New Mexico

GOP senators carry the bills for the NM special session • Source New Mexico

Published

6 months ago

July 18, 2024

GOP senators carry the bills for the NM special session • Source New Mexico

It was straight to business Thursday as Senate lawmakers took to the floor and presented the merits and concerns they have with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s special session agenda.

During the hour-and-a-half debate, it became clear that the rift between Lujan Grisham and top Democratic legislators over the special session remained wide open, even as Republican senators praised the governor and sponsored a slate of bills.

In comparison, the House only introduced one piece of legislation. House Bill 1 funds the special session but also puts money towards assisted outpatient pilot programs and provides grants and loans for wildfire response.

A mere three hours after the opening gavel, and after passing the HB 1 to the Senate, the House adjourned sine die, usually signaling the close of a session.

Legislative rules require that if one chamber remains in session, while the other gavels out, the adjourned body must return every three days as part of procedure. But there’s no requirement for them to do legislative work.

If the House continues not to convene, there would be no means for the Senate’s proposed legislation to become law.

‘I haven’t moved my positions’

Seventeen senators participating in the special session, just under half of the 42-member body, either announced retirement, or chose not to seek reelection.

Most of the bills introduced related to crime, which the governor laid out as the priority in her proclamation. Lujan Grisham’s agenda garnered praise from Sen. Crystal Diamond Brantley (R-Elephant Butte) and Sen. Craig Brandt (R-Rio Rancho).

Sen. Mark Moores (R-Albuquerque), who is not running for reelection and has moved to Las Cruces, said he is proud to sponsor the governor’s bills, saying they’re a step in the right direction to address crime.

“I haven’t moved my positions, but it seems like the governor has moved, and seen and actually is trying to take leadership,” he said.

Senator Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, and Rep. Andrea Romero, D-Santa Fe, present a bill to increase the waiting period for background checks when purchasing a firearm in during the 30-day 2024 session. (Photo by Eddie Moore / Albuquerque Journal)

Sen. Joseph Cervantes (D-Las Cruces) called the lead up to the special session frustrating, saying the governor’s office continued to change the proposed policy ideas.

“These proposals have changed month to month, week to week, hour to hour,” he said. “In the last 24 hours, we’re seeing new proposals that were never presented, never contemplated for this special session.”

Cervantes chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee and is poised to review most of the bills introduced in the special session.

Cervantes said lawmaking needs to be careful, saying some of the proposals already exist on the books or could have unintended consequences the way they are written now.

Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino (D-Albuquerque) urged his colleagues to support additional funding for pilot projects in courts across the state to offer treatments instead of jail time.

Ortiz y Pino said the governor’s statements that the legislature is not addressing crime are untrue, and the problems with a lack of mental health and drug abuse treatment won’t be solved with jailing people who can’t access it.

“To say we’re going to mandate treatment without providing any additional services is a guarantee you’re going to have people staying in jail because there is no room for them,” Ortiz y Pino said.

Sen. Katy Duhigg (D-Albuquerque) said she was concerned the median safety bill, also called the panhandling bill, could inadvertently limit free speech, does not address the real causes of pedestrian deaths and could potentially criminalize other activities, such as the annual Easter pilgrimage to Chimayó.

“Cities already have the ability to do this if they want to,” Duhigg said. “We do not need a state law, regulating – potentially limiting the public speech – on medians and roadways.”

Another top priority is addressing the damage from the South Fork and Salt fires in the Ruidoso areas, which is further flooding danger from the monsoon rains.

More than 850 homes were lost, and others remain imperiled by continued flooding, according to state officials.

Sen. William “Bill” Burt (R-Alamogordo) called on his colleagues to support state funding and relief efforts, saying while no official estimates are out, damages could be between $100 million and $150 million.

“I am hoping each and every one of you will consider in your heart to help the people of Lincoln, Ruidoso and Ruidoso Downs to begin the recovery and healing of the devastation,” Burt said.

In all, lawmakers introduced 15 bills and one constitutional amendment.

Of those, six bills were immediately assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Seven bills were instead sent to the Senate Committee’s Committee to determine if they are germane to the governor’s proclamation, then be heard by other committees.

