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Campaign filings for the 2024 state legislative elections show that eight House and nine Senate seats have no incumbents running for re-election. There are also some big shake-ups among Republican leadership.
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In the early days of this short and jam-packed 30-day legislative session, hundreds of aspiring laws are culled to dozens through a simple but obscure question – “Is it germane?”
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Earlier this year, New Mexico Environment Secretary James Kenney said the Environmental Protection Agency would declare parts of the Permian Basin in New Mexico and Texas an Ozone Nonattainment Area by the end of the year. However, as 2023 comes to a close, the EPA still hasn’t made its move.
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Environment Secretary James Kenney presented his agency’s budget request to a panel of lawmakers this week, which asks for an additional $9 million dollars. It would be the fifth straight budget increase for the agency. But members of the Legislative Finance Committee questioned whether the department should get more to work with when it didn’t spend down all of this year’s budget.
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State agencies are proposing new budgets to lawmakers ahead of next month’s legislative session. Environment Secretary James Kenney is seeking a more than $9 million increase in recurring funds. He told KUNM about the request and the risks he sees to lawmakers not meeting it.
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After a proposal to take the responsibility of drawing the state’s voting maps out of New Mexico lawmakers’ hands failed to pass in the last two legislative sessions, advocates and lawmakers calling for a fairer, less partisan process are planning to take another stab at it.
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Earlier this summer, the state’s nicotine prevention and cessation efforts were halted when money the state gets from a settlement with tobacco companies fell millions short of what the Department of Health had projected. Lawmakers overseeing the funds questioned the department about the issue and got a fiscal update Wednesday and said they plan to reintroduce legislation to give nicotine prevention work in New Mexico the stability it needs.
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When Isleta Resort and Casino reopened after the COVID shutdown, it implemented a mask requirement that meant no longer allowing customers to smoke inside. Casino officials told an interim legislative committee Wednesday that they’ve decided to maintain the ban indefinitely and, despite fears to the contrary, the policy actually boosted its bottom line.
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New Mexicans who call 1-800-QUIT-NOW, a program to help people kick nicotine products, are being turned away. Local organizations doing smoking prevention work say the state has also told them to stop their projects.
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In the wake of last year’s record-breaking wildfire season, the New Mexico Legislature and the federal government injected money into the state to help communities recover and prevent future fires.