Latest news with #CommunityBenefitsFund
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Amid federal pushback, Gov. Lujan Grisham enacts climate change funding bill
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has through April 11 to sign or veto remaining legislation. (Danielle Prokop/Source NM) Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Thursday signed into law Senate Bill 48, the Community Benefit Fund, which contains $210 million for communities to use for a series of projects to mitigate climate change impacts. These include: train workers in the oil and gas industry for other jobs; reduce oil and gas emissions; improve the electric grid; develop renewable energy projects; modify public buildings to be more energy efficient; reduce the impacts of climate change on human health, agriculture and the environment; purchase electric vehicles and develop charging infrastructure. In a written statement Erik Schlenker-Goodrich, executive director of the Western Environmental Law Center, called the law 'a step in the right direction.' 'With the federal government abandoning its responsibilities to the states, there is so much work to be done,' Schlenker-Goodrich said in the statement. 'The Community Benefits Fund provides hope that New Mexicans can step into the void and get it done.' Lujan Grisham signed the bill as the federal government makes moves to clamp down on state climate change work via an executive order signed earlier this week. Experts, however, say Trump's order violates the constitutional principles and would be unlikely to survive a court challenge. Lujan Grisham, in her capacity as co-chair of the U.S. Climate Alliance, issued a joint statement with Co-Chair New York Gov. Kathy Hochul in response to Trump's order that said: 'The federal government cannot unilaterally strip states' independent constitutional authority. We are a nation of states — and laws — and we will not be deterred. We will keep advancing solutions to the climate crisis that safeguard Americans' fundamental right to clean air and water, create good-paying jobs, grow the clean energy economy, and make our future healthier and safer.' The governor on Thursday also signed Senate Bill 23, which raises oil and gas royalty rates on prime tracts of state lands in the Permian Basin from 20% to 25%. The change is expected to generate $50 million to $75 million in revenue for the state's land grant permanent fund which primarily pays out to schools, universities and hospitals. The last time the Legislature last updated royalty rates was in the 1970s. All told, Lujan Grisham signed an additional 22 bills into law Thursday, leaving 38 pieces of legislation in the balance, with one day left to act. Outstanding bills include House Bill 2, which contains the $10.8 billion dollar budget for the state government, and the list of capital outlay projects, which may see line-item vetos, striking a certain project or item and leaving the rest of the bill intact. So far, the governor has signed 157 bills into law — about 80% of the bills sent up to her desk — and vetoed two pieces of legislation. Lujan Grisham has until the end of Friday, April 11 to sign or veto legislation. Any unsigned bill after the deadline passes fails to become law, a power called the 'pocket veto.' A full list of the bills signed: House Bill 156: Increase Educational Salaries House Bill 157: New School Licenses House Bill 195: School Nurse Salary Tiers & Minimums House Bill 487: Protection Of Hispanic Education Senate Bill 11: Anti-Distraction Policy in Schools* Senate Bill 133: Educational Retirees Returning to Work Senate Bill 343: Teacher Salary Rates Changes Senate Bill 345: Teacher & Instructional Support Licensure House Bill 91: Public Utility Rate Structures House Bill 291: Recycling & State's Circular Economy Senate Bill 9: Pipeline Safety Act Violations Civil Penalty Senate Bill 23: Oil & Gas Royalty Rate Changes Senate Bill 42: Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Program* Senate Bill 45: County Health Care Assistance Fund Use Senate Bill 78: Certified Nurse Anesthetist Role House Bill 352: Close & Relocate Certain Magistrate Courts House Bill 493: Public Finance Accountability Act Senate Bill 31: Zero-Interest Natural Disaster Loans (includes a line-item veto that was unavailable as of publication) Senate Bill 36: Sensitive Personal Information Nondisclosure Senate Bill 47: Santa Cruz De La Canada Land Grant Senate Bill 48: Community Benefit Fund Senate Bill 124: Superintendent Of Insurance Subpoenas * Lujan Grisham's messages on SB11 and SB42 had not yet been published as of press time.
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Stewart's remaining climate bills await House hearing
Senate Pro Tem Mimi Stewart (D-Albuquerque) has two bills to infuse millions of dollars to address climate change pass through their final committee and await a hearing on the floor. Stewart said she wouldn't give up on legislation she sponsored to codify New Mexico emissions reduction goals into law, which stalled earlier this session. (Danielle Prokop / Source NM) Two bills that would funnel hundreds of millions for climate change adaptation into communities and state government advanced Tuesday night through the House Appropriations and Finance Committee along party lines. The bills now head to the House floor, but time is running out as the session ends at noon Saturday. Sponsor Senate Pro Tem Mimi Stewart (D-Albuquerque) told Source NM the House could consider Senate Bill 48 as soon as Wednesday. Senate Bill 48, also called the Community Benefits Fund and would make available $210 million for communities and the state to: train workers in the oil and gas industry for other jobs; reduce oil and gas emissions; improve the electric grid; develop renewable energy projects; modify public buildings to be more energy efficient; reduce the impacts of climate change on human health, agriculture and the environment; purchase electric vehicles and develop charging infrastructure. 'The idea behind this is that our communities are struggling with the results of climate change,' Stewart said during the hearing. Stewart noted impacts from the historic flooding in Roswell and the fires in Ruidoso in 2024 along with ongoing rebuilding in San Miguel and Mora Counties from the state's largest wildfires in 2022. Stewart said the fund offers communities a chance to prepare against disasters, which are more frequent due to the warming planet fueled by the extraction and burning of oil and gas. 'The climate impact to the Southwest is intense already,' she said. 'It's hotter, drier, more intense weather.' In response to questions about the financial cost to New Mexico from climate change, co-sponsor House Majority Floor Leader Reena Szczepanski (D-Santa Fe) said in 2024,the state spent over $141 million in emergency state funding, while the damage from the Hermit's Peak-Calf Canyon fires, flash floods and mudslides has totaled more than $900 million, and will ultimately cost billions of dollars. Stewart noted the original $340 million ask was whittled down during the budget process to $210 million, but noted some of the funding in the bill was transferred to state agency budgets instead. 'It's just the process, and I'm happy with $210 million, if that's where we're at,' Stewart told the committee. Senate Bill 83 allocates $10 million in funding for seven state agencies — the largest pieces going to the New Mexico Environment Department and the New Mexico Energy Minerals and Natural Resources Department. The budget contains funding for both bills, but does require SB 48 and SB 83 to pass. Stewart said the funding will be used to continue the work the agencies must do on climate change and adaptation and mitigation, but to also help the communities that might apply for climate change funding through the Community Benefits Fund. 'This just charges them with continuing that work, with increasing that work and having the ability to help these communities who want to do their own work on climate adaptation and mitigation,' Stewart said. Advocates have confidence the bills will make it across the finish line, Camilla Feibelman, the director of the Rio Grande Chapter of Sierra Club, one of the environmental nonprofits supporting the bill, told Source NM Wednesday. 'These two bills make unprecedented investments in not just attending to the global climate crisis and projects that can help reduce emissions, but they also invest and in the people and communities who can help bring in the transition in, and are also most impacted by the effects of climate change or the transitioning economy,' Feibelman said. Stewart brought the bills as part of an expansive package to enshrine climate action into state law. The linchpin Senate Bill 4, Clear Horizons Act, which would have enshrined greenhouse gas emission reduction goals into law, stalled in Senate Finance earlier this session. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
