On January 16 the 2024 New Mexico legislative session began at noon and it ends on February 15 at noon. The 2024 legislative session is a 30-day short session dedicated to financial matters where much of the session is devoted to exclusively approving the state’s annual budget. There are 394 separate House Bills, 317 separate Senate Bills, 18 Senate Joint Resolutions, 15 House Joint Resolutions, 56 House Memorials and 12 Senate Memorials for a whopping 780 bills and memorials that have been introduced for consideration. You can review a listing and the status of all the legislation here:
https://nmbilltracker.com/allbills
With only 6 days remaining of the 2024 session, this blog article reports on the progress made with some of the legislation:
On Wednesday, January 7, House Bill 171 was the first bill to pass both chambers of the New Mexico 2024 legislative session. House Bill 171 as amended is entitled the School Graduation Amendments and it passed the Senate on a 40-0 vote. The bill would update the state’s graduation requirements for its high schoolers, allowing for more student choice while keeping the number of mandated units at 24. House Bill 171 is a renewed version of a bill from last year’s legislative session that passed both the House and Senate but ultimately was vetoed by governor Michelle Lujan Grisham.
House Bill 252 is the tax omnibus bill and it passed the House on a 48-to-21 vote. The bill would reduce income taxes for all New Mexicans, with the largest cuts headed to the lowest tax brackets. A competing floor substitute, which proposed a flat 1% personal income tax regardless of income, failed on the floor. The tax omnibus includes a number of tax changes, including energy storage tax deductions, personal income tax restructuring by increasing the amount of tax brackets, adjusting tax rates, and changing income ranges within each bracket, rural healthcare practitioner tax credit, fire recovery tax credits, corporate income tax changes, angel investment tax credit, capital gains deduction, Medicaid home modification gross receipts tax deduction and childcare provider GRT deduction.
https://nmpoliticalreport.com/nmleg/tax-omnibus-passes-house/#:~:text=The%20House%20approved%20a%20tax,from%20Gov.%20Michelle%20Lujan%20Grisham.
Gun-related legislation also made strides in the Roundhouse later in the evening. After some heated opposition from Republicans, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed legislation to set up a seven-day waiting period on firearm sales, and it heads to the floor next.
SENATE PASSED LEGISLATION
The Senate unanimously passed two measures, including a series of proposed general obligation bonds and an act seeking more transparency in drug pricing.
Other legislation that passed the New Mexico Senate are as follows:
Senate Bill 3 know as the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act passed the Senate on February 9 on a 25-15. The bill moves to the House with only six days left in the session. If passed, it will require employees and employers to pay into a state fund that would allow workers to take paid time off when a child is born, for a family emergency, or another kind of medical crisis. Changes discussed centered around the length of time off workers could take. For maternity and paternity leave, employees can take up to 12 weeks off, but a floor amendment shortened the leave period for medical reasons down to nine weeks. The amendment also changed the leave from calendar year to application year to ensure that employees can’t take more than 12 weeks off in a year. Another change on the Senate floor was adding a required 20-day notice when possible. The Seante also expanded the time employees have to pay into this fund before they can apply for paid time off. The original bill only required 90 days but that was expanded to six months, a move that was popular with small business owners. Small business owners argue this bill would be a financial burden on employers and limit the ability of business owners to help out their employees on their own terms.
https://www.kob.com/new-mexico/senate-floor-debates-paid-family-and-medical-leave-act/
Senate Bill 17, Health Care Delivery and Access Act, 40-0
This bill would impose assessments on most hospitals in the state and reimburse hospitals with the revenue generated.
Senate Bill 21, amended, Local Firefighter Recruitment, 36-0: This bill would appropriate $35 million to a new program the legislation would create within the Department of Finance and Administration focused on firefighter recruitment.
Senate Bill 37 (committee substitution) Meat Inspection Act passed the Senate 38-0. This bill would create a new office — the Office of Meat and Poultry Inspection Director — and give the New Mexico Livestock Board the authority to “ensure the safety and quality of meat and poultry” for consumption, according to the bill’s fiscal impact report. It would also require NMLB to inspect approved meat slaughtering, processing or manufacturing facilities.