As of 4:30 p.m. there were no posted agendas for any Senate committees.

Proposed legislation:

Senate Bill 5 – Amending the state’s racketeering laws.

Senate Bill 6 – Making the distribution of fentanyl resulting in death a capital felony

Senate Bill 7 – Requestings the state offer $119 million in zero-interest loans for public infrastructure damage during the South Fork and Salt fires and subsequent flooding

Senate Bill 8 – Appropriating $100 million to build a barrier at the New Mexico-Mexico border

Senate Bill 9 – Changing the definition of “harm to self” and “harm to others” in the state’s commitment procedures

Senate Bill 10 – Initiation of civil commitment proceedings, changing competency proceedings

Senate Bill 11– Unsafe use of public highways and medians act

Senate Bill 12 – Increasing crimes during an evacuation

Senate Bill 13 – Exempting law enforcement and a buyer with a valid concealed carry license in another state from certain state gun laws.

Senate Bill 14 – Changing the sentencing for the crime of selling fentanyl

Senate Bill 15 – Prohibiting cities and counties from restricting personnel or resources in federal immigration law enforcement

Senate Bill 16 – Appropriation for cellular and radio towers in Doña Ana, Hidalgo and Luna counties.

Senate Bill 17 – Requiring reporting from local police departments to the Department of Public safety on crimes, and ballistic information

Senate Bill 18 – Increasing the prison time to 12 years for the conviction of a felon in possession of a firearm

Senate Bill 19 – Creating a school safety division in the Department of Public Safety.

Finally, Senate Joint Resolution 1, would amend the state’s constitution to make it harder for people to avoid being held in jail before trial. It would remove the requirement that only judges can revoke bail conditions. It would change the language to remove limits on revoking bail.

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New Mexico

Slowed growth: New Mexico drops 21 spots in U-Haul’s latest migration report

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3 hours ago

January 7, 2025

Press Room

Slowed growth: New Mexico drops 21 spots in U-Haul’s latest migration report

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New Mexico

New Mexico AG files motion to halt $1.9M buyout for WNMU president

Published

11 hours ago

January 6, 2025

Press Room

SILVER CITY, N.M. — New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed a motion to halt a $1.9 million buyout for the departing president of Western New Mexico University.

Joseph Shepard stepped down as president of WNMU after a state audit found he spent $316,000 of university money on lavish international trips, high-end furniture and other items over the course of several years. During the investigation, the state auditor’s office blamed university management and the WNMU Board of Regents for not upholding their responsibilities and enforcing travel rules.

After this, the board approved a $1,909,788 buyout last month for Shepard.

AG Torrez argues the payment isn’t supported by Shepard’s contract and “is unconscionable as a violation of public policy and the public interest.”

“This payment is an egregious misuse of public funds and a betrayal of the Board’s responsibility to act in the best interest of the university and its students,” Torrez said in a statement Monday. “Dr. Shepard voluntarily resigned, and the Board had ample opportunity to negotiate a reasonable or no-cost separation agreement. Instead, they chose to pledge nearly $2 million in taxpayer money without justification or consideration of the public good.”

The New Mexico Department of Justice is requesting the court temporarily block the $1.9 million payment before a hearing can happen. The NMDOJ is requesting the hearing be held before Jan. 15 – the deadline for the payment – or issue an ex-parte order until the hearing can be scheduled. They are also requesting the court prohibit the board from disbursing the payment until a special audit – requested by WNMU, the regents and Shepard – is complete and a report is available.

Shepard’s buyout is just one part of the board-approved separation agreement. The agreement also calls for Shepard to get $200,000 guaranteed for five years as a newly-tenured faculty member once he returns from an eight-month sabbatical. The sabbatical would begin the day he officially resigns. Then, when he returns, he will work remotely.

The agreement drew ire from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who sent a letter demanding the entire board step down. Before siding with the WNMU Faculty Senate in a unanimous vote of no confidence in the board, faculty senate president Phillip Schoenberg said he heard from the board president that the regents would comply with the governor’s order.

The faculty senate also called on the regents to rescind Shepard’s separation agreement.

