Latest news with #NewMexicoLegislature
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
State money for Santa Fe firetruck sparks debate on lobbying outside of city council
Capital outlay the New Mexico Legislature set aside earlier this year for two new Santa Fe firetrucks sparked a recent debate at City Hall over whether councilors should individually lobby state lawmakers. Councilor Signe Lindell raised concerns during a Finance Committee meeting last week after questioning where the $2.4 million budgeted for the trucks had come from. Fire Chief Brian Moya said the firefighters union had lobbied lawmakers directly for the funds after the new trucks didn't make it on the city's legislative wishlist. Councilor Pilar Faulkner, a professional lobbyist, interjected, saying she had worked with the union to help secure state capital outlay for the firetrucks and that Moya was not involved. She had "no regrets," she added. Lindell, appearing perturbed, indicated the move to secure the state funds was out of bounds. "It just seems like we're not playing as a team," she said, "and somebody's got to address that." She pointed out the vehicles had not been listed among the city's legislative funding requests and had not been presented to councilors as a priority last year when they were considering a spate of one-time allocations using surplus gross receipts tax revenue. She also complained repeatedly during the meeting her District 1 didn't receive any infrastructure funding from the state for the next fiscal year. Councilor Carol Romero-Wirth also objected, describing Faulkner and the union's lobbying as an "end run" around the City Council. "We really need to not do that in the future," she said, adding the council has to make hard choices every year about what to prioritize. But Faulkner, the city's contracted lobbyist and at least one local state lawmaker all noted the Legislature's capital outlay process gives legislators and the governor — not the city — discretion over how to divvy the infrastructure funds in their control. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, for instance, allocated $5 million last year for upgrades to Fort Marcy park. The request had not been on the city's wish list and appeared to be part of the governor's desire to help beautify the state's capital city. This year, the governor allocated $10 million for an abortion clinic to be established somewhere in Northern New Mexico — a move that raised the ire of Republicans. "The capital outlay process is completely discretionary, and lawmakers alone decide where they want to put their resources for that year," city lobbyist J.D. Bullington said Wednesday, adding lawmakers for major municipalities such as Santa Fe often coordinate on how to allocate their shares. 'I have no regrets' The city received a combined $525,000 from Rep. Reena Szczepanski and Sen. Linda Trujillo, both Santa Fe Democrats, for a new fire engine for Station 3. It also received $1.5 million from Lujan Grisham and another $400,000 from the Legislature for a new ladder truck for Station 7. Lindell said the total $2.4 million in the city's proposed budget for fiscal year 2026 took her by surprise. Ahead of the legislative session each year, the City Council approves a resolution outlining its legislative priorities, which includes a laundry list of funds for capital projects — some for the city overall and some for each council district. The requests are based on the city's Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan, which ranks funding needs. The city received about $6 million for its projects, and a total of more than $18 million for projects it will oversee as the fiscal sponsor. While the firetrucks were a top priority for the fire department, they didn't make the city's shortlist. Moya took the blame for catching the council off guard. The fire department union had successfully lobbied the Legislature in the past for money for self-contained breathing apparatuses, he said, and decided to try its hand again. 'I did not communicate clearly with the mayor the union was going to request for these firetrucks to be purchased," Moya said. Faulkner said she helped the union with the effort, something she felt was necessary this year because of the long lead time to get the trucks built and delivered to Santa Fe — at least two to three years. She pointed out some of the city's older vehicles will be aging out in the coming years. "If we kept postponing building the trucks, we were going to have trucks that don't work with no trucks coming in," she said. "That is all on me, and I take 100% responsibility for it, and I'm glad that I did it, and I have no regrets." 'The pie is only so big' While Lindell had argued her district was left out of legislative allocations, one District 1 project did get partially funded. The city requested $1 million for the replacement of a pedestrian bridge at Shelby Street and received $250,000 from Democratic Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth's share of capital outlay. Lindell conceded in a Wednesday interview she had been mistaken. "I was uninformed, and I misspoke on that," she said, adding she is "very grateful" for the bridge funding. Still, she stood by her disapproval of "outside lobbying." "I think it's inappropriate," she said Wednesday. It's unfair to the rest of the city, Lindell argued, because it takes away money that could be going toward projects councilors have identified as top priorities. "The pie is only so big, and if you