A fresh dusting of snow covers the statues in front of the Roundhouse in Santa Fe Feb. 2, 2022. Photo by Jim Weber/The Santa Fe New Mexican
Sen. Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, presents the substitute bill for Senate Bill 8 at the Senate Rules Committee Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2022. Photo by Luis Sánchez Saturno/The Santa Fe New Mexican
Legislative Roundup
The Santa Fe New Mexican
Vote delayed: Senators delayed action on a bipartisan elections bill that would require training for challengers, watchers and observers and create a program to clean the state’s voter rolls, among other things.
The request for a delay came after the lead sponsor, Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto, D-Albuquerque, said a number of issues surfaced with Senate Bill 6 that would be addressed when the legislation goes to the House.
“I would just respectfully ask the sponsor to hold this one day and bring it to us with the amendments as he normally, regularly does on a number of other pieces of legislation and we get this right before it gets out of this chamber,” said Sen. Michael Padilla, D-Albuquerque. “If we want to get it right, why wouldn’t the Senate who introduced the bill be the body that fixes it?”
Sen. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, said he shared Padilla’s concerns.
“We should not set the precedent here of passing legislation where we’re promising to get it fixed in the House,” Cervantes said. “I understand there’s time that we need to do things out of order and with a rush at the end of a session, but we have that time here.”
Indigenous family protections: Members of the House Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee voted 5-0 to approve a bill that would add protections for Native American children to the state Children’s Code.
House Bill 135 would address concerns about the number of Indigenous children who are placed in custody outside their families or tribes.
According to the bill’s fiscal impact report, removing children from their tribe can result in “a disconnect from their extended families, their tribal communities and their cultural identity.”
The bill next goes to the House Judiciary Committee for consideration.
Clean fuel: A bill that would create a statewide clean fuel standard in New Mexico is headed to the full Senate after clearing its second committee.
The Senate Finance Committee endorsed a substitute of Senate Bill 8, sponsored by Senate President Pro Tem Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, on a 6-4 vote.
Larry Behrens, a spokesman for the Western states chapter of Power the Future, a nonprofit fossil fuel advocacy group, dubbed the governor-backed measure a “green tax on fuel”.
“The governor’s proposal amounts to nothing more than a backdoor tax increase forced on New Mexico’s families,” Behrens, who previously worked for former Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, said in a statement.
“With inflation at a 40-year high and gas prices still soaring, now is the worst time to be sticking working-class families with yet another cost increase to advance a political agenda,” he added. “It’s long past time the governor put our families before her environmental campaign donors.”
Supreme victory: The House Judiciary Committee voted 10-1 to approve a measure that would give state judges a 10 percent raise on top of a planned 7 percent pay raise for all state employees. House Bill 151 was initially intended to raise the pay of judges serving on the state Supreme Court, but a substitute bill made it applicable to all judges.
New Mexico Chief Justice Michael Vigil, among the advocates, has been lobbying the Legislature to increase pay as a way to recruit new judges. He said lawyers who would make good state judges often don’t pursue that path because they can earn more with their private attorney practices.
The 2021 Judicial Compensation Commission says the salary of New Mexico Supreme Court justices, as of July 2021, was $153,394, ranking them 48th in the nation in pay. The bill’s fiscal impact report says the pay jump will cost $2.6 million per year.
Teacher raise advances: Members of the Senate Finance Committee unanimously approved a bill to raise the starting salaries of public school teachers in the state’s three-tiered licensure system Wednesday.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and several leading Democratic lawmakers have been pushing for raises to help retain and recruit teachers. “If we do not pay attention to paying them more, we’re not going to get them,” Stewart, the bill’s main sponsor, told committee members.
The new pay rate minimums for those teachers would increase by $10,000 to $50,000, $60,000 and $70,000. Senate Bill 1 next goes to the Senate floor for discussion and a vote by the entire body. If the Senate approves it, it will work its way over to the House of Representatives for consideration.
Quotes of the day:
“Well, it’s Groundhog Day again. And how do we know it’s Groundhog Day? Because we’re doing another secretary of education confirmation.” —Sen. Cliff Pirtle, R-Roswell, referring to the confirmation of the third public education Cabinet secretary under the administration of Lujan Grisham.
“Most importantly, Mr. Speaker, you will not be leaving fingerprints.” —Rep. Candy Spence Ezzell, R-Roswell, speaking of a gift the New Mexico Cattle Growers Association left on House members’ desks Wednesday —gloves.