Senate Bill 71, sponsored by Sen. Michael Padilla, D-Albuquerque, has passed one Senate Committee and would create an Office of Housing that would be attached to the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration. The governor would appoint the office’s director, who would oversee studies on housing issues and work with government agencies and private developers to plan and fund projects. The office will require three or four full-time employees, which will be funded from the Governor’s office budget. The office would be tasked with working hand in hand with the quasi-governmental New Mexico Mortgage Finance (MFA) Authority and other organizations. But according to the the legislative analysis, the Mortgage Finance Authority authority has raised concerns about overlap with the MFA noting the office would duplicate much of the work it already does,” the report said. On February 8, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham showed up in a Senate committee to push personally for the bill to create a state housing office. The Senate Committee voted 5-4 to advance the bill to the Senate Finance Committee with no recommendation, instead of the more common “do pass” recommendation.
https://nmpoliticalreport.com/nmleg/housing-bill-backed-by-governor-barely-survives-committee-hearing/
Senate Bill 88, Electronic Driver’s License Credentials passed the Senate 38-0. This bill would allow the Motor Vehicle Division to give out electronic drivers licenses.
Senate Bill 106, Declaration of Independence Anniversary, 38-1
This bill would set aside $150,000 for a state semi quincentennial commission to plan and put on celebrations for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, which is July 4, 2026.
Senate Bill 108, amended, Distribution to Election Fund, passed the Senate 41-0. This bill would create a new distribution from the tax administration suspense fund to the state election fund, with a maximum transfer amount of $15 million.
Senate Bill 116, the Tobacco Fund is not a Reserve Fund passed 38-0. The tobacco settlement permanent fund would be removed from the general fund reserves by this bill. The fund was created in 2000 as part of an agreement between the state and big tobacco companies, according to the New Mexico State Investment Council. The bill’s fiscal impact report states removing the fund would allow it to “be invested with higher return targets.”
SENATE BILL 127 known as the Professional Psychologist Act Changes passed 36-0. The bill would give licensed psychologists with a special type of certification to prescribe and administer injections for psychotropic drugs as well as intramuscular and subcutaneous injections. It would also change the structure of the Board of Psychologist Examiners and the committee which reviews complaints against prescribing psychologists.
Senate Bill 129, Cybersecurity Act Changes, passed the Senate 37-0. This bill would amend the Cybersecurity Act, including adopting more cybersecurity rules and standards.
Senate Bill 128, amended, State Fire Retirement, passed the Senate 37-0. This bill would add state fire members to a renamed coverage plan and increase service credit by 20% for state fire members in service on or before June 30, 2013.
Senate Bill 135, Step Therapy Guidelines, passed the Senate 38-2. This bill addresses step therapy and prior authorization. It would regulate how insurers can require patients to use preferred or less expensive medications before moving on to non-preferred or more expensive medication, regardless of health insurance. The bill sponsors say this would make medicine more accessible.
Senate Bill 151, committee substitute, Premium Tax to Emergency Services Fund, passed the Senate 35-0. This bill would send an additional $11 million to the Emergency Medical Services Fund.
Senate Bill 148, Tax and Fee Admin Fees, passed the Senate 34-0. This bill would remove administrative costs and fees withheld by the Taxation and Revenue Department for administration of local government revenues by fiscal year 2029. The fees would continue on certain distributions.
Senate Bill 161, committee substitute, Acute Care Facilities Subsidies, passed the Senate 37-0. This bill would appropriate $50 million to provide subsidies for 12 hospitals in rural parts of the state.
Senate Bill 175, Law Enforcement Fund Distributions, passed the Senate 39-0. This bill aims to recruit and retain law enforcement officers, correctional officers, and probation and parole officers. Bill sponsor Sen. Leo Jaramillo, D-Española, said there’s around $25 million drafted in the budget for this, which is about $10 million less than the request in the bill initially.
