March 26 Alert

Good Morning New Mexico Activists!

We were so exhausted at the end of the Legislative Session, it’s taken us a few days to get this Alert out to you. First, we want to thank all of you for the role you played in getting some great legislation passed, in holding our legislators accountable, and for hanging in there until the end. It was a lot of work, but it was worth it!

Below we give you a wrap-up of what happened with the 20 bills on our Transformational list. Roughly half of them passed, which is pretty darn good! In the last 60-day session in 2019, less than third of the bills we supported passed. We’re making some progress. And every year we learn more about how the Roundhouse operates and how we, as advocates, can be even more effective. Thank you for joining us on this journey! The more of us who take this on, the closer we get to social, economic, and environmental justice in New Mexico.

Before we get to the outcomes of our Transformational Bills, we want to ask you to contact the Governor to urge her to include SB 66 Permitted Percentage Rates for Loans (lower small loan interest rate cap to 36%) in the Special Session coming up in early April. Call (505) 476-2200. Or leave a comment online at: https://www.governor.state.nm.us/contact-the-governor/. For a blow-by-blow explanation of how SB 66 was gutted and killed, please read Sunday’s blog post. You’ll find the discussion of SB 66 about halfway through the post at this link.

Also, we invite you to join us at 3:30 this afternoon for our weekly Legislative Huddle via Zoom to talk about what went well, what didn’t, and how we can improve what we do in next year’s Session. Use this link to register for the meeting. We look forward to having you join us!

And please join us on Wed., April 7, at 6 p.m. for a Zoom conversation with New Mexico political commentator Joe Monahan. We’ll talk about what really happened in the Session that just ended, and we’ll gain a better understanding of the forces that are in play at the Roundhouse. Use this link to register for the Zoominar. We hope you’ll join us for what is sure to be an interesting and informative discussion.

Now, here’s a quick summary of what happened to all of our Transformational Bills:

HJR-1 Permanent Fund for Early Childhood Amendment. PASSED
HB 7 / SB 10 Repeal Abortion Ban. PASSED
HB 12 Cannabis Regulation Act. Stalled on the Senate floor. Headed for Special Session, where it will certainly pass or the Governor would not be calling a special session. We’ll call it a win. TO BE PASSED
HB 16 Rural Opportunities Act. Morphed into a memorial and PASSED.
HB 20 Healthy Workplace Act AKA, Paid Sick Leave. PASSED, although with considerable acrimony on the Senate floor and Sen. Ivey-Soto pretty much losing it.
HB 40 Private Detention Facility Moratorium Act. Killed in House Appropriations.
HB 47 Elizabeth Whitefield End-of-Life Options. PASSED
HB 86 Native American Internet Library and Education. Killed in House Appropriations.
HB 149 / SB 66 Installment Loan Lending Rates. It may not be over yet. Hoping to see this in the Special Session.
HB 203 Health Security Planning and Design. PASSED, despite efforts by Rep. Lundstrom to kill it by refusing to call it for a hearing in House Appropriations.
HB 207 Food Hunger and Farm Act. Killed in House Appropriations and Finance
HB 236 Public Banking Act. Killed in House Appropriations via tabling motion.
HB 291 Tax Changes. PASSED, albeit with a couple of bad amendments from Senate Finance.
SJR 3 Environmental Review Act (AKA Green Amendment). Killed in Senate Judiciary, never called for a hearing.
SJR 4 Review of Salaries Every Two Years, AKA Paid Legislature. Killed in Senate Judiciary, never called for a hearing.
SB 83 Local Choice Energy. Tabled in Senate Tax, Business, and Transportation with two Democrat Senators, Senator Hickey and Senator Padilla, voting with Republicans to table the bill.
SB 86 Use of Water in Gas and Oil Operations. Tabled in Senate Judiciary.
SB 112 Sustainable Economy Task Force. PASSED
SB 155 Energy Transition Act Changes. Tabled in Senate Judiciary.
SB 15 Voting District Geographic Boundaries, morphed into SB 304. PASSED.