The Santa Fe New Mexican:
‘Green amendment’ gets pushback: Conservationists and private citizens hoping to enshrine their right to a clean and healthy environment in the New Mexico Constitution turned up at the state Capitol on Monday to applaud another attempt to pass a “green amendment.”
Three states — New York, Montana and Pennsylvania — have adopted green amendments.
It’s the fifth time New Mexico legislators have tried to get such a bill passed. This year’s version cleared the House Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee on a 6-3 vote — but didn’t get a “do-pass” recommendation. The vote was along party lines.
Advocates urged passage, expressing fears that federal environmental protections would be rolled back or insufficient.
The bill garnered opposition from economic development groups — along with some renewable energy companies and associations. Public commenter Varner Seaman, director of legislative and regulatory affairs for Pattern Energy, said he was concerned about the potential for litigation and project delays.
Pattern Energy broke ground in 2023 on the SunZia project, a 3,500-megawatt wind energy development in Lincoln, Torrance and San Miguel counties and 550-mile transmission line.
Seaman brought up a legal battle over a wind farm in Montana.
But bill sponsors and other advocates said concerns about litigation are overblown.
New Mexico voters would have the final say on whether the amendment is adopted.
Behavioral health bills move forward: The last two of a trio of bipartisan bills — all of them aimed at reforming and funding New Mexico’s behavioral health system — secured initial approval Monday from the Senate Health and Public Affairs Committee.
Senate Bill 2 would provide $140 million for behavioral health initiatives, including $43 million for transitional acute care facilities and $48 million for the expansion of housing aid and services. Senate Bill 3 would require region-specific plans to address local needs, creating a structure for spending money generated by a proposed new behavioral health trust fund and one-time appropriations.
Senate Bill 1, which would establish the $1 billion trust fund, earned the committee’s approval last week.
The committee made a few changes to SB 3 to include more stakeholders in the process of establishing and steering regional behavioral health initiatives.
“This goes to show New Mexico we can really work together,” freshman Sen. Jay Block, R-Rio Rancho, said of the bipartisan bill.
The package will move next to the powerful Senate Finance Committee.
Fostering Connections expansion advances: A bill expanding eligibility for foster children who have aged out of the child welfare system passed its first committee hearing Monday.
Senate Bill 6, sponsored by Sen. Michael Padilla, D-Albuquerque, would allow young adults aging out of foster care whose cases have not been completed to participate in the Fostering Connections program.
Fostering Connections provides an array of support for aged-out foster youth, including access to housing, health care, behavioral health and higher education services, Padilla told lawmakers on the Senate Health and Public Affairs Committee.
Because former foster youth often struggle when they become adults, he added the bill is a preventive measure against problems they may face.
“We’re going to see, over time, a significant reduction in the amount of foster children because of this legislation,” he said.
The bill, Padilla said, would codify an executive order expanding eligibility for the program that was signed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham in March. He expects it to add 13 to 18 new young people each year.
The bill moves next to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Cannabis bill clears easy first hurdle: The House Commerce and Economic Development Committee on Monday voted unanimously to advance House Bill 10, a governor-backed proposal to give law enforcement authority to the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department — which houses the Cannabis Control Division — to curb the illicit cannabis market.
Many of the committee members are co-sponsors.
“The next step we must take is to make sure those that break the rules are held accountable, so that those businesses who follow the rules can thrive,” said House Speaker Javier Martínez, D-Albuquerque, one of the bill’s co-sponsors.
The proposal earned mixed reviews from cannabis growers and retailers who said it could result in a welcome crack-down on illicit weed, but worried about offering law enforcement powers to the Regulation and Licensing Department, which currently has no authority to conduct criminal investigations but can administratively enforce cannabis licenses.
The bill moves next to the House Judiciary Committee.
Nursing staff requirement gets thumbs up: A bill imposing minimum nursing staff-to-patient ratios in licensed hospitals earned the approval of the House Health and Human Services Committee in a 5-4 vote Monday.
Under the bill, the state Health Care Authority would set and enforce the proper ratios, with the advice of an 11-member committee including hospital administrators and unions.
“We need to ask ourselves: Do we have a nursing shortage, or do we have a shortage of nurses willing to work in a dangerous and toxic environment?” Rep. Eleanor Chávez, D-Albuquerque said. “This bill starts the conversation on how to appropriately staff our hospitals and support our nurses.”
Española lowriders on display? Several Northern New Mexico lawmakers introduced legislation Monday to study the feasibility of establishing a lowrider museum in Española.
“I feel like I should read this bill in with a little bit of music,” House Speaker Javier Martínez, D-Albuquerque, said as the bill was introduced.
No egg-citement about high prices: “Why are eggs bad at puns?” Rep. Kristina Ortez, D-Taos, asked members of the House on Monday.
“Because they always mess up their yolks.”
Amid steep egg prices and the avian flu epidemic, Ortez said lawmakers and constituents alike are walking on eggshells at the grocery store, as the cost of a dozen creeps closer to $10.
She promised to return to the body with a periodic “egg update” to keep an eye on those prices.
Quote of the day: “Jesus was an immigrant. Jesús era un inmigrante. He wants to deport baby Jesus!” — Allen Sánchez, executive director of the New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops, lambasting President Donald Trump during a pro-immigrant march and rally outside the state Capitol.