Legislative Roundup
SFNM News:

Jennings considers comeback: Tim Jennings, once president pro tem of the state Senate, floated a trial balloon Wednesday. He said he might run for his old Senate seat, which he lost in the 2012 election.

Jennings, R-Roswell, would have to decide in March whether he wants a rematch with the man who defeated him, Sen. Cliff Pirtle.

Pirtle, R-Roswell, represents District 32, covering parts of Chaves, Eddy and Otero counties.

In an interview at the Capitol, Jennings said he also has thought of running for mayor of Roswell. But that office does not open for nearly two years.

Gone but not forgotten: The 2020 legislative session was the first in two decades that former New Mexican reporter Steve Terrell did not cover in some way. He retired in November, but his spirit lingers in the media room, thanks to the colorful and curious array of paraphernalia he left behind:

• A pink artificial Christmas tree.

• A touch-tone telephone that no longer works.

• A small Funai television set, circa 1995. 

• Assorted banners, pins, buttons, posters and stickers. One reads, “Yo Quiero El Farol”.

• File cabinets full of manila folders with such topics as “Cocaine Bust”, “Wagon Mound Schools” and “Cargo” (as in the late David Cargo, former governor of New Mexico. One story in that folder had to do with Cargo’s involvement with a missing piano).

• File cabinets stuffed with old reporter notebooks, some featuring handwriting that looks like something you’d find in a ransom note. 

• And finally, a few newspaper headlines Terrell liked to cut out and tape to the wall, like the one that reads: “Dead Man Was Involved In Fight”.

Free meals, sort of: The Senate unanimously passed a bill Wednesday night that would cover meal costs for low-income public school students in New Mexico who qualify for reduced-price meals through a federal program. While the legislation originally called for $650,000 to eliminate the mandatory copay, that appropriation was stripped out in committee, leaving the state Public Education Department or school districts to foot the bill.

Sen. Bill Sharer, D-Farmington, said on the floor that he believed meals shouldn’t be completely free. “Even if we were just going to make it a penny, it would be better than nothing,” Sharer said. Because people do not appreciate free. Free is absolutely taken for granted.”

Health exchange overhaul: A bill that would overhaul New Mexico’s online health insurance exchange, with a goal of ensuring more affordable coverage, received final legislative approval late Tuesday in the Senate on a vote of 28-14.

The measure now goes to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who issued a statement in support of it. “Access to high-quality and affordable health care is a non-negotiable priority of my administration,” the governor said.

 House Bill 100 will give more authority to the board that oversees the exchange, called beWellnm, as the state works to roll out its own online platform for the network. Currently, more than 40,000 New Mexicans who use the exchange to purchase individual insurance plans are routed through a federal portal.

Diplomas for veterans: The House Education Committee on Wednesday approved Senate Bill 99, which would award high school diplomas to Vietnam veterans who left high school before graduation to go fight in the conflict.

One woman in the audience told the committee that many members of the Navajo Nation in New Mexico were gathered in a high school gym one day and told it was time for them to leave school and sign up for the war.

“They did not get their diplomas,” she said.

The Senate already approved the proposal 39-0, but whether the bill can move quickly to approval by the House before the session ends at noon Thursday was unclear.

Tough on gun crimes: Stiffer penalties for crimes involving guns are one step closer to becoming law in New Mexico after the Senate gave its approval Wednesday.

Although many senators argued against the legislation, saying tougher penalties don’t deter crime, they ultimately voted 42-0 to increase a sentencing enhancement for crimes involving the use of a firearm.

Under the measure, which now heads to the governor, a judge would be able to add three years to the prison sentence of a person who brandished a gun during a crime, up from one year under current law. The sentencing enhancement would increase to five years from three years for subsequent crimes.

The bill, introduced by Bill Rehm, R-Albuquerque, previously was part of a bipartisan House package aimed at cracking down on violence and increasing protections for police officers. But some of the provisions were removed in the Senate.

Mariachi Sapien: A mariachi trio played “Mariachi Loco” and “El Rey” on the Senate floor Wednesday morning as senators celebrated the coming retirement of Sen. John Sapien, D-Corrales.

“From the day he came into this body, he’s been a good friend of mine,” Sen. Bill Payne, R-Albuquerque said on the floor after the music ended. “He’s like the old style of Democrats and Republicans we had in this state where everyone knew everyone. He’s the epitome of a class act.”

Tobacco act sent to governor: A bill to raise the age of tobacco use in New Mexico to 21 and set up a comprehensive licensing system for e-cigarette products was sent to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s desk after a 40-28 House vote Tuesday.

In a statement Wednesday, the governor said the “common sense bill” will bring New Mexico in line with new federal law and help deter kids from getting hooked young on nicotine products through vaping.

Early ed funding plan dies:  A plan to tap a multibillion-dollar endowment to boost early childhood education programs died once again in the Senate Finance Committee. Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, who chairs the committee and has been credited with killing the legislation in past years because he opposes more withdrawals from the fund, said time just ran out to hear the measure at the committee’s final session Wednesday night.

House Joint Resolution 1 would have let voters decide whether the state can withdraw more money from a nearly $20 billion investment fund.

When asked if it would be heard before the session ends at noon Thursday, Smith said, “We’re taking priority bills right now.”

Capital outlay advances: A bill to fund more than $500 million in infrastructure projects across the state cleared the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday night after the House approved the legislation a day earlier.

The committee also approved Senate Bill 341, which supporters say would provide more flexibility with the state’s rainy day fund, allowing lawmakers to transfer money from the state Tax Stabilization Reserve Fund into its operating reserve if the reserve drops below 1 percent of total state appropriations.

Quotes of the day: “I’d throw out my own cousin.” — A House aide, explaining why he threw out his cousin from the House floor Wednesday. Legislative guidelines mandates that all visitors get off the floor when roll call takes place.

“Through Word Perfect, I think,” — Sen. John Arthur Smith, responding on the Senate floor when Sen. Bill Sharer asked how the Opportunity Scholarship got into the budget.