Senate Bill176, Athletic Competition Act Changes, passed the Senate 20-16.This bill would change the Professional Athletic Competition Act to add fighter weight classes and increase annual licensing fees for certain license types. It also would redefine some media terms.
Senate Bill 201, Transportation Regulation, passed the Senate 35-0.This bill would clarify transportation duties the New Mexico Department of Transportation holds, removing outdated technical language and making technical corrections.
Senate Bill 204, sponsored by Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto (D-Abq.), would make it a fourth-degree felony to carry a gun in a park or on a playground. There would be exceptions for law enforcement while on official duty. The bill is one of several gun-related bills under discussion at the Roundhouse. Others, like a waiting period for gun purchases, have received a fair bit of debate already. But the proposal to keep guns out of parks is just now being scheduled for initial debate in the Senate Health and Public Affairs Committee with only a handful of days left in the lawmaking session.
Senate Bill 239, Lottery Scholarship Changes, passed the Senate 30-5. This bill would change the definition of a full-time student who’s eligible for the lottery scholarship and count summer semesters.
Senate Bill 300, Transportation Project Bonds, 37-0. This bill would allow for up to $205.8 million in bonding capacity from the severance tax bonding fund and $247 million in state transportation bonds to support certain road projects.
Senate Joint Memorial 2, amended, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Task Force, 30-0: This joint memorial would codify the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relative’s task force.
Senate Joint Resolution 16, County Official Salaries, 37-0. This joint resolution proposes to amend the state Constitution to remove the cap on county officers’ salaries. If it gets through the House side of the Roundhouse, it goes to voters in the November 2024 election or, if applicable, the next special election.
House Bill 41 known as the Clean Transportation Fuel Standards Act passed the Senate Conservation Committee on February 9 on a party-line 6-3 vote, with Democrats supporting its passage. HB 41 has already passed the House of Representatives on a 36-33 vote and it now heads to the Senate Finance Committee. The bill is intended to lower the carbon intensity of transportation fuels through the use of a carbon credit market. One of the main reasons people have cited for opposing the clean transportation fuels standards is the potential impact to prices at the pump since the states that have enacted clean transportation fuel standards tend to have higher gas prices. Bill sponsor Rep. Kristina Ortez, D-Taos, said the potential benefits of the bill is cleaner air and reduced respiratory illness and she also said the bill would spur economic development. Oriz said this:
“There’s been lots of fear-mongering around the gas prices.”
Robin Vercruse, the executive director of the Low Carbon Fuels Coalition refuted the claim that the bill would spur Eco comic development and said this:
“This claim … is contrary to basic economic theory in supposing that market competition will actually raise prices. … The compliance cost, in this case the cost of credits in the program, will be passed directly to consumers. Theoretical studies reflect that assumption when they assign a cost per gallon. But here’s the thing: Real world data shows that is not the case. If the cost is passed directly to consumers, gas prices would rise and fall based on credit prices. However, there has been no correlation between credit prices in these programs and gasoline prices. That means these programs do not work in the real world as speculative studies would suppose.”
The link to the quoted news source is here:
https://nmpoliticalreport.com/nmleg/clean-transportation-fuel-standards-bill-clears-senate-committee/
FAILED IN SENATE
Senate Bill 145, the Public Bodies and Federal Immigration Violation failed in the Senate 21-18. This bill would have prohibited governments in New Mexico from entering or renewing agreements to detain people for federal civil immigration violations, including with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
SJR5, Public Employees Retiree Health Care Fund, failed in the Senate14-25. This joint resolution would have proposed to amend the state Constitution to prohibit the expenditure of retiree health care fund trust dollars for any purpose except the benefit of the trust beneficiaries.
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE PASSAGE
The Senate Judiciary passed House Bill 129 as amended and committee substitute on a 6-3 vote. The Legislation that would enact a seven-day waiting period for gun purchases passed its first and only Senate committee hurdle. It goes to the Senate floor next. Lawmakers also approved amendments to the bill in committee, including exemptions for people with concealed carry licenses, so it’ll later need to go back to the House again for concurrence if passed through the Senate.
