Legislative roundup, March 9, 2023

Mar. 8—Days remaining in session: 9

Bigger budget: A revised spending plan the Senate Finance Committee is considering would increase the state's overall budget for the upcoming fiscal year by nearly 14%.

The budget proposal approved by the House increased spending by 12.4%.

Changes proposed by the Senate Finance Committee include $101 million more for the Opportunity Scholarship, as well as additional funding to cover the cost of providing free meals at school for all students — both priorities of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

The committee is also proposing bigger raises for state government workers, or average 6% pay increases instead of 5%.

"The executive had told teachers that she wanted to pay for [their health insurance] completely, which would've created an issue of parity" among other employees, said committee Chairman George Muñoz, D-Gallup.

"In order to resolve that issue and treat everybody equally, we added an additional 1% to their pay across the board," he said.

Muñoz said he expects the committee to vote on the proposed budget, which now totals nearly $9.6 billion, on Saturday.

During Wednesday's committee meeting, Muñoz said the House Appropriations and Finance Committee "thinks our spending levels are too high."

But he said if some of Lujan Grisham's spending requests weren't included in the proposed budget, "we would either be in a special session" or a conference committee with the House to resolve differences between the two versions of the spending bill.

Paperback writer: Some state lawmakers don't just write bills — they also write books.

Sen. William Soules, D-Las Cruces, wrote The Sausage Factory: How Lawmakers Can Ensure We Survive and Thrive, which was published in paperback in late February.

Soules, an educator who has served in the Legislature for a decade, said in an interview Tuesday the book includes "all of the little inside things that you learn when you are up here for a while but most of the public thinks are bizarre or have no idea how they work."

One section is called, "So You Want To Be A Sausage Maker?" and includes information about how to run for office, how to lobby for bills and how to act when dealing with lawmakers.

Another section, "Notes From The Senate Lounge," includes anecdotes and vignettes related to watching a particular bill work its way through the House and Senate, Soules said.

The book is available on Amazon.com.

Body camera exceptions: Law enforcement officers in New Mexico would be exempt from wearing body cameras when they are undercover or working with explosives under Senate Bill 368, which cleared the Senate in a unanimous vote.

Sen. Harold Pope, D-Albuquerque, sponsored the bill.

Sen. Joe Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, who had sponsored the measure to require on-duty officers to wear body cameras, said lawmakers don't always "get things exactly right." But the body-cam requirement is a good law, he said.

"Back in 2020, the reason that we passed this legislation, in part, was because of what we were seeing at the national level — the case of George Floyd and others who really died in front of our eyes in some cases," he said. "The video was horrific, but it helped us illustrate the fact that there's a lot to be gained by learning from the knowledge of having body cameras."

Task Force OK'd: Members of the Senate Education Committee voted 6-0 Wednesday to approve a bill creating a task force to study enrollment and other issues in dual credit programs, which allow high school students to take college-level classes and earn both college and high school credit.

House Bill 125 would create a task force by July 1 made up of school superintendents and members from community colleges and high schools. The committee would report its findings by Jan. 1, 2024, in an effort to improve dual credit programs.

HB 125 next goes to the Senate floor for consideration.

No more bullying: Lawmakers from both major parties seem to be getting along well in the House this year — with new leadership on both sides and more than 15 new members — but signs of strain on at least one committee were evident after a Republican lawmaker stood up on the House floor to denounce bullying.

Rep. Stefani Lord, R-Sandia Park, said female members of a committee, which she did not name, have been silencing her voice. She also said they bullied her in a group chat.

"It's kind of comical they didn't realize I was in the chat," she said.

"We cannot have women bully women," Lord said Wednesday — International Women's Day. "It's got to come to an end."

In a short interview after the floor hearing, Lord declined to name the women she was speaking of but reiterated, "Women bullying women has got to stop." She later tweeted video footage of her comments on the floor.

Lord serves on two committees: House Consumer and Public Affairs and House Health and Human Services.

Leave your guns at the door: Members of the House Judiciary Committee voted 5-4 Wednesday to approve a measure that would criminalize carrying of a firearm within 100 feet of a polling place on Election Day or during early voting periods.

Violators could be charged with a petty misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail. The prohibition does not apply to law enforcement personnel or authorized armed security guards.

Advocates for Senate Bill 44 say it will help cut down on polling-place intimidation and make poll workers feel safer. Critics say it's a tough law to enforce and that many polling sites, particularly in rural areas, may be next to businesses where gun carrying among law-abiding citizens is the norm.

The bill next goes to the House floor for consideration.

Quote of the day: "Everyone I know who has worked for [the Public Education Department] has hated it. I don't know what they put in the water over there." — Rep. Susan Herrera, D-Embudo, during a House Education Committee hearing.