By NATHAN BROWN
The Santa Fe New Mexican

• • • • • Days Remaining In Session: 27

Funeral for former lieutenant governor: Funeral services will be held in Santa Fe Tuesday for Roberto Mondragón, a former lieutenant governor, accomplished musician and force for preserving New Mexico’s cultural traditions who died earlier this month at age 85.

His funeral will be at Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, 131 Cathedral Place. The reading of the rosary will be at 10:30 a.m. with a funeral Mass at 11 a.m.

Clear Horizons introduced: A bill to codify the emission reduction targets set during Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s administration was introduced into the state Senate Thursday.

Senate President Pro Tem Mimi Stewart is the main sponsor of the Clear Horizons Act, or Senate Bill 18; its co-sponsors include Reps. Kristina Ortez, D-Taos and Andrea Romero, D-Santa Fe.

“The Clear Horizons Act is about protecting New Mexicans and not going back on the progress our state has already made,” Stewart, D-Albuquerque, said in a statement. “We’ve shown that clean energy can lower costs and strengthen our economy.”

Stewart introduced a similar bill last year that failed to pass. Republicans have said they plan to fight the measure, which they say is driving up electricity prices and other costs.

The bill awaits a hearing in the Senate Conservation Committee.

Keller pushes public safety agenda: Albuquerque” Mayor Tim Keller on Friday released a laundry list of crime-fighting proposals he hopes lawmakers will act on during this year’s session.

“These priorities reflect what our community has consistently called for: safer neighborhoods, fewer guns in the hands of criminals and strengthened accountability across the criminal justice system,” Keller said in a statement.

The list of several dozen proposals includes increasing penalties for certain gun crimes and illegal gun possession, getting rid of state preemption prohibiting municipalities from passing gun laws and an increased emphasis on mental health and addiction treatment.

Common Cause endorses pay proposal: Common Cause New Mexico on Thursday announced its support for a proposed constitutional amendment to pay lawmakers a salary.

The group announced its endorsement of House Joint Resolution 5, which would ask voters whether lawmakers should be paid “an amount equal to the annual median household income for New Mexico.”

Mason Graham, the group’s policy director, called lack of pay a massive obstacle for everyday people who want to serve in the Legislature and represent their communities.

“Currently, legislators must balance earning enough income to support themselves and their families with the demands of being a full-time legislator — or be independently wealthy enough to not have to work,” he said. “Without the promise of financial security, representation from diverse backgrounds and experience becomes secondary, and we see less community representation in our government.”

Graham said lack of pay ultimately “leads to less representative elections and an outsized influence of money in the Roundhouse.”

New Mexico is the only state in the country that does not pay lawmakers an annual salary, though they do receive retirement benefits and a per diem for expenses. Efforts in recent sessions to provide salaries for legislators have so far failed to make it out of the Capitol.

Senate remembers Clinton Harden Jr.: The Senate on Thursday afternoon honored former state Sen. Clinton Harden Jr., who died in October at age 78, and passed a certificate of condolence in his honor.

Harden, a Republican from Clovis, served as a state senator from 2002 to 2012, representing a stretch of northeastern New Mexico.

In the certificate of condolence read aloud, the Senate referred to Harden’s “sunny disposition, charisma, civility and willingness to work with anyone for the betterment of New Mexico.”

Workers’ Day: A coalition of unions and community organizations gathered in the Capitol rotunda Thursday afternoon to advocate for a “workers over billionaires” agenda.

They unfurled signs with slogans such as “workers run New Mexico,” and chanted “when we fight, we win.”

The coalition’s legislative priorities include the Immigrant Safety Act — which bans local governments from entering into detention agreements with federal immigration enforcement and which passed out of its first House committee Thursday — along with a bill to increase the annual cost of living increase for state workers, and other worker protections.

There is also an “Immigrant and Workers Day of Action” planned for Monday, with a rally at 10:30.

Quote of the day: “Order in the room! Order in the room, please! Although I do agree with each of you.” —Lt. Gov. Howie Morales, after members of the Senate booed when Sen. Jay Block, R-Rio Rancho, said Sen. Steve Lanier, R-Artec, is a New England Patriots fan like him.