NM Legislative Recap Feb. 26: A full House on Behavioral Health Day
It's set to be a full House, after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's announcement Wednesday selecting Martha Garcia, a former Cibola County commissioner and president of the Ramah Chapter House, to fill the vacant seat for House District 6.
The chair, held previously by the late Rep. Eliseo Alcon, has been vacant since his November resignation. Alcon died of liver cancer on Jan. 13.
Elsewhere in the Roundhouse, behavioral health providers and state agencies involved in mental health treatment gathered for Behavioral Health Day.
One of them was Sindy Bolaños-Sacoman, founding director of the New Mexico Tribal Behavioral Health Providers Association, a group of approximately 50 providers from Native nations in New Mexico.
Originally from Guatemala, Bolaños-Sacoman has spent the last 20 years in New Mexico working as an evaluator of state-level health programs.
As Source NM was interviewing Bolaños-Sacoman in a hallway outside the Rotunda on Wednesday morning, Lt. Gov. Howie Morales shook her hand and said, 'Thank you again for all the work you're doing,' before disappearing into a restricted part of the Roundhouse.
Bolaños-Sacoman explained that she is working on House Bill 417, which would raise New Mexico's tax on alcohol for the first time in 30 years and re-direct revenue toward treatment and programs.
She said the bill would generate $100 million in tax revenue, half of which would go to tribal communities that need addiction prevention, recovery, treatment and harm reduction. The Tribal Behavioral Health Association has supported the idea for three years, she said.
Her organization acts as a 'bridge' between tribes and the state when it comes to behavioral health, she said.
Bolaños-Sacoman said she is also tracking the behavioral health package going through the Legislature this session and hopes the regional planning proposed in that legislation will involve local community voices.
'Every community in our state is drastically different,' she said. 'And all tribal communities, Pueblos, nations and tribes, are drastically different themselves, so we need the voices of everyone to hopefully make this behavioral health package be successful in our state.'
Bolaños-Sacoman said her organization has also helped with House Bill 505, which would require pharmacies to maintain stockpiles of buprenorphine, a drug that treats opioid use disorder.
She said she also evaluates programs in New Mexico's jails, where she has learned that when people get released, they do not have access to buprenorphine.
'We have a tiny little window of opportunity to make sure that folks obtain the medication that they need to start off on the right track,' she said. HB505 would hopefully let that happen, she said.
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Just past this session's midpoint, only four bills have passed through both chambers up to the governor's desk.
The Senate passed five bills in the noon floor session Wednesday, all by a unanimous vote. Here is a list of those bills:
Senate Bill 162 would increase how much money the state can have in the General Fund by lowering the minimum it must invest by law. 'We want to ensure as we move forward that we do have the available resources,' said Sen. Pete Camps (D-Las Vegas). The change allows the Legislature to adapt to future budget increases, he added.
Senate Bill 112 would extend a property tax exemption for student dorms to also include housing built by third parties on college property.
Senate Bill 175 would allow the Child Care Revolving Loan Fund to be used by more providers and to expand existing buildings.
Senate Bill 8 would create a $2 million loan repayment program for licensed food animal veterinarians in underserved areas.
Senate Bill 133 would allow retired teachers to return to work and make up to $25,000 per year without losing their retirement benefits.
The Senate was scheduled to reconvene for an evening session on Wednesday.
The House of Representatives, without debate, voted 50-9 on House Bill 129, which would shorten the state worker probationary period from one year to six months.
The House voted unanimously in favor of House Bill 69, which would establish how colleges and universities can calculate how an adjunct professor's work translates into public service loan forgiveness; House Bill 82, which would allow physical therapists and their assistants with licenses from most of the other states to practice in New Mexico; and House Bill 172, which would make August 'New Mexico Red and Green Chile Month.'
The House voted 61-1 to pass House Bill 297, which would establish ways for teachers to become certified in computer science.
The governor's Strategic Water Supply initiative in House Bill 137 has undergone drastic shifts since it was introduced, with the bill now only addressing funding for treating water for salty water in aquifers deep underground, striking out previous efforts to include oil and gas wastewater.
The bill advanced through its third committee, House Appropriations and Finance, on Wednesday. It passed on a 10-4 vote, though not entirely without protest. There were at least two lawmakers who said their discussion to amend the bill to add more requirements for the State Engineer's office around community notice received short shrift.
'I'm very concerned about the way in which the notice section was written,' said Rep. Pamelya Herndon (D-Albuquerque) after her vote against advancing the bill and said it was 'unacceptable' that the sponsors would not commit to making an amendment.
Chair Nathan Small (D-Las Cruces) asked the sponsor Rep. Susan Herrera (D-Embudo) about the concerns expressed by Herndon.
Herrera said the concern was brought forward in the previous committee, House Energy and Natural Resources, but that the bill still received support out of the committee.
'It was not as big of a concern,' Herrera said. 'It wasn't the discussion we had today, let me say that.'
Other lawmakers, on both sides of the aisle, extended praise for the current efforts to consider solutions to treat brackish water.
'When I first saw your bill, I had a lot of problems with it,' Rep. Jack Chatfield (R-Mosquero) told sponsors in the hearing. 'You keep amending it and amending it and I've run out of things to complain about.'
The Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday afternoon passed a bill that would create an exemption for public sector abortion providers in the state's sunshine law.
Specifically, Senate Bill 57 would exempt from public disclosure any records that contain 'personal identifying information or sensitive information related to the practice of a medical provider employed by a public body who performs medical services related to abortion.'
At 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Senate Judiciary was scheduled to hear Senate Bill 152, Senate Bill 281, Senate Bill 299, Senate Bill 319, Senate Bill 505 and Senate Bill 507.
One of the bills that advanced through the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday was Senate Bill 5 which would change the name and mission of the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish and its governing board. SB5 received a 9-1 vote, and now heads to the Senate floor.
The House Commerce and Economic Development Committee passed a substitute version of House Bill 61, which would expand the scope of consumer protection law; and passed House Bill 64, which would prohibit colleges and universities from refusing admission, in-state tuition or financial aid to people for their immigration status; and House Bill 99, which would allow motor insurance companies to obtain titles for totaled vehicles.
The House Agriculture, Acequias and Water Resources Committee passed House Bill 431, which would make watershed district board directors appointed by the supervisors of their local soil and water conservation district, rather than by an election.
The House Labor, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee passed House Bill 468, which would establish the procedures for retiring a New Mexico state flag that's no longer used or useful.
The House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee passed House Bill 405, which would require bosses to give leaves of absence to their workers who are volunteer firefighters when they respond to an emergency fire during normal work hours; and House Bill 532, which would require schools to give students water safety guidance.
The House Taxation and Revenue Committee passed House Bill 199, which would allow some tax data to be shared with the Legislative Finance Committee, which could use it for program evaluation.
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