add stuff in, you take away from what we had agreed on as a council are our priorities," she said. Faulkner said she understands the reasoning behind the council's resolution laying out its priorities — but she doesn't feel beholden to it. "The reality is, we have every right as councilors to lobby for things we think would be best for our district, whether it's in the ICIP list or not," she said. She also pushed back on Lindell's assertion money for new firetrucks took something away from the city: "That's a benefit for the whole city," she said. Faulkner in recent months has been the most vocal supporter on the City Council for the police and fire departments and has been actively lobbying for more stringent public safety ordinances. She co-sponsored a resolution with Mayor Alan Webber last year to restrict sitting or standing in narrow city medians and is working with Councilors Lee Garcia and Amanda Chavez on a package of public safety bills focused on curbing reckless driving and other crimes. 'Line in the sand' Faulkner said it is an "open secret" some Santa Fe-area lawmakers are frustrated with how slowly the city moves forward with construction projects funded with state capital outlay, leaving funds unspent for long periods of time. She also noted one lawmaker did not allocate any money to a city project this year. Unspent capital outlay has been an ongoing frustration among lawmakers across New Mexico, with backlogs growing to nearly $6 billion. Rep. Linda Serrato, D-Santa Fe, said Wednesday she did not give any money to the city except the $300,000 she allocated for Phase 3 of Tierra Contenta, a south-side development led by Homewise Inc. that will include a large share of affordable housing. She cited her frustrations with the city over its failure to spend previous legislative allocations for a sewer line connection on Jemez Road, a neighborhood that long has been waiting for service. "It is incomprehensible to me why they cannot get a sewer line," Serrato said, especially as the city spends millions of dollars in reserve funding and unanticipated gross receives tax revenue. She described the sewer line project as her "line in the sand" and said she has made clear to city officials she will not give money to more of its projects until the sewer line is complete. 'I cannot in good conscience give New Mexican dollars when it is not being spent on essential services for my community," she said.
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
As lawmakers debate banning shower cameras in children's lockups, Bernalillo County removes theirs
Christopher Herrera speaks about his experience in the juvenile legal system during a gathering in the New Mexico Legislature on Feb. 24, 2025. (Photo by Austin Fisher / Source NM) When Christopher Herrera was 15, he was incarcerated in the Bernalillo County Youth Services Center, a juvenile detention center in Albuquerque that holds young people aged 12 to 17 from across the state. Every time Herrera received a visit from anyone like his mother or his lawyer, and any time he left to see a doctor, the guards afterward forced him to strip naked and searched him, even though he had been in handcuffs and in two guards' direct line of sight the entire time. In an interview with Source NM on Wednesday, Herrera described the strip searches' emotional and psychological toll. 'In my head, it was really weird, it messed me up as a person even to this day,' he said. 'It made me feel really uncomfortable. It wasn't private or nothing like that. You would even hear staff sometimes making jokes.' Herrera said he was held at YSC for 10 months. What he and other young people held there didn't know was that the county had installed cameras in the bathrooms, where the children shower. Herrera said he only learned about the cameras in February because of discussions around Senate Bill 322, which would regulate strip searches in juvenile detention facilities, and ban cameras from their shower and toilet areas. The Senate Health and Human Services Committee unanimously passed SB322 on March 3. It awaits a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Sponsor Sen. Linda Lopez (D-Albuquerque) told the committee she and others toured YSC last summer and learned of the strip searches and discovered the cameras in the shower area. 'They're recorded. What happens with that recording? Who's watching? If that recording is stored, well, who goes back to look at it?' she asked the committee. In a written statement to Source NM on Friday, Youth Services Center Director Tamera Marcantel said detention center officials disabled the cameras' video capabilities on May 15, 2024. On Friday, she said, a purchase order to remove them was approved and 'the deactivated cameras will be taken down.' YSC 'is committed to serving public safety by providing a safe and secure environment for all residents and staff,' she added. Deputy County Manager of Public Safety Greg Perez told Source NM in a written statement that he discussed removing the cameras in the showers with some of the incarcerated children's mothers. 'Based on those conversations, as well as operational changes within the facility, increased staffing, and remodeling, the decision was made to remove the cameras,' Perez said. Kristen Ferguson, a spokesperson for the Bernalillo County Public Safety Division that runs the YSC, did not answer Source NM's other questions about the county government's position on SB322. But even with the cameras removed, a future detention center administrator could reinstall them, Rodrigo Rodriguez, director of Community Organizing at La Plazita Institute, told Source NM on Friday. Rodriguez did not join the tour of YSC but has testified in support of SB322 in committee. When Source NM informed him the county is removing the cameras, he said, 'That's great news and pretty convenient timing.' 