The 2020 Legislative Session has concluded and it was a packed 30 days filled with emotional debates and elevated tensions. Between the House and Senate, law makers filed 914 pieces of legislation. Here’s a quick break down of what that looks like:
While the majority of these 914 bills never made it to the floor for a vote, here’s a recap of some of the highlights:
[Editor's Note: To see how each item fared, visit https://www.nmlegis.gov/ then choose Legislation, then the chamber and then insert the bill number.]
HB 29/ SB 81, Social Security Income Tax Exemption: would have provided tax relief to those who depend on the earned benefits of Social Security. This bill should have been a no brainer for legislators to pass, but both measures stalled in committees and never made it to a floor vote.
HB 341, Transfer of Reserve Funds: This controversial bill was designed to allow the state to tap into a Rainy Day fund for additional funds quickly without going into a special session during an election year. The biggest problem is the fact that the legislators behind this know that they have created a state budget that is known to be heading for a train wreck this year. This is very concerning during a budget year, when creating a responsible budget is the reason this legislative session was convened.
HB 364, Public Sector Bargaining Changes: This “dummy bill” was used by House Speaker Brian Egolf to resurrect SB 110 that was stopped due to the extreme increase of costs that will be incurred by public agencies. The House blitzing this bill through in the middle of the night is an injustice for New Mexico’s taxpayers. Even worse, legislators in the Senate ignored their comrades who had stopped SB 110 and assigned HB 364 to a single committee and approved it by the full Senate within about 24 hours of receiving it from the House. Payoff for the unions? Absolutely! And really bad policy for New Mexico.
Let’s talk money: State Budget - 7.6% overall increase to the budget. This followed an 11 percent increase in the 2019 budget. The legislature did follow the lead of the late Rep. Larranaga and set aside $1.9 million – or 25 percent of the annual budget in the Rainy Day Fund.
Given the crime issues in New Mexico, which are significantly greater in the larger metro areas, there was not much of consequence accomplished during the session. While Rep. Rehm introduced seven bills to address the worst part of the crime epidemic in our state, only two bills were allowed to progress in a single piece of legislation. Even those two bills were weakened to the point of being almost inconsequential.
NMBC was, however, undeterred by these ill-advised measures and racked up some considerable wins this session that will undoubtedly benefit all New Mexicans:
NMBC took the lead in opposing the legalized recreational Cannabis bill, and with the bold actions of engaged grassroots New Mexicans, helped defeat this bill and ensure that recreational Cannabis stays out of our communities and workplaces - at least for another year. Because this was a campaign promise of the Governor, she’ll be back with a vengeance next year. NMBC will continue to research the issues encountered in other states and bring these facts to the voters.
The gas tax increase bill, HB 173, that would have raised the state gasoline tax by an additional 30 cents/gallon, was killed in the House Appropriations and Finance Committee. Hundreds of New Mexicans joined NMBC in opposing this bill. It was tabled on a vote of 14 to 1!
A big win for government transparency came in the form of HR1: Publication of Votes to Table Bills from Rep. Townsend. This house rule change will now make votes to “table” a bill public information. Tabling a vote effectively kills its progress through the legislature, although that vote can be reversed at any time by any legislator who voted in the majority to table the measure. NMBC was happy to see HR1 pass and had hoped to see the Senate take up the same measure, but that didn’t happen this session. Having these votes made public will go a long way in helping the public understand the process and what legislators are actually working in the best interest of New Mexicans.
The latest (attempted) raid on New Mexico’s Land Grant Permanent Fund, HJR 1, was stopped once again in the Senate. What New Mexicans desperately need is not additional allocations from the LGPF, but accountability for the funds currently being spent. NMBC wishes the sponsors of this bill would focus on something more productive – like determining why our educational system continues to fail when we have increased funding for the past 12 years. We are long past the time that accountability for funding should be analyzed against our dismal results which continue to fail our students.