House Speaker Javier Martínez, right, marches with members of Somos Acción and other demonstrators along Paseo de Peralta while heading to the state Capitol on Jan. 26 during an Immigrant and Worker Day of Action rally.
The Santa Fe New Mexican
System out of order: New Mexico’s struggles with rising health care costs are a symptom of America’s private health care model, House Speaker Javier Martínez said Wednesday.
“I think this country’s original sin with regard to health care was 65 years ago when they decided to make health care for-profit,” the Albuquerque Democrat said as the House Judiciary Committee considered House Bill 99, which would cap medical malpractice payouts. “I think once a child’s cancer became a commodity to be traded on Wall Street, that’s the crux of the problem.”
Martínez voted for HB 99, saying he hoped it could be improved over the last week of the session and that both the trial lawyers and doctors have been unfairly vilified.
“I think everyone has been caught up in this system, which again is rooted in the fact that health care is a commodity to be traded on Wall Street,” he said.
Toward the end of his remarks, Martínez asked Rep. Christine Chandler, D-Los Alamos — the committee chair and sponsor of HB 99 — what country has the best health care outcomes.
Cuba, she replied.
He then asked her what the U.S. is doing to Cuba.
“We’re torturing them,” she said, referring to the U.S. oil blockade which has been disrupting life on the island.
“Those poor people are starving,” Martínez said. “The hospitals no longer work. They can’t conduct surgeries. That’s a damn shame, because they’ve built a health care system that any one of you would want your children in … and this federal administration is starving that country, literally.”
“And maybe there will be a meme in somebody’s blog tomorrow about how Martínez is a socialist,” he continued, but “I believe health care is a human right and I am sick of insurance companies dictating how kids with cancer get their treatment.”
Wild for wildlife commission changes: Wildlife advocates on Wednesday lauded the Senate passage of a bill that lays out a new removal process for state Wildlife Commission members.
“This unanimous vote shows that even in the final week of a short session, legislators can come together to do great things for New Mexico,” Judy Calman, New Mexico policy director for Audubon Southwest, said in a statement.
Senate Bill 104 would place a check on the governor’s power to remove wildlife commissioners by giving them the opportunity for a hearing in state Supreme Court. Senate Bill 5, a major overhaul of the state’s wildlife agencies that passed last year, limited the reasons the governor can remove commissioners. The original bill would have set up a procedure for removing commissioners that sidelined the governor but Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham vetoed those provisions.
“This is the compromise which tracks the same process for higher ed and the same process for Interstate Stream Commission, so I very much appreciate that the governor came back and we’ve got this now in a place where I think this makes sense,” said Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe.
Literacy bill moving: A softened and amended version of the High Quality Literacy Instruction Act received a unanimous go-ahead from the House Education Committee after passing the Senate 39-0 a couple of weeks ago.
Senate Bill 37, sponsored by Senate President Pro Tem Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, would require school learning materials align more closely with the structured literacy approach that the state has pursued for the last few years to teach reading in a phonics, or “sound-it-out” based method of learning word structure.
Despite the broad support for the bill, past concerns persisted. Though both groups supported the bill, representatives from the New Mexico Superintendents Association and the New Mexico School Boards Association voiced worries about the lack of funding attached to it and classroom teachers being pulled from class to become literacy coaches, something that would be required at schools testing in the bottom 25% in reading.
Another concern came from representatives of Taos and Acoma pueblos. Christine Sims, director of the American Indian Language Policy Research and Teacher Training Center at the University of New Mexico, who is Acoma, expressed “deep concerns” that there would be no Native language requirement for literacy coaches.
She said the bill does not recognize the lack of structured literacy materials in Indigenous languages and that it sends the wrong message: “that English is the preferred language — and we cannot afford to give that message to students who are trying to learn and revitalize and restrengthen their Indigenous languages.”
Jacqueline Costales, executive manager of curriculum and instruction for the Public Education Department, responded that amendments to the bill aim to fix some of those concerns.
“Nothing in the bill replaces our Native language programs or pushes English-only classrooms,” she said.
‘That vote pains me’: A slightly amended version of a bill on math requirements for teacher licensure passed the House Education Committee with only one vote in opposition.
Senate Bill 29 was amended before the meeting to more closely mirror SB 37, swapping the previous requirement of reporting students’ progress to parents every month to at least four times a year. Also like the literacy bill, the math bill proposes math ability screening for students as early as kindergarten.
“ Oh, that vote pains me,” said Rep. E. Diane Torres-Velásquez, D-Albuquerque, explaining her opposition. “I once taught the special ed math class — and I totally agree with the need, but I just see some problems coming.”
Torres-Velásquez called a proposal that prospective in-state math teachers take six credit hours of math methodology potentially “problematic” since it would require “a long process” of program change from higher education institutions that grant teacher licensure.
Jesse Chanven of the New Mexico Association of Colleges for Teacher Education expressed support for the bill but asked the requirement be amended to three credit hours.
“Credit hours are only one measure of preparation, but what matters most are the competencies embedded in coursework and clinical practice,” he said.
Jessica Hathaway, deputy director of the Legislative Education Study Committee, noted that proposal isn’t just making would-be teachers learn more math, but rather that teachers learn from a “methods-based” approach on how to teach math courses. She did acknowledge it might take time for teacher prep programs to catch up.
“Many of them probably would have significant work to do to add those mathematics methods courses over the next couple of years,” she said.
Fairground bonds: The House Commerce and Economic Development Committee voted unanimously to advance Senate Bill 48, which would authorize the issuance of $92 million in bonds for the State Fairgrounds District.
The money would be used to buy the remaining land the state does not yet own and for 10 acres of green space, traffic and sewer infrastructure, “traffic calming” on San Pedro Drive and pedestrian safety on Central Avenue, said Stewart, the sponsor of the bill.
“I don’t like to say this, but it’s now the second-most dangerous road in America for pedestrians,” she said.
The New Mexico State Fairgrounds District Board reviewed three design concepts for the 236-acre Albuquerque property in December, which currently houses the New Mexico State Fair. It is not yet clear whether the revitalization project — which also received approval for its first round of funding in December — will lead to the fair moving.
Stewart emphasized the bill has nothing to do with whether the fair is staying or going.
Health care bills pass House: Two health care-related bills — one to make it easier for foreign doctors to practice here, one aimed at driving down costs for teachers and school staff — passed the House unanimously Wednesday.
House Bill 127 would establish a licensing process in New Mexico for doctors who are licensed in other countries.
“This legislation creates multiple pathways for qualified doctors to practice in our state so we can get trained, experienced doctors serving New Mexicans in need,” sponsor House Majority Leader Reena Szczepanski, D-Santa Fe, said in a statement.
House Bill 47 would increase public and charter schools’ required minimum contributions to employee health insurance to 80%, bringing it in line with other state employees. It would also remove the option for districts to opt out of providing insurance benefits.
“Enhancing this critical benefit shows our teachers that they are valued, and will help us continue to recruit the best and brightest to our classrooms,” stated sponsor House Majority Caucus Chair Raymundo Lara, D-Chamberino.
Quote of the day: “I sometimes have the effect of clearing a room.” — Sen. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, after Republican senators walked out of a hearing for Senate Bill 264, which would remove most exceptions to the state’s ban on possession of a gun at a polling place.