While you were sleeping: Sleepless on Saturday

Friday night plans don’t usually involve tax packages, wild horses and carbon sequestration  — unless you’re a New Mexico legislator.

The House and the Senate both reconvened for an evening session Friday, with the Senate chamber continuing until 2 a.m. the House departing just before midnight.

Both chambers adopted a compromise tax package on a voice vote late in both chambers Friday night, after hours of negotiations.

Committees

The Senate Finance Committee met for 11 minutes Friday evening and passed House Bill 19, which would create the Trade Ports Development Act allowing the state to enter into public-private partnership agreements to help trade port projects; House Bill 289, which would allow more institutions to apply for grants from the geothermal projects development fund; and House Bill 113, which would create the Animal Welfare Program to provide funding for grants to update and operate public animal shelters, reduce animal shelter intake, spay and neuter services, control loose dogs and cats and improve enforcement of animal cruelty laws.

The Senate Tax, Business and Transportation Committee met for 13 minutes and passed House Bill 398, which would allow group capital calculation reports and liquidity stress tests by amending the insurance holding company law; and House Bill 493, which would create the Public Finance Accountability Act and allow the Department of Finance and Administration to create a list of criteria for grant eligibility.

Senate

The Senate concurred with the House’s changes to Senate Bill 375, which would allow early discharge for people who comply with probation and make other changes to parole.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Saturday morning vetoed another parole bill, Senate Bill 17, which would have required the Parole Board to focus on how incarcerated people have acted since they went behind the New Mexico Corrections Department’s walls when considering their request for parole, rather than their conduct that led to their conviction.

In her veto message, the governor wrote that she supports modernizing the board’s metrics for considering applications but said SB17 would have created unnecessary obstacles to removing its members.

The Senate also concurred with House amendments to Senate Bill 31, which would create a $50 million Natural Disaster Revolving Fund to provide zero-interest loans to replace or repair infrastructure damaged by natural disasters; Senate Bill 88, which 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 13, which would authorize the Public Education Department to enter into compacts with Indian nations, tribes and pueblos in New Mexico to create language- and culture-based STEC schools; and Senate Bill 170, which would make electric utilities eligible for Public Project Revolving Fund money so they can more quickly build infrastructure for expanding businesses.

The Senate passed House Bill 159, which would require renewable energy project developers to notify the State Military Base Planning Commission when they build or alter a project, or receive a finding of adverse impact on military operations; House Bill 203, which would require the Children, Youth and Families Department to back up all electronic records; House Bill 24, which would streamline the Community Governance Attorney Act, which waives tuition for University of New Mexico Law students to provide free legal services to land grants, acequias and colonias; House Bill 117, which would allow physicians’ assistants or nurse practitioners to sign a death certificate when a doctor isn’t around; House Bill 102, which would limit a defendant’s ability to earn good time reducing their prison sentence for good behavior when they are convicted of second-degree homicide by vehicle or great bodily harm by vehicle; House Bill 156, which would give teachers a $5,000 raise and require teacher preparation programs to include science and reading; House Bill 449, which would create a new fund for college and university buildings and equipment.

The Senate also passed House Bill 433, which would direct three state agencies and the Legislative Education Study Committee to study the availability of career and technical education courses and instructors; House Bill 195, which would create a salary tier system for school nurses; House Bill 209, which would require the Department of Information Technology to add links to the state’s Sunshine Portal that direct users to the state law creating each fund, and their purpose; House Bill 361, which would allow the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department to repurpose depleted oil and gas wells for energy storage or geothermal energy development; House Bill 291, which would allow more municipal recycling grants to be used for tire recycling; House Bill 398, which would require the Office of the Superintendent of Insurance to adopt two tools to assess insurance companies’ financial health required by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners; House Bill 63, which would make a series of changes to the public school funding formula, which taken together would allocate 23% more public funding for each at-risk student in New Mexico; House Bill 171, which would allow detox and recovery facilities to acquire and possess controlled substances to manage withdrawal symptoms; House Bill 172, which would designate August as “Red and Green Chile Month”; House Bill 336, which would make retired state employees eligible to work as police officers for the Livestock Board and the Department of Game and Fish without losing their retirement benefits; House Bill 77, which would require the Health Care Authority to seek matching federal or charity funds for SNAP outreach; and House Bill 456, which would allow state agencies to use a price agreement for architectural or engineering services up to $2 million, not exceeding $15 million over four years.