HOUSE FLOOR PASSAGE
The following legislation has passed the New Mexico House of Representatives and will be forwarded to the Senate for action:
House Bill 2 and House Bill 3 were combined to form the State Budget. On January 31, halfway through the session, the New Mexico House of Representatives voted 53-16 to send its nearly $10.2 billion 2024-2025 budget spending plan to the New Mexico Senate for approval and perhaps further amendments.
Senate Bill 5, Firearms near polling places, passed the House Judiciary Committee, 7-4. The bill, which passed on the Senate floor last would prohibit guns within 100 feet of polling places, with some exceptions. It needs to pass the House floor before heading to the governor’s desk.
House Bill 7, Healthcare Affordability Fund Distribution, 51-14
The bill would earmark revenue from health insurance premium surtaxes for the health care affordability fund, rather than the general fund. The fund was established in 2021 with the goal of reducing health insurance and medical expenses. Currently, bill sponsor Reena Szczepanski said there is about $108 million in the fund balance.
House Bill 28, Public Project Revolving Fund Projects, 65-0
If passed, the New Mexico Finance Authority would be able to offer loans from the “public project revolving loan fund” to schools, civic organizations, tribes and other state and local government entities. An amendment added some public and charter schools to the list of entities that would be able to apply for loans with the NMFA. The number is capped at 100.
House Bill 29, Public Project Fund Appropriations, 63-0
The bill would appropriate $13 million from the public project revolving loan fund to the drinking water state revolving loan fund, the local government planning fund and the cultural affairs facilities infrastructure fund in amounts of $6 million, $2 million and $5 million, respectively.
House Bill 33, committee substitute, amended, Prescription Drug Price Transparency Act, 67-0. Drug manufacturers would be required to report certain information, including the annual price increase, manufacturing and marketing costs and revenue from product sales, for prescription drugs that cost more than $400 for a 30-day supply. The data, which would be reported to the New Mexico Office of Superintendent of Insurance, would be used to create policy recommendations to lower drug costs in the future, House Bill 33 is sponsored by a handful of Democratic lawmakers.
House Bill 98, Accounts for Disabled Eligibility, passed the house 62-0. This bill would increase the number of people with disabilities eligible for a type of federal savings account, which is tax advantaged. The proposed changes to “achieving a better life experience” account eligibility would allow people who became disabled before the age of 46 to qualify. Currently, the age is 26. Bill sponsor Rep. Elizabeth “Liz” Thomson, D-Albuquerque, said this change would help “catch” more veterans in the program. Thomson said the change aligns with federal policy changes.
House Bill 134, Tribal Education Trust Fund, 68-0
This bill would create a trust fund to build education capacity for Native American students, including developing culturally relevant curricula and bolstering Native language programs. The current draft of the state budget bill sets aside $50 million for the fund, but sponsor Lente says the aim is to double that.
House Bill 141, Supreme Court Salary Increases, passed the House 52-0. This bill would increase pay for Supreme Court justices to $232,600. As of July 2023, the justices were paid $191,700 according to the 2023 Judicial Compensation Commission report. That leaves New Mexico at 29th for state supreme court justice pay, the report says.
House Bill 148, Water Project Fund Projects, passed the House 64-0. The annual authorization bill would allow the New Mexico Finance Authority to offer loans or grants to public groups for approved water projects. More than 50 public entities already have qualifying projects. If the bill passes, the Water Trust Board will decide which projects will get funding.
House Bill 196, the Government Accountability Trust Fund, passed the house 39-28. This would create the government results and opportunity expendable trust and the government results and opportunity program fund. The legislation would change the overflow mechanism of the general fund operating reserve to direct dollars into the trust fund.
Bill sponsor Rep. Nathan Small, D-Las Cruces, has said this is a way to protect New Mexico when oil and gas dollars aren’t booming like they are now. Pilot projects could get funding floated over several years as other funding sources are identified for the future. The accountability part of the bill includes provisions to track and report the efficacy of such projects.
