House, Senate pass funding bill, adjourn without taking up crime bills

Jul. 18—New Mexico's Democratic-dominated House of Representatives and Senate brought a one-day special legislative session to an abrupt end Thursday afternoon after passing an all-in-one funding bill that ignored much of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's public safety agenda.

The Senate ended the special session by adjourning sine die at 4:57 p.m. Thursday after passing House Bill 1, a couple of hours after the House did the same. The vote was 25-13, with the Democrats in favor of adjourning and the Republicans opposed, arguing the Legislature should have taken up the bills to crack down on crime the Democratic governor Lujan Grisham wanted to pass in this special session.

"Maybe she needs a Republican Legislature here to actually advance this agenda and I hope the voters are listening," said Sen. Mark Moores, R-Albuquerque.

"We had an opportunity and we squandered it," said Sen. Cliff Pirtle, R-Roswell.

Both chambers passed House Bill 1, which would help wildfire victims and mental health court programs. The bill would set aside $100 million to help those affected by the recent fires in the Ruidoso area and for outpatient treatment and competency diversion pilot programs. Another $3 million would go toward the Administrative Office of the Courts to fund the behavioral health-related treatment programs in the 2025 fiscal year.

The bill also allocates about $212,000 to fund the special session itself, which Lujan Grisham called to address a number of hotly contested public safety measures and which started at noon on Thursday.

The disaster relief funding in the bill includes $70 million for no-interest, reimbursable loans for parts of the state that have been approved for federal public assistance funding to replace or repair public infrastructure damaged by the Salt and South Fork fires. Those funds would be administered by the Department of Finance and Administration.

It also includes $10 million for the Mescalero Apache Tribe for damages from the fires, to be administered by the New Mexico Indian Affairs department, and $10 million for the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department for fire damage cleanup and mitigation. There is another $10 million to help individuals and businesses with the application and claims process for receiving Federal Emergency Management Agency funds and making private insurance claims through the New Mexico Office of Superintendent of Insurance for damages caused by fire or flooding.

Rep. John Block, R-Alamogordo, tried and failed to gain support for an amendment to put $10 million for security along the New Mexico-Mexico border to stem fentanyl trafficking.

House Speaker Javier Martínez, D-Albuquerque, said the proposal wasn't "germane" to the governor's agenda before House members quickly voted to adjourn.

Earlier in the day, the House Appropriations and Finance Committee passed the measure nearly unanimously in the first hour-and-a-half of the special session, although two Republicans said they think the fire relief and court program funding were inappropriate to include in the "feed bill," which typically is a bill lawmakers pass to fund the costs of a legislative session.

"This is the wrong process for this, and it has been misused for way too many years," said. Rep. Randall T. Pettigrew, R-Lovington, who voted against the measure.

Rep. Harlan Vincent, a Glencoe Republican and one of the bill's co-sponsors, said he is grateful for the funding for the fire-affected area. He represents Lincoln County, the location of the South Fork and Salt fires and subsequent flooding that destroyed more than 1,400 structures and led to at least two deaths.

"I just wanted to give you my most sincerest gratitude for what you've done for my community," Vincent said.

House members are expected to return to the House floor later Thursday.

In the Senate, Republicans introduced a flurry of bills, including the governor's proposals for the special session, as well as amendments to the state's racketeering act, making the distribution of fentanyl resulting in death a capital felony and "making appropriations for the construction of a border barrier" at the border with Mexico.

While the bills were referred to either the Senate Judiciary or Finance committees, no committee hearings have been scheduled — and it's unclear if any will take place.

During the floor session, Democrats criticized the governor's bills — and the governor herself.

Sen. Joe Cervantes, a Las Cruces Democrat who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said lawmakers adopted a "thoughtful and deliberative process" in response to Lujan Grisham's announced agenda for a special session.

"As time went on, we began to recognize some very serious shortcomings with the proposed legislation," he said.

Cervantes noted the governor pulled a proposal on assisted outpatient treatment from the agenda and said her proposals have changed "month-to-month, week-to-week, hour-to-hour."

"In the last 24 hours, we're seeing new proposals that were never presented, that were never contemplated, for this special session," preventing lawmakers and their "knowledgeable staff" to review the proposals, he said.

"I've likened our interim process trying to get our arms around important crime initiatives as Whac-A-Mole because as soon as one initiative pops up, it gets knocked down," Cervantes said. "We see the flaws on it, and it goes away and then another one pops up."

Sen. Katy Duhigg, D-Albuquerque, questioned whether a median safety bill that has been referred to as a "no panhandling bill" would lead to litigation.

"Restrictions like this, when they come from the government, they always implicate the First Amendment. They always implicate free speech, and they're routinely challenged," she said. "In fact, the U.S. Supreme Court has struck down these kinds of restrictions even when they don't say 'speech' anywhere in them."

Duhigg said the city of Albuquerque passed a similar ordinance "that would prohibit folks congregating on medians" in 2017. The ordinance survived a legal challenge but it hasn't been enforced in the past five years, she said.

"In Santa Fe just last night, the City Council passed another similar measure, although they had, I think, some very good insights about the fact that maybe we shouldn't be fining people hundreds of dollars when they are panhandling and clearly do not have the funds to pay those fines," she said.

Duhigg pointed out Santa Fe delayed implementation of its ordinance for six months.

"In Santa Fe, if they feel like it can be delayed for six months, I think that kind of undermines any sense that this is something that has to get done right now or the sky will fall," she said, adding cities already have the ability to implement such ordinances without a state law "potentially limiting the public speech on medians and roadways."

Duhigg said everyone cares about pedestrian fatalities.

"But what this does is criminalize things like the pilgrimage to Chimayo on Highway 76," she said. "Those pilgrims would now face up to a $1,000 fine and up to 364 days in jail for continuing this tradition that is incredibly important to our state."

The proposal would also prohibit firefighters from standing on medians for their "Fill the Boot" fundraisers, she said: "Those firefighters would now be subject to a $500 fine and up to 90 days in jail."

This is a developing story and will be updated.