New Mexico governor signs bill to shield abortion providers - By Morgan Lee Associated Press
Democratic New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed a bill Wednesday that protects providers of abortions from related prosecution, professional disciplinary action or extradition attempts by out-of-state interests.
A companion abortion-rights bill signed in March guarantees access to reproductive health care in response to a string of anti-abortion ordinances by cities and counties in eastern New Mexico where opposition to abortion access runs deep.
New Mexico is increasingly seen as a destination for abortion patients traveling from states including Texas that have banned abortion, or those imposing major restrictions.
"I think there is a lot of fear there," said Democratic state Sen. Siah Correa Hemphill of Silver City, a school psychologist and cosponsor of the newly signed bill. "We want to make sure New Mexico is a state that is safe for women and safe for health care workers."
The new law also protects medical providers when it comes to gender-affirming health care without regard to the age of patients, in a counterpoint to new laws restricting or banning such care in at least a dozen other states. Indiana's Republican governor signed a bill Wednesday banning all gender-affirming care for minors.
Gender-affirming health care is defined under the New Mexico legislation as psychological, behavioral, surgical, pharmaceutical and other medical treatment for distress caused by a person's gender assigned at birth not matching the gender with which they identify.
Lujan Grisham has framed safeguards for abortion access in New Mexico in a broader context as a cornerstone of women's equality and democratic engagement.
She said Wednesday that medical professionals need legal protections to ensure continued public access to abortion in the tumultuous wake of the Dobbs v. Jackson decision that struck down the constitutional right to abortion and allows states to set limits on access.
"This is a state that's going to stand with the men and women who provide our care. We're clear about our rights. We're clear about our choices," Lujan Grisham said at a news conference alongside eight female state legislators who sponsored abortion-access legislation. "If we don't protect providers, you can say they have access (to abortion) when it fact you do not."
In 2021, New Mexico's Democrat-led Legislature passed a measure to repeal a dormant 1969 statute that outlawed most abortion procedures, which ensured access to abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.
More recently, two counties and three cities in eastern New Mexico adopted ordinances that restrict abortion access, reflecting deep-seated opposition to offering the procedure.
The New Mexico Supreme Court last week blocked those local anti-abortion ordinances pending the outcome of a legal challenge by the state attorney general.
Eve Espey, chairwoman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of New Mexico, said the law signed on Wednesday guards against attempts to sanction or discipline medical professionals involved in abortion procedures.
"Now we can tell our providers that we can continue to do this work," she said at Wednesday's news conference.
Cities will get nearly $200M in grants for pipeline upgrades - Associated Press
The first $196 million in grants for a $1 billion federal program to repair and replace aging, sometimes leaking natural gas pipelines across the county were announced Wednesday.
The Transportation Department and its Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration announced that the city of Las Cruces, New Mexico, will get $10 million as the first grant recipient. Nineteen other communities will also get grants to help upgrade 270 miles (435 kilometer) of natural gas pipelines in 19 different states, although the government didn't identify all the recipients.
Another nearly $400 million of grants will be announced later this year.
The grants, announced by Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, will be paid for with money from the infrastructure law President Joe Biden's administration is touting in a series of events across the country.
"This funding to modernize our gas pipelines will help protect residents from dangerous leaks, create good-paying jobs, and reduce methane emissions in communities across the nation, particularly in rural and underserved areas," Buttigieg said.
Several of the pipelines that will be repaired or replaced were installed decades ago, and some of them are leaking. Officials estimate that completing these repairs will help reduce methane emissions by roughly 212 metric tons a year.
Aging pipelines have been involved in fatal explosions and massive spills that have occurred over decades in California, Michigan, New Jersey and other states.
"Investments in pipeline safety are investments in community safety and our shared environment," said PHMSA Deputy Administrator Tristan Brown.
Man charged in case of woman missing from Navajo Nation - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
A federal grand jury has indicted a New Mexico man on assault and carjacking charges in connection with the 2021 disappearance of a Native American woman whose case has helped to raise awareness about missing people and unsolved slayings in Indian Country.
The indictment naming Preston Henry Tolth, 23, was unsealed Tuesday. He is scheduled to appear before a federal magistrate Friday in northern Arizona for a detention hearing and formal arraignment.
