Sine die hard with a vengeance

Senate President Pro Tem. Mimi Stewart (D-Albuquerque) and other House and Senate Democrats hold a news conference following the close of a special session, in Santa Fe, Thursday, July 18, 2024. (Photo by Eddie Moore / Albuquerque Journal)

The special session is a wrap after five hours.

The New Mexico Senate gaveled out just before 5 p.m. Thursday in a 25-13 vote mostly along party lines, as Republicans objected to the session’s end.

“This first special session of the 56th Legislature could have been handled in an email,” said Sen. Cliff Pirtle (R-Roswell) of the unanimous vote on wildfire relief.

Republicans introduced 15 bills and one constitutional amendment on the Senate floor, many of them related to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s special session crime-focused agenda, including announcements yesterday to toughen penalties for fentanyl distribution and an overhaul of racketeering laws.

The governor first signaled she wanted a special session on public safety back in February, when the 30-day session ended without a few of her key priorities getting a hearing. Since then, she and lawmakers have gone back and forth, ultimately unable to reach consensus on her agenda and culminating in an anticlimactic special session.

Sen. Mark Moores (R-Albuquerque), who sponsored the governor’s legislation, said he was disappointed in the Legislature and floated that the governor might want more Republicans in the body to pass her agenda.

“Even though I opposed this governor, she was right on this issue and I stood up for her on these bills,” Moores said.

The adjournment followed the unanimous passage of House Bill 1, which would offer $100 million in relief to the Ruidoso area following the South Fork and Salt fires, and another $3 million for the Administrative Office of the Court pilot projects for outpatient treatment programs.

Nathan Small (D-Las Cruces), Chair of the House Appropriations Finance Committee touted the fire response package as a “nimble” and necessary piece of funding that responds “in real time” to the unfolding disaster caused by the South Fork and Salt fires.

Also, Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth (D-Santa Fe) said the bill “addresses the governor’s desire for action,” and asked her not to use her line-item veto power to remove the pilot project money.

“This is a first step toward rebuilding the collaborative relationship between the three branches of government,” Wirth said.

The House moved quickly Thursday to introduce and pass the bill and adjourned sine die earlier in the day. It sailed through a committee and then appeared back on the House floor around 2:45 p.m.

House lawmakers passed the bill 57-7, with seven Republicans voting “no.” The lopsided vote occurred after House Speaker Javier Martínez (D-Albuquerque) quickly quashed an effort by Rep. John Block (R-Alamogordo) to add an amendment that promised to crack down on fentanyl crossing the state’s southern border. Martínez deemed the amendment not “germane,” and the House moved on to the vote.

The seven House Republicans who voted against HB1:

John Block (Alamogordo)

Candy Spence Ezzell (Roswell)

Jared Hembree (Roswell)

Alan Martinez (Rio Rancho)

Rod Montoya (Farmington)

Randall Pettigrew (Lovington)

Larry Scott (Hobbs)

The governor opted against holding a news conference after the abrupt end to the session. Instead, her office issued a fiery statement calling Thursday “one of the most disappointing days of my career.”

“The public should be outraged,” she said. “My promise to you is that I will not stop fighting to protect you and your families.”

At a press conference after both chambers adjourned sine die, Democratic leaders said the bill represents a step in the right direction.

Senate President Pro Tem Mimi Stewart (D-Albuquerque) said while the bill lawmakers passed “doesn’t focus on crime the way we will need to in January, and it doesn’t focus on the issues that we will continue to work on and get to consensus on.”

Martínez said the pilot project funding is inspired by the concepts the governor raised.

“From that vantage point, in my opinion, we did move the ball considerably further than it’s ever been moved on these issues,” he said.

Lujan Grisham said lawmakers “walked away from their most important responsibility: keeping New Mexicans safe.”

“But it is noteworthy that a majority of Republicans would have passed many or all of these bills — they were blocked,” she said.

House Minority Leader Rod Montoya (R-Farminton) told Source New Mexico that Democrats’ concerns about optics prevented them from making meaningful changes.

“Frankly, the governor is right. The public is crying out under what is increasing and unbearable crime, especially in Albuquerque,” Montoya said.

A recent report from the Legislative Finance Committee found that violent crime in Bernalillo County, where Albuquerque sits, has flattened since 2017. The current violent crime rate is three times the national per capita rate, according to the report.

Nayomi Valdez, director of public policy at the ACLU of New Mexico, praised lawmakers for doing more work than they were supposed to do in the lead-up to the session. Martínez said they worked on the governor’s proposals for hundreds of hours.

When it became clear the governor’s proposals were not going to change, ACLU-NM and what ultimately grew to 45 other groups released a letter asking her to cancel the special session.

“As crazy as it sounds, I think we just saw democracy happen, and it’s a messy process,” Valdez said after lawmakers largely ignored the governor’s agenda. “Many legislators thanked us for the letter.”

The post Sine die hard with a vengeance appeared first on Source New Mexico.