New Mexico

Top oil and gas bills to watch during New Mexico’s 2024 Legislative Session

Published

2 years ago

January 10, 2024

Top oil and gas bills to watch during New Mexico’s 2024 Legislative Session

New Mexico lawmakers started prefiling bills last week ahead of the 2024 Legislative Session that starts Jan. 16, with many seeking to amend how the state regulates its leading industry oil and gas.

The 30-day budget-focused session will see legislators debating how to spend a $3.5 billion infusion of “new money” largely from oil and gas, but several of the bills already filed would change state laws governing how the industry operates in New Mexico.

Here are the top oil and gas bills to watch during the 2024 New Mexico Legislative Session.

More: New Mexico oilfield lawmakers ready to defend oil, gas from ‘tightening noose’ of regulation

New Mexico House Bill 30 – water use in oil and gas drilling

HB 30, sponsored by Rep. Debra Sarinana (D-21), would amend the state’s Oil and Gas Act to prohibit the use of freshwater in oil and gas drilling at depths lower than freshwater tables. This bill also would require operators to use treated or recycled produced water instead.

Produced water is a combination of flowback from hydraulic fracturing operations, known as “fracking” and formation water brought to the surface with crude oil and natural gas.

In recent years, operators began treating and reusing this water for subsequent fracking operations, instead of disposing of it as waste via reinjection and the bill sought to codify this practice into law.

It would also require operators to submit annual reports on their water usage to the Oil Conservation Division which would then publish the reports online.

More: Lea and Eddy counties continue leading in contribution to state revenue, study says

New Mexico House Bill 31 – penalties for oil and gas spills, wastewater management

Sarinana also pre-filed HB 31 that would outlaw spills or leaks of oil or produced water into the environment from extraction facilities.

As it stands, such spills violate state law if the operator fails to report or take steps to remediate the incident, and this bill would mean operators are in violation the moment the spill occurs.

It would also specify financial damages the operator would pay based on the size of the spill.

More: Gov. Lujan Grisham seeks $500M to buy oil and gas wastewater to support energy projects

Spills of less than five barrels of oil or other drilling liquids would incur a $2,000 fine, while a $10,000 penalty would be assessed for spills of five to 25 barrels.

For spills of more than 25 barrels, the fine would climb to $25,000 plus another $2,000 for each barrel spilled more than 25 barrels.

Another portion of the bill would require the Oil Conservation Division to determine the chemical composition of spilled produced water, treated or not, and make the information publicly available.

More: Democrats admit to diluting GOP votes in congressional map redraw, but argue its allowed

The bill also added language to specify that any use of produced water resulting in water pollution be prohibited, and that the use and movement of produced water be tracked in New Mexico and reported on publicly.

HB 31 would appropriate $750,000 to the Oil Conservation Division to hire five full-time employees tasked with carrying out the bill’s provisions.

New Mexico House Bill 32 – school ‘protection zones’ from oil and gas

Sarinana’s third oil and gas bill would create “children’s health protection zones” where oil and gas operations would be banned within one mile of schools starting in July. Existing oil and gas operations within the buffer would be phased out by 2028.

This would expand a similar policy put in place earlier this year by the New Mexico State Land Office that blocked such operations on State Trust land.

More: Almost $3 billion goes to New Mexico from oil and gas on public land

Civil penalties of $30,000 per day, per violation could be assessed against companies operating within the buffer zones, should the bill pass. The fines would be capped at $200,000.

Operators would also be required to submit maps and an inventory of facilities and schools to the Oil Conservation Division when applying for permits.

The bill also added requirements for operations within the protection zone to curb noise, air pollution emissions, traffic and increased leak detection, and included language to allow companies to apply for variances.

New Mexico House Bill 48 – increased fees paid for oil and gas operations

Sponsored by Rep. Matthew McQueen (D-50), HB 48 would increase royalty payments operators pay to New Mexico to produce oil and gas on State Trust lands.

The rate would go up from 20 percent to 25 percent of the cash value of the produced oil and gas if the bill passes.

Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on the social media platform X.

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New Mexico

Timothy Busfield Charged With Child Sex Abuse On ‘The Cleaning Lady’s New Mexico Set; WBTV Will “Cooperate With Law Enforcement”

Published

7 hours ago

January 10, 2026

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Timothy Busfield Charged With Child Sex Abuse On ‘The Cleaning Lady’s New Mexico Set; WBTV Will “Cooperate With Law Enforcement”

A 10-year-old New Mexico boy says Timothy Busfield “touched his ‘poop’ and ‘pee’ area” during production on The Cleaning Lady, an Albuquerque District Attorney–approved arrest warrant issued today says.

“In my training and experience, pedophiles often infiltrate families under a trusted role, like Timothy, who, as a producer, exploited the hectic film sets to tickle and touch SL on his penis and buttocks, masking it as play,” the warrant from Albuquerque Police Officer Marvin Brown asserts. “He would invite the family to off-set gatherings, with his wife buying Christmas gifts to foster closeness, making SL feel special and dependent—classic grooming to erode boundaries, isolate the victim, and silence suspicions by blending abuse into normalcy.”

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Filled with accounts from two brothers of their alleged repeated experiences with the Thirtysomething alum, who was a director on the now shuttered Élodie Yung-led Fox drama from Warner Bros TV, the document charges Busfield with two counts of criminal sexual contact with a minor and child abuse. It is unclear at this point if the Emmy winner has been arrested and booked by Albuquerque Police Department.

If found guilty of the charges, Busfield could face a minimum of three years behind bars.

In fact, the 68-year-old, who was accused but never charged in two previous sexual assault allegations in 1994 and 2012, could be looking at a lot longer sentence in the Land of Enchantment.

