Governor signs bills providing funding for flood recovery, emergency medical services
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Friday signed into law Senate Bills 383 and 197, which will provide local governments with funding to recover from flooding and improve emergency medical services.
"These bills provide critical tools for our municipalities to recover from devastating floods and strengthen our emergency medical services across the state," Lujan Grisham said in a statement Monday.
SB 197 would allow for money from the state's Emergency Medical Services Fund to be loaned out to local governments for the purchase of EMS improvement projects. The proposal secured unanimous approval from the House and Senate.
SB 383, meanwhile, allows cities to issue flood recovery bonds for rebuilding, repairing, replacing and toughening municipal property after flood damage. The bill, which went into effect immediately upon being signed into law, also passed with unanimous support in both chambers.
The proposals come from a bipartisan group of lawmakers whose districts have been hit hard by natural disasters in recent years. SB 197 was sponsored by Sen. Pete Campos, D-Las Vegas, and Rep. Harlan Vincent, R-Glencoe, while Sen. Candy Spence Ezzell, R-Roswell, put forward SB 383.
The bills are among the first signed by Lujan Grisham following the conclusion of this year's legislative session, which ended March 22 on a mostly sour note.
Lujan Grisham had already signed a couple of dozen bills from the session into law, notably including big bills related to crime and public safety, legislation to increase oversight of the Children, Youth and Families Department, and reforms to the State Game Commission.
She'll have until April 11 to sign the more than 200 other bills that passed both chambers this session. Otherwise, they'll be pocket-vetoed, or subject to a de facto veto that happens when the governor doesn't act on a bill.
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