HB 137 Sponsor Rep. Susan Herrera, D-Embudo

The Santa Fe New Mexican Staff:

Water’s for agreeing: The formerly controversial Strategic Water Supply Act may be controversial no longer.

House Bill 137 sailed through the House of Representatives on a 57-4 vote Friday, with four Democrats opposed. The bill was amended last month to remove the most controversial provision allowing the treatment of fracking wastewater, leaving only provisions dealing with treating brackish water for other uses.

“By developing New Mexico’s brackish water resources, we’re charting a new course that balances economic opportunity with responsible stewardship of our freshwater supplies,” Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a statement after the vote. 

“There is no snow on the mountains”, noted sponsor Rep. Susan Herrera, D-Embudo, in an opening statement focused on New Mexico’s need for water. Her own well, she said, dried up a few years ago and had to be redrilled.

“Across New Mexico, especially in rural communities like mine, we understand that water is our most precious resource,” she said in a statement.

Rebecca Roose, a lead advisor on the strategic water supply, said Cuba, N.M. and Alamogordo are among the areas that have been identified as potential sites for brackish water projects, since they have both the water resources as well as local interest. Roose said brackish water treatment plants could create an economic ripple effect, creating jobs not only at treatment plants but at industries supported by the water source.

Brackish water is too salty to drink. But after treatment, Roose said, it can be used in manufacturing and renewable energy. In some states, brackish water has even been treated to potable water standards, Roose said.

Roose said she’s happy with how the bill has developed throughout the session and feels positive as it heads to the Senate.

Clarifying hazardous waste duties: The House on Thursday unanimously advanced House Bill 140, which would clarify the state’s authority to take corrective action with the U.S. Department of Defense to address perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS.

The toxic synthetic compounds are found in high concentrations near current and former military sites, with widespread use of firefighting foam containing PFAS. In some cases, PFAS have seeped into groundwater, causing harm to people, farmers and ranchers.

“We owe it to the communities affected by this hazardous waste to do all we can to remedy these harms,” Rep. Christine Chandler, D-Los Alamos, said in a statement.

Time off for firefighters: A freshman San Miguel County lawmaker’s bill to give volunteer firefighters time off work for training and responding to calls passed the House Friday.

Sponsored by Rep. Anita Gonzales, D-Las Vegas, House Bill 405 would require employers to provide employees who are volunteer firefighters up to 112 hours off per year per training and up to 112 hours off per year for calls. An employer would not required to pay the employee for the time.

Gonzales, whose district was devastated by the 2022 Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire, said the number of volunteer firefighters is plummeting and “there is concern about people who have to choose between job and service.” She said that while employers in rural communities might understand the importance of volunteer firefighters, “a Santa Fe employer might not understand that same value” and let a Pecos volunteer firefighter who works for them leave to answer a call.

“This legislation is aimed at just helping give them those basic job protections, similar to jury duty, similar to military service,” Gonzales said.

“I understand that, but I also understand business, and I understand that employees are few and far between right now,” replied House Minority Leader Gail Armstrong, R-Magdalena.

Republicans debated at length against the bill, saying they support firefighters but didn’t want to put more mandates on businesses. Armstrong proposed instead working on legislation to create paid fire departments in rural New Mexico.

“I think there’s a better way to do this without putting the heavy lift on employers and creating more animosity, in my opinion, across the state,” Armstrong said.

The bill passed on a 41-22 party-line vote and now heads to the Senate.

Governor backs CYFD reform package: Lujan Grisham threw her support Friday behind a bipartisan package of bills to reform the state’s troubled Children, Youth and Families Department.

The package, known as Senate Bill 42, would make several changes, including:

• Transferring management of the state law implementing the federal Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, which addresses treatment for children born with drugs in their system, from CYFD to the state Department of Health.
• Setting guidelines around what information must be made public when children die or nearly die amid abuse and neglect investigations or other proceedings.
• Establishing crimes for assault and battery of child welfare workers.

“This bipartisan omnibus package will help protect our most vulnerable children, as well as those who have dedicated their careers to keeping them safe,” Lujan Grisham said in a news release. “… I urge the New Mexico Legislature to approve this critically important CYFD reform legislation and send it to my desk as soon as possible.”

Legislative leaders have said they want to make CYFD reform a focus of the second half of the 60-day session. The package the governor announced Friday did not include some measures that have been proposed this year to bolster the oversight of CYFD.

The Senate Judiciary Committee was debating the bill Friday evening.

Money for teachers: The House voted overwhelmingly Friday afternoon to give New Mexico teachers raises.

House Bill 156 would boost each tier by $5,000, said sponsor Rep. Joy Garratt, D-Albuquerque, raising pay to $55,000 a year for Level 1 teachers, $65,000 a year for Level 2 and $75,000 a year for Level 3.

“The people we trust to shape New Mexico’s children deserve to be fairly compensated for their essential work,” Garratt said in a statement after the vote.

It passed 62-1, with Rep. John Block, R-Alamogordo, casting the only “no” vote. It now heads to the Senate.

Quotes of the day: “I don’t spit in the wind. I don’t tug on Superman’s cape. And when I bring a water bill to the floor of the House, I don’t mess around with Jack.” —Rep. Susan Herrera, D-Embudo, agreeing to an amendment to the Strategic Water Supply Act, proposed by Rep. Jack Chatfield, R-Mosquero.

“It may not look like it but I had a killer mullet in my day,” —Rep. Alan Martinez, R-Bernalillo, during a discussion of a bill that would require parental consent for minors to receive gender-affirming or reproductive health care.