NM Legislative Recap March 21: ‘We’re still here’

Nearly three years after the biggest wildfire in New Mexico history, a small band of people who lost homes or endured other losses gathered in the Roundhouse on the session’s penultimate day, in hopes of reminding the public that many fire victims have not received the compensation they say they deserve.

On April 6, 2022, a small crew of federal wildland firefighters ignited a prescribed burn on a dry, windy day near Hermits Peak in Northern New Mexico. The blaze escaped containment lines and merged with another federal prescribed burn gone awry, burning an area the size of Los Angeles and destroying hundreds of homes.

“It wasn’t just a loss of monetary wealth,” said Michael Martinez, an insurance agent who was caring for his grandmother when the fire forced Las Vegas residents to flee. “It wasn’t just a loss of homes. It wasn’t just a loss of forest. It was a loss of what I would call generational wealth.

“We’re not going to be able to share the beauty and the culture that was in this area for generations, because a lot of these people have been forced to relocate,” he said.

Martinez organized a small gathering in the Roundhouse rotunda on Friday, displaying photos of burned homes and flooded acequias. One homeowner, Jane Lumsden, placed a photo of her house’s charred remains and also her cat, Chai, lost in the fire.

Congress allocated $5.45 billion to compensate fire victims for a wide variety of losses. According to the latest figures, the federal claims office tasked with providing that compensation has paid out nearly $2 billion of that money.

But, 1,080 days after the wildfighters ignited that prescribed burn, too many people are still waiting for compensation, particularly those who lost their homes in the fire, Martinez said.

“We’re still here,” said Martinez, who said he’s been awaiting compensation for lost property since May. “We’re still waiting.”

A House memorial honoring the long wait and the efforts to rebuild after the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon passed a House committee unanimously on Thursday.

Call of the chair

Even as both floors took an evening break at approximately 5:15 p.m., no information had emerged about when the tax conference committee will meet to hammer out the rift between chambers on the tax package. The word around the halls is that the meeting is expected sometime Friday evening.

The Senate returns to the floor at 7 p.m., the House will also return, but at the call of the chair.

Cleared the floors

As of 5:11 p.m., the following bills cleared the House on Friday, day 59 of the 60-day session:

Senate Bill 155 would amend a section of the state’s criminal code pertaining to embezzlement, specifically allowing for the aggregation of multiple incidents of embezzlement within a 12-month period against one victim, among other changes.

Senate Bill 375 would allow early discharge for people who comply with probation and make other changes to parole.

Senate Bill 159 would create a special license for independent movie theaters to sell beer and wine.

Senate Bill 376 would make multiple changes to state employees’ health benefits, including increasing the state’s contribution to employee health insurance premiums and reducing the amount state employees pay. The legislation also eliminates the state health benefits program’s budget shortfall.

“This bill will make a real difference for New Mexico’s state employees,” New Mexico Health Care Authority Secretary Kari Armijo said in a statement. “By reducing health insurance costs for workers and closing the program’s budget gap, we’re delivering real savings while ensuring long-term stability.”

Senate Bill 31 would create a $150 million Natural Disaster Revolving Fund to provide zero-interest loans to replace or repair infrastructure damaged by natural disasters.

Senate Bill 274 would amend current state statute to increase financial thresholds for state agencies and local governments regarding the sale, trade or lease of public property

Senate Bill 302 would create amplified background investigation requirements for people applying for gaming licenses, work permits and contractor access to facilities regulated under the Gaming Control Act and the New Mexico Bingo and Raffle Act

Senate Bill 303 would eliminate the need for gaming machines to meet the standards and specifications set by Nevada and New Jersey, and instead require they just meet standards set by state law. 

Senate Bill 133 would amend the Educational Retirement Act to raise the maximum amount a retiree is allowed to earn annually from work after retirement with an affiliated employer — from $15,000 thousand to $25,000 —without suspending retirement benefits. 

Senate Bill 343 addresses teacher salary rates, specifically removing exceptions currently in statute for vocational teachers.

Senate Bill 201 would authorize several state and legislative agencies to approve plans by the Public Education Department for programs funded by appropriations from the public education reform fund, which was created in response to the Yazzie/Martinez lawsuit over inequitable education outcomes in the state.

Senate Bill 88 would create a new Medicaid trust fund, starting with $300 million, to support and match federal funds for the Medicaid health insurance program.

Senate Bill 16 would allow independent voters to participate in primary elections.

Senate Bill 126 would increase the state rural universal service fund’s maximum obligation cap from $30 million per year to $40 million per year.

Senate Bill 383 would expand the use of revenue bonds to include rebuilding, repairing, replacing and hardening of municipal property damaged by a flood.

Senate Bill 364 would allow people with work authorizations from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to work as police officers.

