Roundhouse IT technician Sahnthi Enumula takes advantage of the free vaccinations provided by the state Department of Health during “Public Health Day” at the state Capitol on Wednesday. Photo by Jim Weber/The New Mexican

The Santa Fe New Mexican

Compacts clear the House: House Speaker Javier Martínez said it best: “Compacts — signed, sealed, almost delivered.”

The New Mexico House on Wednesday unanimously passed seven health care worker compacts — agreements that would ease the process for providers from other states to practice in New Mexico — in less than an hour.

“I want to put my name in the record book for the most numbers of bills passed in the least amount of minutes,” said Rep. Liz Thomson, D-Albuquerque, who sponsored five of the compacts. 

The compacts passed by the House pertained to physician assistants, audiologists and speech-language pathologists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, dentists and dental hygienists, social workers and emergency medical services personnel. 

A compact affecting doctors advanced from the Senate last week, and compacts aimed counselors and psychologists are still awaiting House committee approval. 

The seven compacts passed by the House will now head to the Senate side, where they may face more pushback. Some senators have already expressed concern about implementing so many compacts in the final months of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s administration, worrying legislators might be biting off more than regulators could chew.

Groping incident leads to arrest: A McKinley County man was arrested Tuesday at the Capitol after a woman accused him of groping her outside a legislator’s office, according to criminal charges filed Wednesday. 

New Mexico State Police accused 74-year-old Young Jeff Tom of Mariano Lake of grabbing the woman’s breast when he hugged her, according to a probable cause statement filed against him.

Tom faces a misdemeanor count of battery. He was arrested by state police officers and booked into the Santa Fe County jail Tuesday. 

The alleged victim was a woman tasked with escorting Tom to the office of a member of the House of Representatives Tuesday morning. Afterward, the woman was escorting him from the office when he hugged her from the side and “reached up and grabbed her right breast,” the woman alleged to police, according to the statement. The woman told police she immediately pushed his hand away and walked off and reported the incident to human resources.

Investigators wrote they reviewed security camera footage from the encounter and observed the sexual assault as it had been described by the woman. Afterwards, Tom was arrested by officers near the mailroom in the Capitol. 

Pour choices: An Albuquerque Democrat took another shot Wednesday at a proposal to bar fellow senators from drinking alcohol before or during floor sessions and committee hearings.

“This [proposed] rule came about [as a result] of things that I’ve witnessed that I feel have been unprofessional while we’ve been in the Senate,” Sen. Harold Pope told the Senate Rules Committee of Senate Resolution 1.

“I’ve just always had the adage that you see something that needs to be changed, you know, step up, try to see what you can do to change that,” he said.

While committee members expressed support for such a prohibition, they raised concerns about enforceability and tabled the resolution, which seeks to establish a new rule in the chamber regarding the consumption of alcohol.

“I don’t think any of us want to be in a Legislature where everyone’s being breathalyzed, walking into committee and on the floor,” said Sen. Katy Duhigg, D-Albuquerque, the committee chair.

Committee members suggested the caucuses deal with the issue internally rather than adopting a new policy.

Lawmakers also acknowledged drinking on the job has been a problem in the Legislature.

“Our first term, senator, we saw frequent and shameful, frankly, examples of people who are not here any longer being trashed on the floor and in committee,” Duhigg told Pope. “It’s totally inappropriate. That is not the institution that I think any of us wants to serve in or that New Mexicans deserve, so I understand why you’re bringing this.”

Duhigg, however, said she hasn’t seen the bad behavior this year or last.

“I hope that continues,” she said.

Public school funding: The state Senate fast tracked a bill Wednesday to extend by a month the deadline for setting the so-called unit value for public school funding.

“The reason we’re doing this is it has to be signed by the governor on Friday,” Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, told his colleagues. “We need to make sure we get that bill over to the House while they’re still in session, so they can refer it and get it to committee.”

Senate Bill 19, which passed 36-1, stems from an overpayment to Gallup-McKinley County Schools involving 3,000 online students it stopped educating last year.

“This was caused because of one school district, and it’s a school district I represent, and that’s the flat-out truth,” Sen. George Muñoz, D-Gallup, said on the floor.

“I’ll tell you,” he added, “I was so pissed off in committee one day because they wouldn’t do what’s morally right, and that’s to give the money back.”

Codifying special ed office: Senate Bill 64, which would create an Office of Special Education at the state level, cleared the Senate Education Committee in a unanimous vote Wednesday morning. 

The bill would codify the addition of the office, which was established as a result of an executive order by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in 2023, to the state Public Education Department. A new amendment would include a definition for “gifted” students in the statute, along with some other changes. 

A slew of education advocates, teachers and current and former special education students spoke in support of the bill, while a few called for changes, including a lobbyist who represents the New Mexico School Superintendents Association. 

Many noted the creation of the office was called for in a 2018 ruling on the landmark Yazzie/Martinez lawsuit, which found the state was failing to provide adequate education to several groups of students, including those in special education. Some educators called for the state’s school superintendents to be given “a seat at the table” for decisions on special education policy. 

Dr. Gerry Washburn, superintendent of Carlsbad Municipal School District, told legislators he supported SB 64, saying the problems facing special education are going to need “an office focused on addressing those issues.” Washburn said the state’s schools are experiencing a “significant crisis in special education,” pointing to an increase in needs among students amid struggles with staffing. 

“In my district, we are at the point where we’re filling special education positions with online teachers simply because we cannot recruit people,” Washburn said. 

Quote of the day: “I understand that when we have long afternoon breaks, there have been instances of people going off to have meals at the restaurant next door and drinking with their meals and coming back in a lighter mood for the floor.” — Sen. Liz Stefanics, D-Cerrillos, during discussion of a proposal to prohibit senators from drinking alcohol on the job.