'Thus the need for legislation to ban the practice altogether,' he said. As for the strip searches, SB322 doesn't ban them, New Day Youth and Family Services Chief Program Officer Gerri Bachicha said, but requires the detention center administrator to sign off on each one, and for staff to document when they occur. She said the bill would raise the standard for conducting strip searches in juvenile detention from reasonable suspicion to probable cause, which would prevent arbitrary and unjustified searches, reducing the risk of violating children's constitutional due process protections in the Fourth Amendment. It would also enhance trust between young people and staff, which makes young people more likely to engage in rehabilitative programming, she said. In the March 3 committee hearing, Lopez cited YSC data showing nearly 700 strip searches were conducted between June and October 2024. Bachicha, Lopez's expert, also detailed to the committee the results of those searches: guards found no contraband in July, two pens and a pencil in August, a handwritten note in September, and a pen in October. Those items can usually be found through a pat search, she said, but an arbitrary, blanket policy defaults to a strip search, rather than starting with a pat search. Indeed, Herrera told Source NM, contraband didn't necessarily mean drugs. 'Contraband — to them — is us having pencils or coloring books or an extra book in our cell.' Now as a 21-year-old adult having regained his freedom, Herrera said he regularly takes drug tests and is desensitized to urinating in front of another person. Herrera said it made him feel less valued as a person knowing that there may be footage of him being strip searched. 'We never knew this, they didn't tell us none of this,' Herrera said. 'At the time, we were all kids. Everyone in there was under the age of 18. We would try to make jokes out of this, try to convince ourselves that it was normal, what we were going through.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
NM Legislative Recap March 3: ‘Dream high, and you'll fly high' — even if you're a turkey
New Mexico Tech Associate Professor Mostafa Hassanalian and graduate students Darion Vosbein, Joel Opoki and Samuel Maimako pose for a photo with their taxidermy drones and Dan Schatzman, a member of the NewSpace Nexus Advisory Board, at the New Mexico Legislature on Aerospace and Aviation Day on March 3, 2025. (Photo by Austin Fisher / Source NM) From the late-night talk show circuit to the halls of the Roundhouse, this fake turkey has seen it all. At first glance, it looks like any taxidermied poultry. Look closer, and one will find an entire mechanical system integrated into the bird, including motors that allow it to flap its wings, while the drone inside of it actually flies using its rotors. This is ThanksGoblin, a creation of mechanical engineering students at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro. 'Naturally, we know that turkeys don't fly,' said Samuel Maimako, a first-year graduate student. 'But the idea here is just dream high, and you'll fly high.' Maimako and fellow New Mexico Tech students Darion Vosbein and Joel Opoki joined their professor, Mostafa Hassanalian, Monday morning in the Rotunda at the New Mexico Legislature to show off their work for Aerospace and Aviation Day. While most of the researchers' drones have practical purposes – like search and rescue, monitoring wildlife and weather monitoring – the one dressed up to look like a turkey is 'just for fun,' Hassanalian, an associate professor at New Mexico Tech, said. The taxidermy robotics lab has quite a few nature-inspired designs. One drone can drop a package of sensors inspired by an ostrich egg. Another weighs just 10 grams and is inspired by dandelions, which Hassanalian said can fly up to 100 miles on the wind. Yet another is more simple: a stationary pigeon with a camera hidden under its chin. Drones normally make a lot of noise, which scares animals away, making it impossible to monitor them, Hassanalian said. To solve that problem, the group affixed taxidermied birds to the drones and made their wings flap at a realistic rate and with enough lift for flight. After technology website Gizmodo featured the New Mexico Tech researchers' work, ThanksGoblin even made an appearance on 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.' Members of New Mexico's congressional delegation last week forewarned about the impact potential cuts to Medicaid would have on the state, which has the highest proportion among U.S. states of residents on the government healthcare program. Their concerns follow the U.S. House GOP's budget resolution, which Democrats predict will include cuts to Medicaid. Members of the state Senate Finance Committee on Monday heard more about how federal cuts could impact the state, albeit with many caveats. 'There's a lot of uncertainty right now,' Legislative Finance Committee Deputy Director Jon Courtney told legislators, who noted that while federal cuts were likely to hit Medicaid and food support programs, 'the range of what that impact would be will depend on the decisions that are going to be made in Washington…over the next few months.' LFC Chief Economist Ismael Torres laid out some of the risks in a presentation, such as New Mexico's vulnerability to tariffs — we are the second most vulnerable state in the U.S. That being said, Torres also emphasized the unknowns in the discussion. 