would increase that statute of limitations to the plaintiff’s 58th birthday, since the average age of reporting childhood abuse is 52, sponsor Rep. Marianna Anaya, D-Albuquerque, said on the House floor.
“This bill would remove this arbitrary deadline for civil claims, giving survivors the time and space they need,” said co-sponsor Rep. Nicole Chavez, R-Albuquerque.
Rep. Andrea Reeb, R-Clovis, proposed an amendment to prohibit attorneys from contracting with plaintiffs on a contingency fee in such cases. It was ultimately voted down after concerns the change would limit justice to those who can afford to pay an attorney up front.
“I want to see every dollar going into the pocket of the victim,” Reeb said.
Quote of the day: “I see mouths agape on this floor. … When an individual gets away with 24 and a half years and a grand jury indictment and then months later commits a horrific murder over something so inconsequential as some shoes and a jersey, we should recognize the fact that we’re letting people go, and no amount of new sentencing or new crimes and more years is going to change that.” — Sen.Joe Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, sharing the story of a man who allegedly killed another man in Albuquerque after his sentence for armed robbery and other charges from a previous arrest was suspended.