NM Legislative Recap March 4: $70M request, likely headed to Musk's Starlink, ‘probably dead'

Yahoo

05-03-2025

Drew Lovelace, acting director of the New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion, speaks at a news conference at the New Mexico Legislature on March 4, 2025. (Photo by Austin Fisher / Source NM)
New Mexico's broadband agency is no longer seeking tens of millions of dollars to help cover the cost of connecting to satellite high-speed internet — money that officials expected would have gone to Elon Musk's satellite internet provider.
The New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion last November asked the Legislative Finance Committee for $70 million to help cover the cost of connecting to satellite high-speed internet. The committee makes budgetary recommendations to the full Legislature.
As OBAE Director Drew Lovelace previously told Source NM, the only satellite internet provider in the market with satellites close enough to the planet's surface for high-speed internet would be Musk's Starlink. Other companies have satellites farther away into space, but to his knowledge, none provide a fast enough connection speed.
Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency has prompted protests across the country, including in Las Cruces in southern New Mexico on Saturday, for its dismantling of federal government agencies.
In an interview with reporters on Tuesday, Lovelace said the proposal is 'probably dead at this point, unfortunately.'
Lovelace said his office asked for the money to be included as a one-time appropriation in House Bill 2, the state budget for the upcoming fiscal year, but the House Appropriations and Finance Committee didn't include it. He said he thinks it is 'more than likely' the Senate Finance Committee also will not include the $70 million in the final budget.
'We've had a lot of discussion with legislators, and I think there's concerns around there being only one provider on the market as one issue,' he said. 'A lot of the rural legislators have also expressed concerns about wanting to put that money toward actual infrastructure that's going to stay in the state.'
Lovelace spoke after a news conference touting $13.5 million in grants awarded to internet service providers who will provide free high-speed internet to students in Belen, Gadsden, Cibola County, Hatch Valley, Los Lunas, Ohkay Owingeh and Quemado.
Those grants come from OBAE's Student Connect program. Lovelace said his alternative to the Starlink pitch is for lawmakers to add another $20 million to Student Connect.
'The benefit of us pivoting to the Student Connect is we can go after some of those students and make sure they have the right connectivity using wireless, which is also pretty quick,' Lovelace said.
Bill McCamley, a podcaster and a former cabinet secretary of the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions, said Tuesday he is happy the Starlink proposal is not moving forward.
'I think it's going to be better for the service provision for people in rural areas,' McCamley said. 'I would have been very uncomfortable having tax dollars that I pay to the state go to fund Elon Musk, with what I know he's doing to destroy a lot of the things I think are important, and I think a lot of Americans and New Mexicans feel the same way.'
McCamley said he had a hand in organizing a protest against Musk on Saturday in Las Cruces, where he told people about his sister who is a doctor with the Veterans Administration who received a letter containing a 'deferred resignation' offer.
'This is an attempt by the Project 2025 people to try to shrink government and shrink services so they can give tax cuts to billionaires,' he said. 'That's not something many Americans are welcoming right now.'
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The Senate on Tuesday unanimously passed Senate Bill 387, which would increase the amount the New Mexico Public Education department can award to community schools; Senate Bill 249, which would direct managed care organizations to fully reimburse health providers for sales taxes on their services, as well as give them documentation showing the difference between the reimbursement and the tax; and Senate Bill 63, which would establish procedures for retiring a state flag that is no longer used or useful.
The Senate also unanimously passed Senate Bill 179, which would allow electronic disclosures for rental agreements; and Senate Bill 236, which would create a motorcycle-size 'Look Twice for Motorcycle Safety' license plate. Previous legislation created a car-sized license plate with that message.
The Senate voted 23-16 on Senate Bill 59, which requires that workers doing off-site fabrication for publicly funded projects receive the same prevailing wage and benefits received by on-site workers.
The Senate voted 25-15 on Senate Bill 37, which would create a fund for the Strategic Water Reserve overseen by the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission, not to be confused with the governor's proposed Strategic Water Supply.
In a 16-23 vote, the Senate failed to pass Senate Bill 186, which would have changed the way multi-family housing is valued for taxes.
The House on Tuesday passed House Bill 143, which would require lobbyists or their employers to file an additional activity report on legislation that the filer either lobbied in support of or opposition to; and House Bill 206, which would authorize the New Mexico Finance Authority to make loans or grants to 62 water infrastructure projects.
Sponsors of the lobbyist transparency bill have pointed to the Cicero Institute, a billionaire-backed think tank based in Texas that hired two high-powered lobbyists this session. What bills are they lobbying for or against? The public does not know.
The House also unanimously passed three bills making changes to the state's Children Youth and Families Department.