'I really wanted to highlight what this discussion represents and what it doesn't represent,' he told lawmakers. 'And really, this presentation is a very high level discussion of risks. It does not represent in any way a detailed analysis or expectation of outcomes.' Several cabinet secretaries and higher education representatives also weighed in on the potential impact of unknown federal cuts to their agencies. Health Secretary-Designate Gina DeBlassie said that the health department is very dependent on federal funding, particularly for grants in its public health division. Specifically, she said, the budget for public health is $266 million, and 'most of it' is related to 'federal grants,' she said. That work includes outreach, she said, and epidemiological surveillance. On that note, she added, 'I can tell you that now, with the measles outbreak that we had in New Mexico, we have been in contact with the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], and they've been extremely supportive. We hadn't had anything fall through the cracks there.' Torres' presentation also noted New Mexico has the 6th highest concentration of federal employment in the country, but said the state has not seen a notable increase in unemployment claims thus far in the aftermath of federal firings. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE The House powered through eight bills Monday, sending them all to the Senate for committee assignments and a floor vote there. Representatives unanimously voted to pass House Bill 41, which would set aside more than $6 million for drinking water projects, $2 million for local government planning and $5 million for cultural affairs facilities; House Bill 145, which would levy a 3.75% tax for every megawatt hour of large-scale renewable energy production starting in 2026; House Bill 199, which would allow some tax data to be shared with the Legislative Finance Committee, which could use it for program evaluation; and House Bill 174, which would require some health insurance plans to cover medication dispensing fees. House Bill 19 passed in a 56-4 vote. It would allow state agencies and local governments to partner with private businesses to finance and build trade port projects. Representatives passed House Bill 291 in a 68-2 vote. The bill would allow smaller land grants access to larger amounts of money from the Land Grant-Merced Assistance Fund. House Bill 20 passed in a 54-3 vote and would create a new division in the Economic Development Department that would support and promote technology and innovation. House Bill 181 passed in a 57-3 vote and would add more evaluation and accountability guardrails to the 'Government Results and Opportunity' fund. Over the weekend, the House passed a handful of bills, including changes to limit housing discrimination against renters, addressing leadership at higher education and expanding solar for tribal and rural communities. The Senate passed four bills Monday afternoon. This included a 26-16 vote on Senate Bill 57, which would create an exemption for public sector abortion providers in the state's sunshine law. 'Basically, what [the Inspection of Public Records Act] is being used for is to target providers and [it] puts those providers and their contacts at risk,' said Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth (D-Santa Fe), one of the bill sponsors on the floor. Wirth emphasized the narrowness of the exemption and said it was needed 'given the uncertainty and violence that's involved in this area.' On Monday, the Senate also approved: Senate Bill 142, which would require two state agencies to work together to modernize the state's electric grid, and passed unanimously 39-0. Senate Bill 113 in a 28-12 vote. The bill would extend the sunset dates for various state boards to 2032. Senate Bill 417 passed in a 38-1 vote. It would allow parents of children born through assisted reproduction to use the courts to confirm their parentage and adopt the child. The weekend wrap: Housing, child care reform and Department of Wildlife advance Senate Bill 16, which would allow decline-to-state voters to participate in primary elections without having to change their registration, advanced Monday through its first House committee. The House Government, Elections and Indian Affairs committee passed it on a 5-4 vote. The bill now heads to the House Judiciary. It will still need to pass a full floor vote and the governor's sign-off before becoming law. Last Friday, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to table a bill to modernize New Mexico's police training. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
NM Legislative Recap Feb. 27: Preserving joy in human expression
