The New Mexican Staff:
“Turquoise Alert” bill passes Senate: The Senate voted unanimously Saturday to set up a “Turquoise Alert” system, modeled on existing systems such as Amber and Silver alerts for missing children and elderly people respectively, to send out alerts about missing Native Americans.
Sponsor Sen. Angel Charley, D-Acoma, called the system “[not] merely a procedural enhancement but a moral imperative,” noting the high rates at which Native American people go missing.
“This crisis has left families and communities in anguish, often feeling … unsupported,” she said.
Charley said the issue is personal for her, noting her work with the Coalition To Stop Violence Against Native Women.
“This is a full-circle moment for me to have the honor to bring this forward on behalf of families who are in pain,” Charley said.
Kid-friendly vanity plates: Clean up the language on your license plates, folks.
A measure ensuring New Mexicans keep it clean on personalized license plates — meaning no vulgar, derogatory, drug-promoting or violence-encouraging language — passed the state Senate 24-13 on Friday.
Lawmakers did have some pause about being such sticklers.
“I’m a little conflicted about bringing this because it’s really going to reduce my level of amusement at seeing some of these plates,” said Sen. Katy Duhigg, D-Albuquerque, the sponsor of Senate Bill 128.
The state Taxation and Revenue Department already has a policy in place to reject unsightly license plates, but SB 128 would codify it into state statute, Duhigg said.
Sen. Larry Scott, R-Hobbs, expressed some concern that restricting what people can put on their vanity plates would run afoul of the First Amendment. Duhigg, however, said she didn’t think challenges on such grounds would be successful.
“There’s no question you can have whatever obscene, vulgar, offensive bumper sticker you want on your car,” she said. “I don’t think you can compel the state to create vulgarity for you as part of our licensing scheme.”
Solidarity for Ukraine in the House: Rep. Andrea Romero, D-Santa Fe, spoke on the House Floor on Saturday to express solidarity with the “freedom fighters” of Ukraine.
“President Zelenskyy visited the White House yesterday, and we are in a sort of unknown place at this moment as to where we may end up,” she said. “I just feel that it’s extremely important to continue our solidarity with that country that has been at the front lines of fighting this war for … democracy and justice. … And we just condemn Russian aggression and stand with them.”
Committee approves CYFD oversight bill: A bill to create an independent agency to oversee the state’s Children, Youth, and Families Division was voted unanimously out of the House Judiciary Committee Saturday morning.
House Bill 5 aims to change the current process whereby the CYFD Office of Constituent Affairs is charged with overseeing allegations of employee misconduct and looking into parents’ grievances. The Office of the Child Advocate, as it would be called, would be administratively under the state Department of Justice.
The independent agency would be responsible for monitoring CYFD services, overseeing impacts of policies related to child and family welfare and working with parents and other stakeholders to improve those services and provide recommendations to the Public Education Department. The head of the office would be recommended to the governor and attorney general by a nine-member selection committee.
CYFD Cabinet Secretary Teresa Casados was the one person to speak in opposition to the proposed bill. She said the department “welcomes accountability, oversight, and partnership” but said linking the proposed agency to the Attorney General’s Office would create a conflict of interest.
CFYD work phones: A bill to require all CYFD employees to conduct official business exclusively on state-issued devices also passed unanimously out of House Judiciary on Saturday.
Sara Crecca, expert witness for the bill and attorney for several children who have died or been injured while receiving CFYD services, said the proposal was critical for proper information storing of sensitive data.
As it stands, Crecca said, CFYD employees rely on their personal devices for work-related communication and when employees resign or are terminated, work phones are wiped without data backup, both practices resulting in the withholding of “critical information.”
“As far as transparency, there is none in CYFD,” said Stella Duran, a resource parent in support of the bill. “I have given so many documents that should be private. And they don’t receive them, or I have to walk them literally in to the office.”
Rep. William Hall, R-Aztec, asked how the bill would affect Inspection of Public Records Act requests. Since sensitive and photos aren’t publicly available, they wouldn’t be accessible under IPRA, Crecca responded, but communication between a supervisor and investigator would be discoverable in litigation.
Quote of the day: “I yield to the longtime chair of the redheaded caucus.” Sen. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces, to fellow redhead Sen. Candy Spence Ezzell, R-Roswell.