Maria Bagwell, with La Clinica de Familia, Inc. and a member of the Las Cruces Suicide Prevention Task Force, uses watercolors to paint an abstract design at the Las Cruces Suicide Prevention Task Force booth for Suicide Awareness Day at the state Capitol Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. Bagwell believes in using art to get people to open up and start having more difficult conversations. Photo by Gabriela Campos/The New Mexican
The Santa Fe New Mexican:
Personnel matter sparks debate: The dismissal Tuesday of an analyst for Republicans on the Senate Conservation Committee prompted state Sen. Larry Scott, R-Hobbs, to make a plea on the Senate floor Wednesday afternoon to bring her back.
“This firing occurred because of an inadvertent social media editorial that was posted with identifying characteristics of this person that should not have been in the post,” Scott said.
“There was no option to apologize,” he said. “There was no option to explain. There was no opportunity to do anything but gather up a key and desk accessories and leave the building.”
He called the firing of a person he described as a valuable employee “a miscarriage of justice.”
“I respectfully request that this decision be reconsidered,” Scott said, “because we need all the help we can get as minority members of the chamber.”
Republican Sen. Bill Sharer of Farmington called it a “gut punch to lose a qualified analyst.”
Senate President Pro Tempore Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, was sympathetic: “Last year, the Democratic side lost an analyst in exactly the same way … for the same thing. It happens to both of us,” she said.
However, Stewart said, “Our training of people who work is very clear about what they can and cannot do.”
She added, “It’s not a partisan issue.”
Fewer kids, bigger budget at CYFD: Although funding for the Protective Services Division of the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department grew by $100 million over the past roughly 10 years, the agency has struggled to capitalize on dollars appropriated to it, according to a presentation to the House Appropriations and Finance Committee on Wednesday.
The agency overall has seen millions of dollars in reversions of unspent money over the last several years. Those reversions peaked in fiscal year 2021, when CYFD sent back $121.8 million.
Meanwhile, CYFD has seen a drop in the number of children in foster care, with 200 fewer in fiscal year 2024 than in fiscal year 2014.
“We’re averaging around 2,100 children in foster care at any given month, but that is still below where we were in … 2014,” Legislative Finance Committee analyst Rachel Mercer Garcia told lawmakers.
Regent training bill gets teeth: The Senate on Wednesday passed an amended version of a substitute measure for Senate Bill 19, which calls for 10 hours of training for all regents appointed to public colleges and universities in New Mexico.
The amendment, introduced by Sen. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces, requires the Higher Education Department to monitor regents’ compliance with the measure and keep a record of the training.
The bill calls for training on state laws, ethics, best practices, student support services and other matters.
Tortilla turns official: Let’s get this bread.
Sen. Joshua Sanchez, R-Bosque, has filed Senate Bill 315, which would officially adopt the tortilla as New Mexico’s state bread.
The proposal comes after a successful push in 2023 to establish the scent of roasting green chiles as the state’s official aroma. If passed, the tortilla would join a formidable list of New Mexico’s official things, including an official cookie (the biscochito), an official necklace (the Native American squash blossom necklace) and an official amphibian (the New Mexico spadefoot toad).
But the real question is: Corn or flour?
Cellphone bill clears committee: Put down the phone, kids.
Senate Bill 160, sponsored by Sen. Moe Maestas, D-Albuquerque, would require school districts and charter schools to establish policies on cellphones restricting their use during instructional time.
The bill made it out of the Senate Education Committee with three “no” votes Wednesday, with several people pointing out the bill mirrors one sponsored by Sen. Crystal Brantley, R-Elephant Butte, that the committee voted on two weeks ago. Maestas said he hadn’t read the bill, but that he has been talking to Brantley to see if the bills could coincide.
“ I think this is a way overreach. … We should not be making this level of policy determinations for our districts,” said Sen. Bill Soules, D-Las Cruces. “ I think the local control cuts both ways. It’s incumbent upon districts to get a spine and backbone if you want to have a restrictive policy.”
Sen. Martin Hickey, D-Albuquerque, responded cellphones are a public health issue.
“We do take statewide action on public health issues,” he said.
Joe Guillen, executive director of the New Mexico School Boards Association, said he supports the bill’s intent but called it an “unfunded mandate,” as opposed to Brantley’s, which he said “leaves that to the discretion of the boards and school districts and also provides funding for implementation of their policies.”
“An appropriation would be nice on every bill,” Maestas said. “ I don’t believe this is a overly burdensome mandate to come up with a policy.”
Tax time: Paying taxes may be no fun, but anyone taking matters into their own hands will face harsher consequences under House Bill 198, which unanimously passed the House Taxation and Revenue Committee on Wednesday.
The bill would make a variety of changes to New Mexico’s tax laws, including increasing fines for trying to evade taxes and for assaulting tax employees.
According to a legislative analysis of the bill, the minimum fines for attempting to evade paying taxes would grow from $1,000 to $10,000. The maximum fines would grow from $10,000 to $50,000. The fines for attacking Taxation and Revenue Department employees would increase from a range of $100 to $500 to a new range of $1,000 to $5,000.
Quote of the day: “ We’re not throwing rocks at you. I just want to know why there is a funding shortfall. And then we may throw rocks.” — Sen. Candy Spence Ezzell, R-Roswell, asking about a funding cut last year for school math spending.
A piece of artwork by Aliani Espana dealing with the issues of suicide for the Las Cruces Suicide Prevention Task Force Recovery Event Art show from a previous year, seen at the Capitol for Suicide Awareness Day at the state Capitol Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. Photo by Gabriela Campos/The New Mexican
A set of paints, pins used to raise suicide awareness and a canvas on the table of the Las Cruces Suicide Prevention Task Force booth for Suicide Awareness Day at the state Capitol Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025. Photo by Gabriela Campos/The New Mexican