There is funding attached to the bill included in HB2, the budget bill.
There was some controversy over changes between the original and committee substitute. Rep. Gail Armstrong, R-Magdalena, said some of the “guardrails” for funding had been removed between versions. Other representatives justified the changes, saying some provisions were “unmanageable” for certain entities.
House Bill 232, Infrastructure Planning and Development Division, passed the house 65-0. The bill would create a new division in the New Mexico Finance Authority: the Infrastructure Planning and Development Division. The division would take over certain functions of the Local Government Division of the MFA, including the rural equity ombudsman role and handling infrastructure capital improvement plans for local governments.
House Bill 252, committee substitute, Adjust Income Tax Bracket (House tax package), 48-21: The House’s tax omnibus bill includes changes to the income tax structure as well as a handful of tax credits and deductions for certain New Mexicans.
House Bill 253, the Capital Outlay Changes, passed the House 63-0. The bill would make changes to the state’s capital outlay program. Rep. Derrick Lente, D-Sandia Pueblo, said the changes would make the program more “sustainable.” A nonreverting fund – the capital development and reserve fund – would be created by the bill and managed by the State Investment Council. Money in the fund would be available to the Legislature to go towards capital projects costing less than $5 million, and for the planning and design of more costly projects.
House Bill 270, Higher Ed Tech Enhancement Fund Provisions, 62-1
The bill primarily would clarify the requirements for the tech enhancement fund for research institutions in the state, stating that the below colleges are, in fact, eligible to receive funding awards. The University of New Mexico, New Mexico State University, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and Navajo Technical University would be able to use technology enhancement fund dollars to match federal and private grants. An amendment removed a $70 million appropriation attached to the original bill.
House Bill 308, General Obligation Bonds, 67-0: The bill proposed $289.6 million in general obligation bonds, $30.4 million of which would head to senior citizen facilities around the state, $19 million to libraries, $229.6 million for education projects and $10 million for the state Department of Information Technology to improve its public safety radio communications system.
Links to quoted news sources:
https://nmbilltracker.com/allbills
GOVERNOR’S GUN, CRIME PACKAGE STALLED AND WILL LIKELY FAIL
On February 9, the Santa Fe New Mexico in a an article written by it staff reporter Robert Nott, reported that much of the Governors’ gun and crime package is stalled and will not be enacted. Below is an edited version of the article:
“Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham started the year with high hopes of making a dent in the crime and gun violence that disproportionately seem to plague New Mexico. Her 21-point package included both stricter gun laws and tough-on-crime initiatives. Taken together, the governor said during a news conference in January, the bills comprised the “largest, most comprehensive package” of such bills in the history of the Legislature. Maybe so, but with this year’s 30-day session set to end at noon on Thursday, most of them seem to be some distance from the finish line.
“We’re getting late in the session; we only have a week to go,” Rep. Christine Chandler, D-Los Alamos, said in an interview … . Chandler has her name on two gun bills:
- One to make it easier to take guns away from people who might threaten themselves or others,
2. One to go after gun sellers whose weapons end up in the wrong hands
[Both bills] have stalled and may not get restarted. … Both are in a holding pattern just outside the landing field known as the House floor. It could be difficult to get either bill through the House and then over to the Senate for vetting and support, she said, for one reason: “They are going to be racing against the clock.”
That clock is ticking away and those bills are among more than 750 pieces of legislation introduced in this year’s session. They are fighting for attention against a raft of bills that have nothing to do with crime or guns, including approving a budget for the coming fiscal year. In short, it’s priority time, and a lot of things are going to be left stuck behind in the mud.
What you will see now, said Sen. Pete Campos, D-Las Vegas, is a focus on the budget and capital outlay bills, meaning “some of the other issues will fall by the wayside and they won’t have a chance to make it.” Still, he said he expects long Senate floor sessions Friday and Saturday in an effort to move some bills forward, including gun-related legislation. “Gun safety and gun issues will take up quite a bit of time,” he said in an interview.
