Latest news with #HouseConsumer&PublicAffairsCommittee
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Crime package headed to New Mexico Senate
Reps. Christine Chandler (left) and Marianna Anaya present their criminal competency bill to the House Consumer & Public Affairs Committee Jan. 28, 2025. (Photo by Leah Romero / Source NM) After three hours of debate, the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday night voted 7-1 in favor of House Bill 8, a package of six bills intended to reduce crime. The House of Representatives already passed the omnibus legislation, leaving the package one Senate vote away from reaching Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's desk. Committee members focused on House Bill 4, which would give prosecutors more options to involuntarily commit people into a locked psychiatric facility if they are deemed dangerous and unable to stand trial. Supporters at Wednesday night's committee included the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, the Albuquerque Police Department, the Department of Public Safety, the New Mexico Nurses Association, the New Mexico Nurse Practitioner Council and Disability Rights New Mexico. Jim Jackson, a former executive director of Disability Rights New Mexico, told the committee the organization supports 'most' of the bill's competency-related provisions, particularly the one establishing community-based competency restoration programs. 'This will spare people the trauma of being sent to the forensic unit at the state hospital in Las Vegas, and provide this kind of service on the local level,' Jackson said. 'We don't have that capacity yet, but if we can develop that, I think it will be really useful.' Criticism of HB 4 remains, however, in part because there is no statewide competency restoration program in New Mexico. For instance, nearly all of the mental health professionals who evaluate people for their abilities to stand trial oppose HB4, according to Dr. Bronwyn Neeser, a forensic psychologist and former competency evaluator contract manager for the state Behavioral Health Services Division. According to Neeser, out of the 12 competency evaluation contractors working in New Mexico, 10 of them oppose HB 4, accounting for 25 of the 27 evaluators doing this work. She said they're concerned about not being able to obtain records needed to complete the evaluations; a lack of legal immunity for evaluators in their decision making; lack of additional compensation for the bigger workload; and the potential for competency evaluations to become unsealed. Neeser said she's handed amendments about competency evaluators to Rep. Christine Chandler (D-Los Alamos) and the other HB 4 sponsors but as of Wednesday, 'none of those concerns have been addressed.' 'To me, this is a blatant disregard for the professionals who will be adding a tremendous burden to their already cumbersome evaluation process,' she told the committee. 'If any legislator had bothered to reach out to the contract evaluators, they would have understood the number of evaluators with concerns.' Later in the hearing, Sen. Anthony Thornton (R-Sandia Park) asked Chandler if she has worked with the evaluators to see whether they'll be able to handle the increased workload. Chandler said she spoke with an unnamed University of New Mexico representative about the need for more forensic psychologists. She didn't mention any conversations with evaluators. 'We are investing in expanding our behavioral health system. The Senate has been showing leadership on that in coordination with the House,' Chandler said. 'It is our expectation that the investments that we're making on the behavioral health side will also be investments on needs of the courts and other evaluation systems, so if there is a gap — and I wouldn't dispute there may be a gap — the intent is to expand on services.' Thornton noted that Neeser, who was sitting in the audience, was shaking her head, and asked Neeser to comment on any concerns. Committee Chair Sen. Joseph Cervantes (D-Las Cruces) stopped him and said, 'We don't do that.' 'We don't go back to the audience,' Cervantes said. 'I assure you that it's a good practice not to do that, because you'll be here for weeks.' Opponents also included the New Mexico Business Coalition, on the grounds that it is not tough enough on crime, and the Public Safety Coalition, because it focuses on new crimes, increased criminal punishment and forced hospitalization. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Ticket scalping bill heading to House Judiciary Committee next
A proposed law would extend New Mexico's limitations on ticket scalping to include performing arts nonprofits, among others. State lawmakers voted this week to move forward a proposal that would expand the state ticket-scalping law beyond college sports. Co-sponsor Rep. Kathleen Cates (D-Rio Rancho) presented House Bill 26 to the House Consumer & Public Affairs Committee on Tuesday. Committee members voted 4-2 along party lines to pass the bill through committee. State law regarding ticket scalping – selling tickets at a higher cost than their original price – currently only covers college athletic events. Violation of the law is a misdemeanor charge that carries a $500 fine or imprisonment for less than a year, or both. Cates' bill would expand the law to also include nonprofit organizations, among others. 'Our local arts programs are very important, not just for our culture and our history but also as a revenue generator,' Cates said to the committee. Opera Southwest Executive Director Tony Zancanella joined Cates as her expert witness and representative for a larger coalition of arts organizations that includes the Santa Fe Symphony, Santa Fe Playhouse, the Lensic Performing Arts Center, National Institute of Flamenco and several others. He explained that not only are consumers being deceived by third-party ticket agents selling tickets at inflated costs, but nonprofit organizations, such as performing arts groups, and state or municipally-sponsored events or venues, such as the KiMo Theatre in Albuquerque, are taking a financial hit. 'I think even more problematically in some ways is that they may then draw conclusions that arts activities are just out of their reach financially, completely, and they never return as potential patrons,' Zancanella said during the meeting. The bill's fiscal impact report references a KOAT story last spring about multiple arts organizations, including the New Mexico Ballet Company, New Mexico Gay Men's Chorus and Opera Southwest that have been impacted by third-party vendors selling their tickets. Ann Conway, an Opera Southwest board member, spoke during the meeting in favor of the bill, saying ticket scalping is something the organization has been monitoring closely. 'We have a great organization that is doing so much for our communities around the state and this would help them continue to thrive,' Conway said to lawmakers. The hour-and-a-half long debate over the bill was largely spent addressing questions from Reps. Stefani Lord (R-Sandia Park) and John Block (R-Alamogordo), who were frequently asked by committee Chair Rep. Joanne Ferrary (D-Las Cruces) to stay on topic. Lord asked if there could be a distinction made in the bill for how much a ticket could be resold for, saying she doesn't think people should be charged with a crime if they are just trying to make a profit. 'To me, it seems that people have a right, if they buy the ticket and they want to sell it, to make a profit on it,' Lord said during the meeting. Block asked several questions about the possibility of selling tickets for a profit and then donating the profit back to the nonprofit organization, which Cates said is a tax implication and not within the scope of her bill. House Bill 26 will be heard by the House Judiciary Committee next, but is not yet scheduled for a specific date. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
