Roundhouse Roundup
The Santa Fe New Mexican
Moo-ving to the governor’s desk: The Meat Inspection Act garnered unanimous support from the New Mexico House of Representatives on Tuesday afternoon. Senate Bill 37 is headed to the governor’s desk.
The bill, sponsored by a mix of Republican and Democratic lawmakers, would give the New Mexico Livestock Board authority over the safety of meat and poultry processed in the state and create an Office of Meat and Poultry Inspection Director authorized to conduct inspections. Currently the federal government, not the state, conducts meat inspections in New Mexico.
Even the House’s resident vegetarian, Rep. Marian Matthews, D-Albuquerque, voiced her support for the bill.
“I won’t be enjoying the New Mexico beef with you all, but I’m so glad you’re gonna be able to enjoy New Mexico beef,” Matthews said. “I just want us to recommend that you serve it with New Mexico vegetables.”
Scholarship changes: The House on Tuesday passed Senate Bill 239, changes to the state’s Lottery and Opportunity scholarship programs meant to offer students extra flexibility in scheduling their courses.
The bill requires Lottery Scholarship recipients to complete 30 credit hours at four-year schools or 24 hours at two-year schools each year, but they can spread out those credits across fall, spring and summer semesters.
SB 239 also ensures dual-credit courses — usually taken in high school — won’t count toward the Opportunity Scholarship’s cap of 160 credit hours.
With approval from both chambers, the bill will move to the governor’s desk.
Cannabis law ‘cleanup’: In a 57-5 vote Tuesday, the House passed the many-times-amended version of Senate Bill 6, designed to fill regulatory gaps in the cannabis industry.
The bill is intended to “clean up” New Mexico’s Cannabis Regulation Act by creating procedures for seller background checks and specifying criminal behaviors surrounding cannabis trafficking, among other regulatory changes, Rep. Andrea Romero, D-Santa Fe, said on the House floor.
A prior version of the bill also banned drive-thru cannabis retailers, though that provision has since been removed.
Was that unanimous?: A trust fund that would give New Mexico tribes more money and control to run their own education programs is a step closer to reality after passing the Senate Finance Committee on a vote of 9-0.
Rep. Derrick Lente, D-Sandia Pueblo, a co-sponsor of the bill, said $50 million for the fund is set aside in the budget.
“It’s important to address past inequities in education for the Native American community,” said Dick Mason, a lobbyist for the League of Women Voters of New Mexico, testifying in support of the bill.
The measure, House Bill 134, heads next to the full Senate.
Nod from the top: Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham showed up on the Senate floor Tuesday, not to push her agenda but to honor New Mexico’s formerly longest-serving state senator, Stuart Ingle.
The Portales Republican and lifelong dryland farmer stepped down last year after 39 years in office.
Lujan Grisham, who declared Feb. 13, 2024, “Sen. Stuart Ingle Day,” praised his legacy to senators and observers in the gallery, both for his political approach and for his personal connection.
“He’s kind, he’s smart, he’s funny, he understands the value of relationships, he’s deliberative and he’s incredible,” Lujan Grisham said. “… When my husband unexpectedly died, my very first phone call wasn’t from my boss [at the time], the governor. It wasn’t from [longtime Roswell Democrat lawmaker] Tim Jennings. It was from Sen. Ingle, who never let this place get personal.”
Quote of the day: “Everything wants to kill you and eat you outside of a city,” –Sen. Bill Sharer, R-Farmington, giving a defense of the living comforts provided as a result of the fossil fuel industry during a Tuesday debate on clean transportation fuel standards in the Senate Finance Committee.