Governor optimistic of approval for tax cuts, voting access — Morgan Lee, Associated Press
Democratic New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham expressed optimism Wednesday that legislators will embrace her proposals for tax cuts with a little over a week left in the annual regular legislative session, coupled with disbelief that Democratic legislators are hesitating to back major crime-fighting initiatives.
The governor also said she is determination to expand voting access through legislation, and is confident that New Mexico will offer some incentives to spur local hydrogen fuel development, as the federal government dedicates billions of dollars to the fledgling industry.
Lujan Grisham, running for reelection in November, has proposed eliminating longstanding state taxes on Social Security income that would benefit middle- and upper-income retirees, as well as a slight reduction to the state's gross receipts tax on most retail sales and business transactions.
"I'm very confident that those are coming together in the way that they need to" on tax cuts, said Lujan Grisham. She alluded to an additional proposal on tax relief for working families that has not been made public.
The state's quick-fire 30-day legislative session, which follows an abbreviated format in even-numbered years, ends on Feb. 17 at noon.
"On the other hand, it feels like it's a very long time to get all the things that we believe will make a difference for New Mexicans," Lujan Grisham said.
Legislators have given a mixed reception to bills for enhanced criminal penalties and sidelined proposed changes to the state's pretrial detention system aimed at keeping more people behind bars pending trial for serious crimes.
Lujan Grisham said the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate have been slow to recognize that anti-poverty measures are not enough to contain crime.
"We are on track to have the deadliest year ever in Albuquerque, with violent crime increasing statewide," Lujan Grisham said. "I can't explain their inability to reconcile that issue."
In 2017, New Mexico joined a growing number of states in adopting risk-based approaches to releasing defendants that phased out money-based bail.
Numerous district attorneys and the mayor of Albuquerque say the pretrial justice system is failing to protect the public, while an analysis from the Legislature's budget and accountability office shows that arrests and convictions remain steady as crime rates have increased.
Republican legislators and district attorneys gathered outside the state Capitol on Wednesday to protest a Senate-endorsed bill that would ensure the right to a parole hearing for juveniles convicted of serious crimes, including murder, and sentenced as adults. They said the Legislature is straying from its public safety obligations.
"We have to have answers to protect the citizens of New Mexico," said District Attorney Dianna Luce of southeastern New Mexico
Legislators have spurned several bills that would provide state incentives to jump-start local hydrogen production using natural gas and coal, amid warnings from environmentalists that the industry may worsen climate-warming pollution.
Still Lujan Grisham said she expects New Mexico to be a staging ground for the industry, with support from the state.
"We have an $8 billion situation, an effort by the federal Department of Energy," the governor said. "It's happening to ... decarbonized transportation, and I will expect New Mexico to still be a top contender."
Senate lawmakers on Wednesday advanced an initiative backed by Democrats to expand voting access, while scrapping elements that would have further automated voter registration at state motor vehicle offices. Amendments also scaled back plans for a state holiday on Election Day, though all public schools would close.
"I'm working to make sure that every single voter, eligible voter in the state of New Mexico has adequate, easy, protected access to the ballot box," Lujan Grisham said.
New Mexico mask mandate to stay despite other states phasing them out – Albuquerque Journal, KUNM News
As many states are phasing out mask mandates, New Mexico is extending its own.
The Albuquerque Journal reports Acting Health Secretary Dr. David Scrase said Wednesday the state plans to continue current mandates, which were extended to March 4th last week. This, despite the secretary saying his email inbox is overflowing with messages demanding the mandates come to an end.
Scrase said he too wants them to end, but added that health officials won’t base that decision on what other states are doing. Instead, he said, New Mexico will wait until its own data supports that decision.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said Wednesday the state will reevaluate the mandate based on modeling if and when cases begin declining quickly.
Woman burned in Albuquerque apartment fire last month dies - Associated press
A woman who was seriously burned in a northeast Albuquerque apartment fire last month has died, authorities said Thursday.