House Bill 5, which would create an independent Office of the Child Advocate attached to the New Mexico Attorney General. The advocate would have a six-year term and be appointed by a committee of nine members from all three branches of government.
House Bill 203, which would require CYFD to back up all electronic records, including emails, texts, instant messages and interagency communications.
House Bill 205, which would move the program for substance-addicted newborns out of CYFD and under the New Mexico Health Care Authority; establish a nominating commission for CYFD leadership; beef up the Substitute Care Advisory Council and move it under the New Mexico Attorney General's office; and require CYFD to implement evidence-based prevention services qualifying for federal funds.
All three bills now head to the Senate for committee assignments, and a full Senate vote.
Rep. Michelle Paulene Abeyta (D-To'hajiilee) a co-sponsor on HB5 told Source NM after the vote that she believes the bill has time to advance through the Senate.
'I'm very excited about today's results,' she said in a phone call. 'It proved that the House is unanimous in our consensus that something needs to change, and HB5 is going to be what will help give our children a voice.'
CYFD officials have objected to the bill, saying that housing the Office of the Child Advocate in the attorney general's office creates a conflict of interest for the state, and suggested placing it in the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department instead.
Abeyta said that's not on the table.
'I'm not willing to amend that part of my legislation,' she said. 'We need an impartial office that's going to be willing to hear these tough concerns, address them and then provide some solutions and report back to the Legislature; and in our opinion, there's no other entity that's more ready to do that than the AG's office.'
Abeyta said her experience growing up in kinship care, raised by her grandmother, and her care for her nephews shaped the bill.
'I am hopeful that the governor will see that HB5 is really a way to empower our children who are in state custody to have a voice and to have a safe, impartial space where they will find an advocate who will help them — because our kids need advocates,' she said.
A bill to give New Mexico the power to permit pollution in its rivers and streams advanced through the House Agriculture and Acequias committee on a 5-2 vote. Senate Bill 21 now heads to its second committee, House Energy, Environment and Natural Resources. If passed, it would need to clear a full House vote and receive the governor's signature to become law.
The Senate Judiciary Committee passed Senate Bill 9, which would increase the cap on civil penalties for violations of the Pipeline Safety Act from $100,000 to $1 million.
The Senate Conservation Committee passed Senate Bill 470, which would limit requests for impounding water for cattle to ranchers; House Bill 91, which would allow the Public Regulation Commission to consider a rate structure to charge low-income customers less for electricity.
The Senate Conservation Committee also endorsed a memorial seeking to protect Mount Taylor from uranium mining, citing its cultural and historical significance. The move comes after the Cibola National Forest Supervisor, in a meeting recording obtained by Source New Mexico, announced two long-dormant uranium mine proposals would become 'priority projects.'
The memorial is nonbinding, but two Republicans voted against it anyway, because they were concerned about the memorial's potential impact on private property owners.
The Senate Finance Committee passed Senate Bill 18, which would create the crime of SWATing and make it a fourth-degree felony; Senate Bill 70, which would add 11 predicate crimes to the definition of racketeering; and Senate Bill 274, which would raise the thresholds for state approval of property sales by state agencies, counties, school districts, special districts, and community colleges from $5,000 to $30,000.
The House Health and Human Services Committee passed a substitute version of House Bill 437, which would allow foster care organizations to receive a tax credit for donations; House Bill 465, which would protect nurses who believe an assignment from a provider exceeds their competencies or is unreasonable; and House Bill 503, which would create a right to a lawyer in the courts' domestic relations mediation program.
The House Appropriations and Finance Committee passed House Bill 167, which would require the Higher Education Department to provide free high school equivalency testing; and House Bill 209, which would require the Department of Information Technology to add links to the state's Sunshine Portal that direct users to the state law creating each fund listed under the New Mexico Compilation Commission's website.
The House Judiciary Committee passed House Bill 62, which would consolidate the scattered statutes that give the AG power to seek information prior to filing a lawsuit through a civil investigative demand; House Bill 217, which would enable an interstate compact for counselors; House Bill 243, which would enable a compact for psychologists; a substitute version of House Bill 296, which would allow certified accountants to work in New Mexico without paying a certification fee; and House Bill 323, which would allow unlicensed engineers to work wherever their employer has an easement or right-of-way.
The House Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee passed a substitute version of Senate Bill 23, which would raise oil and gas royalty rates; and a substitute version of Senate Bill 33, which would establish a task force for wildfire preparedness and response, create a fund and help buildings and homes be more prepared for wildfire.
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