Under New Mexico statutes, prison time in sex crimes against minors leans heavily on context and circumstances in the degrees of punishment they hand out. That time and felony class can go up substantially if the crime involves children under 13 years of age — as it allegedly does here.

Named as “SL” and “VL” in the warrant, the two 2014-born boys appeared on The Cleaning Lady over multiple seasons before being let go for having aged out of the role, I hear. However, in a Nov. 3, 2025 phone interview with Busfield in the warrant, The West Wing vet told investigating Officer Brown that he “the lead actress, Elodie Young” informed him over a year ago that “the mother of SL and VL (sic) that she wanted revenge, and I’m going to get my revenge on Tim Busfield for not bringing her kids back for the final season.”

Courtesy of Fox

In interviews conducted with SL and VL on Halloween last year by a “forensic child interviewer,” and observed by Officer Brown, today’s arrest warrant says that the former told them the alleged abuse by Busfield started when he was 7 years old and on The Cleaning Lady.

“SL said that Tim touched him three to four times on his ‘poop’ and ‘pee’ area over his clothing,” the 12-page arrest warrant states of what is cited as a second incident with Busfield, very similar to a previous incident. “SL said he was very afraid of Tim and was relieved when he was off set. SL said he was afraid to tell anyone because Tim was the director, and he feared Tim would get mad at him. SL did advise that Tim touched him while he was only on set filming in Albuquerque.”

SL now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety, the warrant says. SL disclosing having nightmares about the director touching him and waking up scared,” the document adds.

It goes on: “VL explained that Mr. Tim started touching them for the first two years, and he did not want to say anything, because he did not want to be mean to him. Therefore, VL did not say anything. VL said Mr. Tim would start touching him with his hands about his body while they were filming in the ‘house’. VL advised that it was about his body, but did not disclose that he was touched on his buttocks or penis area. VL said he did not like being touched, but did not say anything because he did not want to get in trouble.”

The matter actually first came to the cops’ attention in late 2024 when a doctor from University of New Mexico Hospital contacted the Albuquerque Police Department in regards to a “sexual abuse investigation.”

Noting that the boys’ father had been advised to go to the hospital by a local law firm, today’s warrant details: Officer Osborn talked with both VL and SL, who did not disclose any sexual contact at this time. However, both boys advised that Timothy Busfield, whom they referred to as ‘Uncle Tim’, would tickle them on the stomach and legs. Neither boy cared for the tickling. Officer Osborn contacted Detective Michael Brown with the Crimes Against Children Unit and determined that the case did not meet their acceptance criteria at this time.”

The matter came back to the police’s attention and became a much greater priority after the boys’ mother “advised that on 09/02/2025, SL reported to his counselor that Timothy Busfield touched his penis and bottom.”

In that same telephone conversation with Busfield in the weeks before Thanksgiving last year, the NYC-based filmmaker also dropped to Officer Brown that producers Warner Bros TV had conducted its own probe into allegations against him after SAG-AFTRA received an anonymous complaint in early 2025 of an incident on The Cleaning Lady set in December 2024. After writing up a search warrant for WB (which today’s warrant seems to mistakenly say occurred on “10/03/2025”) and several correspondences with WB attorney Richard Wessling at law firm Proskauer, Officer Brown on NYE last year got his hands on the March 31, 2025 external report put together by the LA office of Solomon Law.

Specifically the report, which saw Busfield suspended during the probe, looked into claims from the hotline caller that there was evidence of Busfield “tickling and caressing the head and body of minor boys” while working on the Albuquerque-filmed Cleaning Lady. Upon his own reading of the document, Officer Brown says in Friday’s warrant that Solomon investigator “Christina McGovern was not able to talk with anyone who would support evidence that Timothy Busfield engaged in this behavior.”

Working from what now seems to be limited accusations, the WBTV investigation viewed Busfield as “exonerated,” sources tell me.

In a statement to Deadline tonight, the Channing Dungey-led WBTV said: “The health and safety of our cast and crew is always our top priority, especially the safety of minors on our productions. We take all allegations of misconduct very seriously and have systems in place to promptly and thoroughly investigate, and when needed, take appropriate action. We are aware of the current charges against Mr. Busfield and have been and will continue to cooperate with law enforcement.”

As well as speaking to the boys’ mother and father (who seem to have instigated and then ceased a civil suit on this), plus some Cleaning Lady production assistants and Make-up and Hair department staffers, today’s warrant also details a brief back-and-forth between Officer Brown and the series star Yung, who was a producer too.

“On 11/5/2025, I contacted Elodie Yung to set up an interview. Elodie agreed to meet with me at the Northwest Substation on 11/7/2025,” Officer Brown notes in his fairly comprehensive affidavit that e Albuquerque Assistant DA Savannah Brandenburg-Koch signed off on today. “I did initially advise Elodie that Tim Busfield gave me her name and said that she may have information about this case. On 11/06/2025, Elodie left me a voicemail declining to speak with me and said that she does not want to be involved with the investigation and that she would not have any information that could assist in this case.”

Busfield’s agents at Innovative Artists did not respond late Friday to Deadline’s request for comment on the arrest warrant and the charges against their client.

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New Mexico

New Mexico Public Education Department faces $35 million shortfall

Published

19 hours ago

January 9, 2026

Press Room

New Mexico Public Education Department faces million shortfall

The New Mexico Public Education Department is facing a $35 million deficit, which it attributes to overpayments made to Gallup-McKinley County Schools, a claim the district disputes, arguing they are being wrongly blamed for the state’s funding mismanagement.

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