Senate Bill 197 would allow local emergency medical services departments to sell bonds to be able to more easily afford ambulances.

Senate Bill 290 would raise marriage license fees from $25 to $55.

Senate Bill 236 would create a motorcycle-sized version of the existing “look twice for motorcycles” license plate.

Senate Bill 142 would update the grid modernization grant program by asking EMNRD and PRC to create a roadmap, and add new grant programs.

Senate Bill 9 would align penalties for pipeline companies who violate safety regulations with federal standards.

Senate Bill 120 would permanently eliminate behavioral health services cost sharing.

The House voted not to pass Senate Bill 112, which would have created a new property tax exemption for student housing built on land owned by a higher education institution.

The House recessed at 5:15 p.m. for a quick break and to maybe “catch a bit of the Lobo game,” House Speaker Javier Martinez said. 

The Senate voted to concur on three bills the chamber had already passed, but were later amended on the House floor. The bills now head to the governor’s desk for consideration. Those bills include Senate Bill 480, which would require the Public Education Department to create a report of the high school students who do not graduate within four years and provide it to the Higher Education Department; Senate Bill 11, which would require local public school districts and charter schools to develop and adopt a wireless communication device policy; and Senate Bill 353, which would amend the Search and Rescue Act to create protocols for federal, state, local and tribal agencies when Search and Rescue is called in an emergency.

The Senate passed House Bill 206, which would allow the New Mexico Finance Authority to award loans or grants to qualifying projects from the water project fund; House Bill 240, which would allow the New Mexico Finance Authority to make grants and loans for drinking water projects and extends the repayment period to 10 years; House Bill 244, which would raise the minimum age of magistrate judges from 18 to 28 years old; House Bill 6, which would require employers working on projects funded by public bonds to pay the prevailing wage to their workers; House Bill 402, which would streamline and regulate credentialing of dental care providers; House Bill 41, which would allocate $13.25 million into the drinking water state revolving loan fund, the local government planning fund and the cultural affairs facilities infrastructure fund; House Bill 56, which would raise Medicaid reimbursement rates at birth centers to match the rate paid to hospitals for similar services; and House Bill 78, which would prevent insurance companies and pharmacy benefits managers from interfering with health care providers’ ability to acquire and sell prescription drugs at a discount.

Senators debated a provision to encourage development of brackish water for more than two hours on the floor before passing it with bipartisan support to the governor’s desk. House Bill 137, called the Strategic Water Supply, changed drastically over the session. 

Sen. Linda Trujillo (D-Santa Fe) proposed an amendment that included additional language for protesting a project through an existing process with the Office of the State Engineer. The Senate rejected the amendment.

During debate, Sen. Angel Charley (D-Acoma) urged the state Legislature to fully fund and map the state’s aquifers before making a multimillion dollar investment to develop water sources, saying she’s concerned about the extent of available water. 

“It’s giving gold rush, it’s giving extraction, it’s giving not thinking seven generations ahead,” Charley said on the floor about HB137.

Sen. Katy Duhigg (D-Albuquerque) asked one of the bill’s sponsors, Sen. George Muñoz (D-Gallup), what about his position had changed as he opposed the Strategic Water Supply bill in the 2024 session. 

Muñoz said HB137 was “a completely different bill” noting that this version stripped language for treating oil and gas wastewater, and that he has “always supported brackish water” treatment and development.

HB137 passed on a 33-6 vote, six Democratic senators voted in opposition. 

A debate on an alternative to conservatorships was derailed after a surprise amendment inserted language from a Senate Bill that failed to advance committees last week. House Bill 149, the Supported Decision-Making Act, became a debate on Senate Bill 166, which would redefine “harm to self” and “harm to others” in state law to allow for more people to be civilly committed into a locked facility. SB166 passed unanimously on the Senate floor on March 12, but failed to make it through House committees. 

Senate Minority Floor Leader Sen. William Sharer (R-Farmington) introduced an amendment to HB149 to incorporate wording from SB166, drawing claims of “overreach” from Sens. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez (D-Albuquerque) and Linda López (D-Albuquerque), a sponsor of the proposed supported decision-making act. She called Sharer’s amendment “overreaching what we can do.”

Sharer’s response: “This is the way the sausage is made,” he said.

The amendment eventually passed by a 31-7 vote.

The Senate also eventually passed the Supported Decision-Making Act, which now goes back to the House for a concurrence vote.

The gov’s pen

As we noted on Thursday, the clock is ticking for some bills that have already landed on the governor’s desk. On Friday, she signed into law a bill reforming oversight of the Children, Youth & Families Department — a sore spot for her administration —but not without some harsh words for the Legislature and Attorney General Raúl Torrez.