Jono Manson isn't your typical expert witness seen at the New Mexico Legislature. (Photo by Austin Fisher / Source NM) Meet Jono Manson: musician, audio engineer, producer – and expert witness on the human soul. Manson provided testimony on House Bill 221, which would regulate the use of artificial intelligence to create a digital replica of an artist's voice or likeness, and prohibit such use without their consent and compensation. The nature of lawmaking often relegates the role of expert to wonks: economists, attorneys and the like. But it was Mason who joined the bill's sponsor, Rep. Tara Lujan (D-Santa Fe), to testify before lawmakers on the bill during a hearing before the House Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee last week. 'It's difficult enough for us, as artists, to chase after the royalties that are due to us from the work we actually have created, without also having to also chase after work that's being created in our likeness without our consent,' he told Source NM. In an interview on Thursday, Manson said the issue of digital replicas is a matter of economic justice for everyday musicians being underpaid and exploited by streaming platforms, of countering plagiarism and even of what constitutes art and human expression. 'What makes human beings special and unique among all the species living and now extinct who've walked this planet?' he said. 'Part of that is our ability to express ourselves through these various forms of expression. If we're choosing to give up that control, then it in a sense makes us, in my opinion, less human.' HB221 isn't designed to protect only pop stars or people whose faces and voices we instantly recognize, Manson said, but the vast majority of working musicians who try to make a living performing and recording music. Manson runs The Kitchen Sink, a recording studio in Santa Fe. Manson said Feb. 21 was the first time he had ever testified in front of a legislative committee. He said he hosts the annual New Mexico district advocate meeting for Recording Academy, where he has advocated for legislation related to creatives in the music field. Manson said while he doesn't know if his voice or likeness has been replicated, technology is advancing faster than legislation can keep up, and he's sure it's already happening to others. For example, applications exist that allow a producer to make a digital replica of a studio singer's voice, then make that replica sing whatever words they feed it, with whatever melody, inflection or volume they choose, on any subsequent record they want, he said. 'If there's no law prohibiting me from doing that, then I can do it without paying her to do it, which would put her out of work,' Manson said. 'I don't do it because I'm opposed to it and plus, I find joy in human interaction.' The bill passed the committee with Republicans in opposition, and awaits a hearing in the House Judiciary Committee. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE The House of Representatives voted 40-26 in favor of House Bill 260, which would prohibit some kinds of physical restraints of students in schools, including chemical restraint, mechanical restraint, prone restraint and seclusion without continuous line-of-sight supervision. At press time on Thursday, the House was debating House Bill 252, which would create a three-year pilot program in five counties that would provide services or referrals, including legal representation, public assistance and economic support, to grandparents raising grandchildren and other kinship caregivers. In the upper chamber, lawmakers passed a bill to strengthen the state's powers on water pollution Wednesday evening. During Thursday's session, the Senate voted 31-7 on Senate Bill 38, which would create an Office of Special Education in the Public Education Department. The Senate voted 34-3 on a substitute version of Senate Bill 115, which would authorize the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority to loan money for infrastructure and community development projects. The Senate voted unanimously in favor Senate Bill 280, which would make the New Mexico Military Institute eligible for public school capital outlay funding; Senate Bill 283, which would require the Children, Youth and Families Department to apply for federal benefits on behalf of children in its custody; Senate Bill 7, which would allow municipalities to manage stormwater runoff as a utility; and Senate Joint Resolution 11, which would allow school boards to have bond elections during general elections. The Senate, without debate, voted unanimously in favor of Senate Bill 343, which would strike a single line in the law that some school districts have interpreted in order to deny teachers a minimum salary for doing career and technical education; and Senate Bill 202, which would streamline agency processes, investment management, and conflicts of law. A bill creating a Turquoise Alert, similar to a Silver Alert or an Amber Alert, passed a Senate Committee on Thursday afternoon. The bill compels the state Department of Public Safety to issue alerts for Indigenous people reported missing, an effort to increase awareness and stem the tide of missing and murdered Indigenous people in New Mexico. The House Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee approved a bill that would ban single-use plastic bags, which now heads to House Commerce and Economic Development. The Senate Tax, Business and Transportation Committee tabled a proposal that encouraged state fund managers to invest savings into Bitcoin. On Thursday morning, the Senate Conservation Committee passed a substitute version of Senate Bill 358, which would create a trust fund to pay for horse rescues and homeless horses; and Senate Bill 469, which would set aside $15 million to remove hazard trees near power transmission lines of the Mora-San Miguel Electric Cooperative. The Senate Finance Committee unanimously passed Senate Bill 199, which would move more liquor excise tax revenues to the Department of Finance and Administration and less to local governments; and voted 7-3 in favor on Senate Joint Resolution 3, which would create an elected 11-member state school board. In a hearing on Wednesday night, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed Senate Bill 57, which would create an exemption for public sector abortion providers in the state's sunshine law; Senate Bill 299, which would require a resigning lawmaker to notify county commissioners in their district about their seat becoming vacant; and Senate Bill 319, which would require all drivers to carry uninsured and underinsured motorist insurance for their vehicles. Reporter Patrick Lohmann contributed reporting to this story. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Legislative Recap Feb. 24: The potential for change
