Legislative Roundup
The Santa Fe New Mexican
Gun bill goes to floor: A bill named after a 13-year-old Albuquerque boy who was shot and killed in a public school is on its way to the House floor.
The House Judiciary Committee voted 7-4 to approve House Bill 9, the Bennie Hargrove Gun Safety Act, which would hold gun owners liable if a child gained access to their weapon. Under the bill, a gun owner also could be charged with a misdemeanor if a child used the firearm to commit a crime.
The fine for unsafe storage of a gun would be $1,000. If a gun owner were found guilty of allowing a child access to a gun used in a crime, they would face up to a year in jail.
License to work: People from other states with occupational licenses in a range of fields such as nursing, massage therapy and counseling often have to wait months to get licensed in New Mexico. House Bill 191 would change that by requiring state boards and agencies to approve a license request within 30 days if the worker’s out-of-state license is in good standing and the worker does not have any record of disciplinary action.
Members of the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee unanimously voted to move the bill forward during a hearing Friday.
Sponsor Doreen Gallegos, D-Las Cruces, said the bill, if signed into law, “will make getting a license more efficient” and remove barriers for out-of-state workers to “do business in New Mexico”.
Honoring Native Americans: Members of the House of Representatives celebrated American Indian Day in the state Capitol on Friday with an array of speakers. Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez praised his tribe’s success in attaining a 73 percent vaccination rate against COVID-19 and said the youth of his nation are facing “modern-day monsters” in the form of suicide, depression and substance abuse.
He asked House members to support a Senate-sponsored voting rights act making its way through this year’s 30-day legislative session. Tribal elders sometimes must drive hundreds of miles to a polling place and often contend with language barriers because they do not speak English, he said, adding, “They do it because they value the right to vote”.
House OKs land grant bill: The House of Representatives voted 62-7 to approve a bill that would distribute 0.05 percent of state gross receipts tax revenue to eligible land grants.
House Bill 8 would generate about $1.5 million to land grants, which often operate on a yearly budget of a “couple thousand dollars”, according to the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Matthew McQueen, D-Galisteo. He said there are about two dozen land grants that would be eligible for the funds. Each one could get between $50,000 and $60,000, he said.
The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.
Quotes of the day: “Because of staff shortages, the governor of New Mexico had to fill in as a substitute teacher at an elementary school. Yeah, it’s pretty effective when the teacher says, ‘Behave or I’m raising your parents’ property taxes.’” —host Jimmy Fallon on NBC’s The Tonight Show.
“I normally get not-so-nice things said about my mustache.” —Matt Pahl, executive director of Public Charter Schools of New Mexico, after a lawmaker on the House Education Committee complimented his mustache as he testified on a bill.