Albuquerque police said 29-year-old Ashleigh Keeto died from her injuries Monday at a burn center in Lubbock, Texas.
Police spokeswoman Rebecca Atkins told the Albuquerque Journal that Keeto's death is being investigated as a homicide based on information from arson investigators.
Keeto and a man were pulled from the fire and both were hospitalized in critical condition with burns and smoke inhalation.
A medical update in the male victim wasn't immediately available Thursday.
New Mexico regulators looking to mitigate rolling blackouts - Associated Press
Regulators in New Mexico are trying to work with utilities to deal with supply chain problems that could threaten adequate power availability during peak consumer demand this summer.
The five-member Public Regulation Commission held an open public meeting Wednesday as they consider emergency measures to mitigate the looming crisis of rolling blackouts, according to the Albuquerque Journal.
Public Service Company of New Mexico has said it may not have enough generating capacity for customers in the hottest months of July and August when electricity demand climbs to its highest levels.
Pandemic-induced supply-chain issues also have delayed the construction of four new solar facilities that were supposed to replace power from the coal-fired San Juan Generating Station when that plant shuts down in June.
PRC Chairman Joseph Maestas said supply-chain problems are also affecting other utilities around New Mexico, particularly some of the state's electric cooperatives.
The Journal reports that commissioners have agreed to immediately compile a lengthy questionnaire for all local utilities to fully assess the problems and consider emergency measures to alleviate potential power shortages.
PNM is a financial supporter of KUNM.
Former Santa Fe Mayor Javier Gonzales dies of cancer at 55 - Associated Press
Javier Gonzales, who served one term as the mayor of Santa Fe, has died after a battle with cancer, authorities said Wednesday. He was 55.
Gonzales' death was announced by Christus St. Vincent where he had worked as vice president and chief development officer of the hospital's foundation after leaving politics.
In an interview with the Santa Fe New Mexican in October 2020, Gonzales said he was diagnosed with cancer after he'd struggled with hip pain and a loss of energy.
He told the newspaper that doctors found a tumor near one of his kidneys.
Gonzales was elected in 2014 and was Santa Fe's first openly gay mayor.
He decided against running for a second term in 2018, citing a desire to spend more time with his two daughters.
"I am deeply saddened by the loss of an undisputed leader and deeply treasured member of the northern New Mexico community," New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a statement. "Javier Gonzales was a trailblazer, a fierce advocate, and a dedicated leader. He was also a beloved son, a remarkable father and an incredible friend, including to me."
Funeral plans were not immediately disclosed.
This version of the story corrects that Gonzales was 55 years old at the time of his death.
State Senate moves to end life-without-parole sentencing for young people – Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
After two hours of debate and four attempted amendments, the New Mexico Senate on Tuesday, Feb. 8, approved a bill that would abolish sentences of life without parole for people who aren’t 18.
Young people in New Mexico who are tried and convicted as adults and sentenced to life have to serve 30 years before being eligible for parole. Senate Bill 43 would cut that time in half.
“Most of these children, the vast majority of them, have had enormous trauma in their lives,” said Sen. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez (D-Albuquerque), the bill’s sponsor. “And I don’t believe that it’s right to throw them away. I think children especially have enormous capacity to change.”
This is the second time Sedillo Lopez has tried to pass this measure. The first time was in 2021.
She was flanked by her expert witness, Denali Wilson, a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico and a founding member of the N.M. Coalition for the Fair Sentencing of Youth.
Sen. Siah Correa Hemphill (D-Silver City) said sentencing a child to life in prison without the possibility of parole is a human rights abuse, specifically a violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The United States is the only country in the world that hasn’t ratified the convention, Hemphill said.
“Childhood is separate from adulthood,” Hemphill said, quoting the convention. “This is a period of time that should be protected, so children can grow and develop.”
Republican senators repeatedly mischaracterized how parole works, conflated the bill with bail reform, and introduced amendments that sought to either water down or completely undermine the point of the legislation.