Members of the Albuquerque Justice for Youth Community Collaborative wore matching black and yellow shirts in the New Mexico Legislature on Feb. 24, 2025. (Photo by Austin Fisher / Source NM) Parents, advocates and young people with experience inside New Mexico's juvenile detention centers on Monday criticized House Bill 134, which would make it easier to prosecute children as adults, and called on lawmakers to instead invest in education, mental health treatment and job training. Tracey Chavez said she has witnessed her youngest son Timothy Chavez change over the last seven years since he was charged as an adult at age 15 for first-degree murder. 'It was challenging for him to understand the legal system, especially being treated as an adult in a system adults find hard to navigate,' Chavez said. Her son's public defender dedicated herself to helping them understand each step in the process, she said. Brandi Sedillo's first-born child Estevan Lucero also was 15 years old when he was charged with first-degree murder, and 17 when he was convicted and sentenced to 22 years in prison. She said Lucero is isolated from the rest of the incarcerated people in a unit meant for people who break prison rules. He has limited time outside, no access to the library and minimal to no interaction with others, she said. 'This isn't rehabilitation, it's psychological damage,' Sedillo said. 'Isolation, especially for a young person capable of growth, is a form of cruelty.' Chavez and Sedillo say their children's stories aren't unique but, rather, symptoms of a system that prioritizes punishment instead of rehabilitation, and 'a system that fails our children.' Chavez and Sedillo are members of Stronger Together, Never Alone, a support group for parents of incarcerated youth. They joined the Albuquerque Justice for Youth Community Collaborative at a rally in the Rotunda on Monday. Twenty-eight different groups comprise the Youth Community Collaborative, each working around juvenile justice in areas such as re-entry services and rehabilitation. Reps. Andrea Reeb (R-Clovis), Nicole Chavez (R-Albuquerque), Art De La Cruz (D-Albuquerque) and Cynthia Borrego (D-Albuquerque) are sponsoring HB 134, which awaits a hearing in the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee. Sedillo and others at the rally said they oppose HB134 on the grounds that it would lead to the incarceration of more young people. Sedillo said the bill and others like it would 'only further damage our children and push them deeper into the system.' 'It frustrates me to hear people advocate for charging minors as adults, and holding them to adult standards,' Chavez said. 'They are not adults. Their brains are still developing and they lack the maturity to think and reason like adults.' Recent court decisions and neuroscience studies suggest that young people are less culpable than adults when they commit crimes. Chavez said her son is now 22 facing three years left in prison, and he 'continues to make me proud every single day.' 'Our children deserve a justice system that recognizes their potential for change and growth,' she said. 'Charging them as adults and subjecting them to adult penalties only serves to strip them of their future and does not address the underlying issues that led to their actions.' The state's ninth record budget in nine years cleared the New Mexico House of Representatives after a three-hour debate Monday. The $10.8 billion budget represents a 5.8% increase from last year, while still keeping more than $3 billion in reserve. The reserves could prove vital should President Donald Trump cut funding to the state, Rep. Nathan Small (D-Las Cruces), chair of the House Appropriations and Finance Committee, said at a news conference ahead of the House Floor debate. 'That's our first line of defense to make sure that New Mexico is the best prepared financially, particularly when it comes to federal cuts,' Small said. The House budget's crafters did not make any changes to recurring spending levels this year in anticipation of any federal cuts, Small said. 'There's been no federal action yet, and there's a lot of different things that are out there,' he said. 'We're focused on delivering now under the rules and the laws that exist.' The budget contains a 6% increase in public education funding, allocating $4.7 billion. With the help of Medicaid funding and other federal health care spending, the budget will provide $15 billion for critical health care services, according to a news release from House Democrats. Among many other items, this budget would also spend $50 million on uranium mine cleanup, $110 million on housing in Las Cruces and Albuquerque areas and $19 million on groundwater monitoring and improvements, according to the news release. You can read the 265-page proposed budget here. 