Rep. Gail Armstrong, R-Magdalena, also expressed optimism some crime bills can make it. “I think we’ll be on the floor a lot, I think we can still do it,” she said. On the other hand she, like most Republicans and some conservative Democrats, is less enamored of supporting any new gun laws that, as they see it, violate the right to bear arms. “I don’t want any of the gun bills [to get through],” she said in an interview.
A bill to put a seven-day waiting period on gun sales has passed the House and seems to have a chance in the Senate, where it could get a floor vote soon. Another bill to ban guns at polling places has already passed the Senate and is working its way through the House. However, others — such as Chandler’s and one from Rep. Andrea Romero, D-Santa Fe, to ban certain types of guns and high-capacity magazines — seem to have entered a legislative black hole, which is often what has happened in past sessions with proposals to tighten New Mexico’s gun laws.
“Public safety continues to be a top concern for New Mexicans,” Lujan Grisham spokeswoman Maddy Hayden wrote in an email, citing the New Mexico Chamber of Commerce’s recent 2024 Voter Pulse survey. She noted that the waiting period bill was moving through the Legislature but said much more needs to be done.
Hayden wrote this:
“While this is a significant piece of legislation that will save lives, dozens of other pieces of critical public safety legislation [are] stalled. It is unacceptable that other common-sense gun safety legislation, increasing criminal penalties for violent offenders and keeping dangerous individuals behind bars pending trial are not receiving the attention the public is demanding and that it deserves. We urge the Legislature to take up these bills immediately.”
Tara Mica, state director for the National Rifle Association, who has been lobbying on behalf of the group at the Roundhouse for about 25 years, said what’s happening this year is nothing new. Bills that strengthen criminal penalties, she said, often don’t have a “strong shelf life. … They get buried in committee up here. That’s not just this session. That’s been happening for decades.”
Albuquerque pollster and political analyst Brian Sanderoff said at this point in the legislative game, if it becomes clear a bill does not have the support of the majority of the Legislature or the strong support of a committee chair it will likely “die just because time is running out.”
Several crime-fighting measures supported by the governor have already been killed in committees, such as one giving judges and prosecutors more leeway to detain those suspected of violent crimes behind bars until their trial and one that would crack down on panhandling. Other bills in the governor’s public safety package are still waiting to get a committee hearing.
A few of those could still break out, said Rep. Bill Rehm, R-Albuquerque. Rehm, a retired police officer, has pushed unsuccessfully for a number of crime-fighting initiatives in past years, including raising the penalties for felons caught in possession of a firearm. Though that piece of legislation, House Bill 315, seemed to have no chance throughout the first three weeks of this session, it is scheduled to get its first hearing in the House Judiciary Committee on Friday. Rehm said this in an interview
“I think we’re going to get maybe one of my bills through.”
Sanderoff said it is premature to assume any bill cannot be driven to the finish line in the last week of the session. He said if Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, and Democratic lawmakers in both parties want a bill to succeed, “there is still time to get it through the legislative process.”
Rehm agrees.
“We can move something in a couple of days if we decide we need it,” he said.”
The link to the full article is here:
https://nmpoliticalreport.com/nmleg/with-less-than-a-week-left-much-of-governors-gun-crime-package-seems-stalled/
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
With a mere 7 days left in the 2024 legislative session, lawmakers will l be having longer days and nights, packed schedules and marathon sessions getting bills through the House and Senate committees and ultimately voting on the chamber floors. Legislation that will likely consume a large percentage of the remaining time is all the gun control legislation that is still pending and awaiting committee hearings.
Chances are the overwhelming majority of the 780 bills and memorials introduced will not make it out of any committees nor be enacted by February 15 at 12:00 noon when the session comes to an end. Simply put, trying to squeeze in so much work into a 30 session is crazy and no way to do business. 30 day sessions should be a thing of the pass as should be 60 days sessions and a full time, pay legislature with much longer sessions is long overdue.
The links to related blog articles are here