Senators also passed House Bill 89, which would lift tuition and citizenship limits on graduate scholarships; House Bill 20, which would create a new division in the Economic Development Department that would support and promote technology and innovation; House Bill 493, which would codify a 2013 executive order that regulates capital outlay and special appropriations to state agencies; and House Bill 36, which would expand optometrists’ scope of practice to include laser eye surgery.

The Senate unanimously passed House Bill 284, which overhauls state laws regarding wild horses, now called “free-roaming horses” in the law. HB 284 would overhaul state laws and establish requirements for “free-roaming horse experts;” require equine rescue or retirement facilities to register with the state; and require the state to create rules for sanitation, veterinary care and transport. It also bans the slaughter or sale and transport of free-roaming horses to slaughterhouses; and bans releasing free-roaming horses in equine rescue facilities into the wild.

Late night carbon sequestration

Contentious debate broke out in the floor sessions’ final hours over House Bill 458, which establishes the Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department’s authority to regulate carbon sequestration — which in this case relates to pumping carbon dioxide into the ground — and collects fees for injection. HB458 establishes a fund for the state to cover the costs of ensuring the carbon remains stored. The bill also moves liability to the state for ensuring the carbon remains underground.

Proponents said burying carbon that would otherwise trap heat in the atmosphere can reduce global climate pollution.

But Sen. William “Bill” Soules said that the process is energy intensive, and New Mexicans might have to pick up the cost.

In tense debate, Soules noted that the bill did not pass through Senate Conservation nor the judiciary committees in either chamber, despite the legal implications for both the state and how surface ownership and ownership of underground space are murky in New Mexico.

“I think it needs to be slowed down, go through the various other committees, so we can make sure and get it right,” Soules said. “There is potential for a huge, huge market in this area, and most of the landowners who would be affected by this have no idea about the value that their pore space might have.”

HB458 passed through the House Energy and Natural Resources as well as both finance committees in the chamber.

The Senate passed HB 458 on a 26-11 vote, with five senators absent.

Sen. Jeff  Steinborn (D-Las Cruces) said after the vote he was disappointed.

“I am really stunned that we are the first state to be the first in the country that wants to take on this long-term liability for our state from an industry that is clearly capable of doing it, itself,” Steinborn said. “I am stunned and many of us will probably not be here to reap the consequences of it.”

House

The House passed Senate Bill 42, which would require healthcare providers to screen newborns at birthing facilities for substance exposure and have a plan for safe care before they are discharged; Senate Bill 59, which would amend the Public Works Minimum Wage Act to include definitions for project sites; Senate Bill 327, which would create a new special license plate honoring the “lowrider capital of the world;” Senate Bill 495, which would amend the educational television equipment replacement fund to allow expenditure for radio equipment at public schools; Senate Bill 66, which would amend the Criminal Offender Employment Act to exempt several state agencies;  Senate Bill 221, which would create a new prohibited unfair claims practice to prevent insurers from incorrectly categorizing policyholder inquiries as claims; House Memorial 62, which recognizes the impact the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire had on Northern New Mexico communities; Senate Bill 53, which would amend the Professional Psychologist Act to include prescribing psychologists with at least four years of experience prescribing psychotropic drugs; Senate Bill 481, which would establish the State Fairgrounds District to be a subdivision of government with authority over the State Fairgrounds; Senate Bill 535, which would increase the Public Regulation Commission inspection fee and create an annual increase; and Senate Bill 425, which would reauthorize 423 capital outlay projects from previous years.

The House also voted to concur on House Bill 93, which would allow utility companies to add requests for advanced grid technology plans in applications for grid modernization projects and to consider deploying these technologies in integrated resource plans. The bill now heads to the governor’s desk.