By Lynn Janes
On March 20, 2024, Representative Luis Terrazas held a town hall meeting at the Grant County Veterans Memorial Business and Conference Center. It was one of four town halls he conducted in the county. Previously he had done one in Mimbres and Bayard and the following day he would be in Cliff. He thanked everyone for coming to listen and ask questions. He spoke for an hour and left an hour for questions.
Terrazas started by giving everyone an overall update of the last legislative session. Because the session had only been a 30-day session, they focused on the budget. The 60-day sessions only happen on odd-numbered years. In a 60-day session, legislators can put in any bill they want, but on a 30-day session, the governor puts out a call on what she wants to have come forward. If it does not fall under what she wants to see you cannot bring it forward.
The budget allocated to Grant County about $83 million. Grant County only has one representative and two senators. As legislators, they have to communicate on how they will handle the capital outlay. Each municipality, school or political subdivision has a priority list that they provide, and the top five requests will be considered, as determined by Prospectors, the county lobbying group made up of local citizens and business leaders. At the end of each year, the governmental entities present this list to their legislators. Not one person can obtain all the funds. It takes all of them working together to get the most they can for the community. They also need to communicate, so they will not double sponsor requests and must adhere to the parameters. "It is important to understand the process."
He briefly went over all the capital outlays they had funded in the session. They had many needs to try and obtain funding for the community. The county has a lot of diversity. Some people have affluence and some fall under the poverty line. Terrazas said he worries a lot about the people on fixed incomes and in poverty. In Luna County 27 percent fall below the poverty level. The poverty level is set at $14,000 a year. "When I see the inflation that is happening at a rate higher than in decades, it weighs heavy on me." People must make serious choices when it comes to gas, food, electric bill, etc.
One of the bills, HB41, he said will be devastating to the people. The title sounds nice until you find out it will add 38 to 50 cents to the price of every gallon of gas. They kept changing the title to get it to go through. The bill title does not always convey what they really will do. He gave the example of the person on a fixed income that has to travel to Las Cruces for care, and how much of a problem that will be for them. "This bill is troubling."
He went over all the projects he had been trying to focus on. Terrazas wants to provide opportunities for the kids to try and keep them in the community. He hopes they will not want to leave.
He had been working with Western New Mexico University (WNMU) on a vocational center and other projects to help keep the young people here in the community. "I am very disappointed about how Western has been treated in the media. Western is more than just a person, it is about the whole community." The issue needs to go through the process and then address any problems. Picking on only one institution could hurt the whole community. A lot of jobs and people depend on this university. They need to compare other universities in New Mexico and look at the parameters. That has been lacking on this issue. The recent controversy hurt getting funding for WNMU and that hurts everyone. Even though WNMU had clean audits, no one would touch any kind of funding because of the controversy. Terrazas still obtained $200,000 in funding for a vocational center.
Highway 180 has been a long-worked on project. It is a very traveled road and the most used to connect to the interstate. The road has needed expansion for many years. Terrazas had been traveling on that road since his childhood. He continues to have to travel the road for business and sadly had to take care of people that had unfortunate events on the road. He himself said many times he had some close. It also has a lot of industrial travel on the road.
The cost will be extensive so it will be done in three phases. The first phase has been funded and should have started earlier but some paperwork had been messed up and the project had to go out for bid a second time. He explained the full process of starting a project and the follow through. Phase one will start shortly and will begin at the edge of Bayard and end at the railroad in Hurley. The second phase will go to the county line, and it has the funding ready. They needed HB300 to pass for $100 million to do the rest of the project and only received $70 million. The project had to be broken into a second and third phase because of the funding. The third phase has not been funded at this time.
Terrazas has worked for the past four years on the return-to-work bill and had been able to have it pass this legislature. It allows for state workers to return to work and not lose their pension. This will help the current problem with the lack of police officers. However, the bill had not just been for police but for fire fighters, dispatchers, paramedics, etc. "I am glad for the bipartisan effort to get the bill passed."
He said he supported the four-day school week and decisions about the district should be made locally.
Terrazas opened the floor to questions.
A local resident wanted to point out something he thought people may not be aware of. The representatives do not get paid, and New Mexico is the only state that does not pay. He also wanted to bring up that in New Mexico you must be either a Republican or Democrat to vote in the primary. This man said he has been an independent and did not feel that to be fair. Not all states have this restriction. Terrazas agreed that the primaries should be open. It would give every person a voice as intended.
A professor from WNMU attended and said that the states gross overreach with education and now higher education has been concerning. It has been dramatic this year. Now the department of public education (PED) has started to try and mandate the curriculum of what the college instructors teach. They have been trying to take away how the teachers in the public schools do their jobs but now have added the higher education teachers.
Terrazas said: "Not any unelected bureaucrat, or any one person should have the power to pick and choose what we do." Not any one person knows everything about anything. The people making these decisions should be leaning on the people doing the work. Maybe they should be asking the teachers and schools what they need to provide better education for the schools. They had amended the bill and put in it that the PED could not use those funds to enforce any part of the bill. This had to do with them trying to abolish the 4-day week. The governor vetoed that. Now all the schools will be suing the PED. "What does that cost the taxpayers and our kids and the uncertainty of those on the 4-day schedule. We need local government control."
A local resident spoke to the education problem in New Mexico. He had grown up in the Brooklyn, New York, area and had attended school in several different neighborhoods and had seen a difference in the education. One neighborhood after school they didn't do homework and the grades showed it. In another neighborhood after school, they did homework and the parents helped them, the grades reflected that. He said in New Mexico because of the economy both parents must work so they have not been able to be there to help them. "The families are struggling." Terrazas said New Mexico had grandparents raising kids, single family homes, fentanyl pouring across the border, and many other issues. "Our teachers are over worked and stressed in part because some parents are not as active in their children's lives, and it falls on the teachers."
Terrazas said he knew everyone has been trying. The professor from WNMU pointed out that people have been in the situation that they have to work more and more to pay bills and increased taxes to make ends meet. He had a background in counseling and has been watching as they take parents out of the home because they must work more and more and it reflects what happens with the kids. "The schools are becoming entities unto themselves." Terrazas said they try to help kids with scholarships. It used to be that they went after them and now they have to sit down with them and walk them through the process. Legislation can't fix everything. "It starts at home to build pride and respect."
One of the residents asked Terrazas about the Roundhouse and referred to the fighting in congress, and he wanted to know if that happened in the Roundhouse. Terrazas said it has been changing. He went over some of the things that have been forcing them to get along and some to the situations that had happened. They still have some problems, but it has gotten better.