New Mexico Higher Education Secretary Stephanie Rodriguez described the buyout as “gross negligence and mismanagement of taxpayer funds.” Her department is also investigating this.

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New Mexico

‘My staff is spent’: New Mexico emergency management leader reflects on year of disasters

Published

19 hours ago

January 6, 2025

Press Room

‘My staff is spent’: New Mexico emergency management leader reflects on year of disasters

Patrick Lohmann
| Source New Mexico

This article was originally published by Source New Mexico.

President Joe Biden issued two major disaster declarations in New Mexico in 2024, the first time since 2014 that pronouncement has been made twice in the same year, according to federal data.

First, two wildfires erupted in the Ruidoso area in June. The South Fork and Salt fires and ensuing floods destroyed more than 1,500 homes and caused the deaths of two people. Then, in October, heavy rains caused devastating flooding in Roswell, a disaster that resulted in at least two deaths, as well.

In both instances, and for smaller emergencies before and in-between them, the state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management responded.

Disasters of that severity require a multi-faceted response and coordination between numerous officials and local and state agencies. Emergency Management was at the center of all that, running into disaster zones, marshaling resources and fielding questions at angry town halls.

Recently, Deputy Secretary Ali Rye reflected on a year of disasters in an interview with Source New Mexico. She described a tiring year and a small-but-mighty agency that is struggling to keep up with the “before,” “during” and “after” disasters because there have been so many.

“I mean, my staff is spent. I think New Mexicans are spent,” Rye said. “I think everyone is just, they’re tired, and they’re constantly in this response or recovery mode.”

Before 2022, the state had a reprieve of nearly a decade from major disaster declarations, according to Federal Emergency Management Agency data, excluding the COVID-19 pandemic. (Rye doesn’t really count the pandemic she said, “Because everybody got impacted by COVID.”)

The 2022 federally declared disaster was a series of wildfires burning throughout the state simultaneously. On a single spring day in 2022, 20 wildfires were burning at the same time.

That’s the same year that the state experienced the two biggest fires in its history – the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire in northern New Mexico and the Black Fire in southern New Mexico. Both burned more than 300,000 acres.

The trial by fires, while devastating for communities and exhausting for staff, has at least been educational, Rye said.

“I will tell you, though, we have learned a lot over the last two years,” she said. “And I think it showed this year with us being very proactive in areas that we knew were going to get hit, or us planning ahead for fire season, for monsoon season in a more proactive way.”

That meant meeting with residents and local officials in disaster-prone areas, purchasing needed equipment and staging it there in advance, Rye said.

The ongoing fallout from the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire shows the long tail – and cumulative nature – of disasters. More than two years later, even as disasters unfolded in southern New Mexico, staff was still driving all over the state, offering state case managers to help northern fire victims navigate a tangle of bureaucracy and support to local officials still trying to rebuild roads or mitigate against future floods.

“The same staff that help in Roswell and in Ruidoso are also the same staff that help in Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon,” Rye said. “And so my staff, I mean, they travel all over the state to be able to provide the assistance and the resources to these individuals who are still in these communities that are still recovering.”

Rye’s core staff is two people, she said, though the office does employ others with the help of federal grants. “So, yeah, it’s a lot,” she said.

But it’s rewarding and vital work, she said, helping people on the worst days of their lives. The office is hiring, and Rye is hoping to convince lawmakers to increase its operating budget from about $3.2 million to about $5.6 million at the upcoming 60-day session. The extra funding would help attract and retain staff, many of whom are lured away by federal disaster response agencies or elsewhere.

As it stands, the skeleton crew can’t take as much time as needed to help a community recover or prepare before another flood, snowstorm or wildfire.

“We’re going so much that we cannot put in those mitigation efforts the way we really, truly would like to,” she said. “We’re kind of just putting Band-aids on situations to keep the state afloat.”

Patrick Lohmann has been a reporter since 2007, when he wrote stories for $15 apiece at a now-defunct tabloid in Gallup, his hometown. Since then, he’s worked at UNM’s Daily Lobo, the Albuquerque Journal and the Syracuse Post-Standard.

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