'If you're a rancher in Raton, this budget's for you. If you're a sixth grade student at Seboyeta Elementary, this budget's for you. If you're worried about affordability and access to health care in Albuquerque and any other part of the state, this budget is for you,' Small said as he wrapped up his remarks on the House Floor on Monday afternoon. House lawmakers approved the spending plan 50-18. They did so after voting down a proposal from Rep. Cathrynn Brown (R-Carlsbad) to give every New Mexico resident $600 in July, in recognition of the booming oil and gas revenue the state is currently enjoying. The budget now heads to the Senate Finance Committee and then to the Senate Floor. After both chambers reconcile changes made in the Senate, it will head to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, where she can sign the bill and also veto various provisions. House lawmakers also voted 68-0 in favor of House Bill 74, which would allow firefighters and other first responders to set up peer support groups. They voted 67-0 on House Bill 214, which would create a licensing process for doulas, so they could get reimbursed by Medicaid for providing their services. Proposed legislation that would make significant changes to New Mexico's public records law passed the House Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee Monday morning on a 7-1 vote with no recommendation. An amended version of the bill will be heard next by the House Judiciary Committee. The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Christine Chandler and state Sen. Linda M. Trujillo, both Democrats from Los Alamos and Albuquerque, respectively, would allow government agencies to ask anyone requesting public records whether such records would be used for commercial purposes. If so, the proposed law would allow the agencies to charge a fee of up to $30 per hour for time spent preparing the record beyond the first hour. Currently, under the state's Inspection of Public Records Act, people or entities requesting records are not required to explain why they are doing so. The bill also would create an Inspection of Public Records Task Force and require anyone who planned to take legal action over IPRA violations to first alert the government agency and allow 15 days to resolve the conflict, among other facets. Advocates for the bill representing various New Mexico cities and other government entities testified that they had become overburdened by public records requests, while noting their ongoing support for transparent government. Alison Nichols, director of policy for the New Mexico Municipal League, said the League looked at more than 200,000 individual requests from local governments in 29 cities and counties across the state and that monthly requests had doubled between 2022 and 2024. Nichols said many of those requests came from data brokers such as LexisNexis. Representatives from the City of Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Las Cruces and Española also testified in the bill's favor. Media and other organizations testified in opposition, including the Foundation for Open Government and the American Civil Liberties Union/New Mexico. Albuquerque Journal Assistant Managing Editor and FOG Board President Lucas Peerman called the bill 'well intentioned but potentially harmful,' noting: 'We feel HB283 attempts to add unnecessary red tape to the process of getting public documents, giving officials additional opportunities to deny or add barriers to information. New Mexico has some of the best open records laws in the country and has for 40 years. You can scrap this bill and keep it that way. The alternative is an environment in which corruption and cover-ups can more easily thrive.' The House Education Committee unanimously passed House Bill 65, which clarifies the state requirements for school instructional time in the Public School Code, and aligns with a recent court decision about public school calendars. The Senate Education Committee on Monday morning voted 9-0 on Senate Joint Resolution 6, which would ask voters to make the Early Childhood Education and Care Fund permanent in the state constitution. The committee voted down Senate Bill 386, which would have allowed chiropractors to join other physicians in their ability to clear students to return to class after suffering a concussion. Committee members voted 8-1 to advance Senate Bill 394 without a recommendation. The bill would set aside $1.5 million to build an observatory at the University of New Mexico's campus in Taos. They also voted 8-1 in favor of Senate Bill 201, which would require the Public Education Department to write evaluation and accountability plans for projects funded by the Public Education Reform Fund, and for the Legislative Finance Committee and Legislative Education Study Committee to have input. Senate Bill 4, the Clear Horizons Act, was still in the public comment phase before the Senate Finance committee as of press time. SB4, which would enshrine goals for the state government to reduce planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions which Gov. Michelle Lujan enacted a 2019 executive order. The legislation is one of the bills targeted in $126,000 of ads bought by oil and gas lobbyists, Capital & Main reported. Danielle Prokop contributed to the reporting and writing of this article. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