Rather than debate the merits of the bill, they slowed the hearing, turning the discussion into a blanket indictment of Democratic lawmakers for allegedly failing to pass bills this session that, in their view, would address crime.
“The declaration was made early on before this session that, ‘Hey, we’re gonna be tough on crime,’” said Sen. Gregory Baca (R-Belen). “Where have we seen that? We’re protecting election workers … when this will never be prosecuted. That’s our ‘tough-on-crime?’ How about the murderers? Let’s try starting with them. There’s an idea.”
The law on which Senate Bill 43 was modeled passed in 2014 in West Virginia, Sedillo Lopez said.
“In the eight years since the passage of that law, there has been no known person released who committed a new offense,” she said.
THE AMENDMENTS
The first amendment was brought by Sen. Cliff Pirtle (R-Roswell).
It was handwritten.
It would have extended the parole eligibility timeline from 15 to 20 years, which he and Sen. Mark Moores (R-Albuquerque) indicated was the wish of the state’s district attorneys association.
Sedillo Lopez said in a previous session she had already compromised the timeline from 10 to 15 years. Pirtle’s alteration failed on a 24-13 vote.
Baca suggested another amendment. This one was not handwritten. The details are unclear, since the amendment was not available on the Legislature’s website before this article was published. Baca said it would have allowed a judge to impose a “dual adult sentence” that would hang over the defendants until they complete their juvenile sentences.
Sedillo Lopez said that change would expose more children to long adult sentences. It failed 24-14.
Pirtle introduced a third amendment that would have given the parole board the option to hold a hearing rather than requiring the board to hold a hearing after 15 years in cases where the defendant was sentenced to multiple consecutive sentences.
Sedillo Lopez said that change to the bill would undermine its whole purpose. It failed 21-14.
The fourth and final proposal came from Sen. Gregg Schmedes (R-Tijeras). It would have denied parole in cases where the child is convicted of first-degree murder of a police officer.
Sedillo Lopez pointed out that the bill already accounts for this. The amendment failed 20-15.
PUNISHMENT IS NOT A DETERRENT
Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino said he has “given up” on punishment as a deterrent to crime.
“I’ve been watching it for 50 years, and it’s never gone down,” Ortiz y Pino said. “The country is more violent today than it was 50 years ago when I was starting out in social work, and the punishments were much less than they are today.”
There are 2.3 million people in U.S. prisons and jails today, according to the Prison Policy Initiative. Still, the country is no less violent, Ortiz y Pino said.
“If just piling on sentences did anything, I could have more sympathy for some of the amendments that have been proposed, but they won’t do any good,” Ortiz y Pino said.
Adding more years to the sentence just makes the child less able to re-enter society when they do get out, he added.
Instead, lawmakers should work on the root causes of violent crime, he said, including poverty, lack of good education and drug addiction, he said.
“When I was little, my mom just drilled it into my head: ‘Two wrongs don’t make a right,’” Ortiz y Pino said. “What earthly use is it to ruin another kid’s life because he was mean, dumb, angry and stupid enough to kill somebody in the first place?”
Official: It's winter but dryness elevates wildfire threat – KOB-TV, Associated Press
A fire official in northwestern New Mexico says there's an active wildfire threat in the region despite it still being winter.
Capt. Tony Herrera, the wildland coordinator for San Juan County Fire and Rescue, said fire dangers generally diminish during winter but there has been heightened fire activity due to dry conditions.
"It's a trend that has no sign of slowing down," he told KOB-TV.
Herrera said recent snowfall provided much-needed moisture but said it hasn't been enough to take the area out of drought and provide enough relief as the state moves toward warmer weather.
"So the danger of it being so dry in the middle of winter is that people get complacent; they don't realize how high the fire danger actually is," Herrera said. "When in actuality it is still very dry, the fire potential is still very high."
Herrera said his agency and the Bloomfield Fire Department on Monday night both had to deal with brushfires. Both were put out and no homes or other structures were threatened, but people need to be cautious, he said.