Federal prosecutors alleged that Tolth assaulted Ella Mae Begay, a Navajo woman who was 62 at the time, took her pickup truck and drove it across state lines. Begay has not been found.
"This indictment is an important first step in determining the truth about what happened to an elderly victim on the Navajo Nation," U.S. Attorney Gary Restaino of Arizona said in a statement, stressing that the investigation was ongoing.
Begay's truck was seen the morning of June 15, 2021, leaving her home in the remote community of Sweetwater on the Navajo Nation, not far from where Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado meet.
A year after Begay disappeared, her niece began walking from the Navajo Nation to Washington D.C. to bring attention to a decades-long epidemic of violence that has disproportionately affected Indigenous people.
Attorney Darlene Gomez, who is representing Begay's family, said in a social media post that the indictment marked a bittersweet development for family members. Gomez said the family appreciates the prayers and support from those who have followed Begay's case and shared her story in hopes of bringing her home.
The investigation into Begay's disappearance is part of the U.S. Department of Justice's efforts to address cases involving missing and slain Native Americans. Navajo Nation authorities had previously identified Tolth as a person of interest in the case.
Luke Mulligan, a federal public defender for Tolth, declined to comment on the case Tuesday.
New Mexico court records show Tolth has a criminal history that includes charges of aggravated battery, resisting arrest, residential burglary and drug possession that date back to 2019. He already was in custody pending the outcome of a 2022 case in which he was accused of stealing a man's wallet while armed with some kind of sharp weapon, court records show.
Begay's family members have met with U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who recently joined Justice Department officials in hosting the first in-person session of the Not Invisible Act Commission in Washington. The commission will be holding field hearings across the U.S. this year as it develops recommendations for preventing and responding to violence affecting tribal communities.
Governor signs bills on policing, parole, and children in custody - By Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Tuesday signed three pieces of legislation related to the criminal legal system in the state, and advocates are hoping she signs more before her deadline on Friday.
Nayomi Valdez, director of public policy for the New Mexico chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said she and others are grateful for the efforts made during this year’s legislative session to enact meaningful criminal legal reform.
By and large, the Legislature rejected tough-on-crime policies “that we know don’t work,” Valdez said. That included a proposal that would have made it easier for prosecutors to hold people in jail pending trial.
Now, lawmakers need to take the next step of embracing bold reform and investment, Valdez said, in diversion programs and prison reform.
“I think the Legislature showed us that we’re ready to reject one ideology, the question is, what are we ready to pursue?” Valdez said.
Lujan Grisham has until this Friday to sign or veto legislation. Anything she doesn’t act on by then will be “pocket-vetoed.”
POLICE VIOLENCE
New Mexico has one of the highest rates of police killings in the country, which Valdez said is an issue of public safety and officer safety.
“When there is fear and violence existing between law enforcement and the community, and that is just getting deepened and furthered all the time, the more dangerous it becomes for everybody, on all sides of the equation,” Valdez said.
Lujan Grisham on Tuesday signed into law Senate Bill 19/Senate Bill 252 which establishes a statewide use of force standard for all police in New Mexico, and requires new training, policies and procedures for the New Mexico Department of Public Safety, a division that oversees the New Mexico State Police.
SB 19 and SB 252 were combined into one piece of legislation, and both bills got “significantly reduced” as a result, Valdez said. “It is certainly not the comprehensive bill that we were pushing for initially,” Valdez said.
Still, Valdez said Senate Bill 252 is “fairly comprehensive,” and has more detailed provisions than language in state law when it comes to police use of force, Valdez said.
The bill would establish a duty to intervene, create a database to track police misconduct or excessive use of force, and require police who see another officer using force which they believe to be excessive to report the incident to their supervisor.
The bill would also require police to use de-escalation when reasonable and available, Valdez said, and would clarify the definition of a chokehold.
Advocates have learned lessons about how to approach police about this kind of legislation, Valdez said. Within certain police circles, there is a real desire to understand the problem and deal with it head on, she said.
“This was, I think, a year of progress, but certainly not where we need to be, and we’re gonna keep working on it,” Valdez said.
DRUG POSSESSION
Advocates say locking people up for technical or minor violations doesn’t help the person who committed the offense or New Mexico communities.
Two sentencing reform bills which would keep New Mexico from incarcerating so many people for simple drug possession await the governor’s signature.
Senate Bill 187 would no longer allow courts to count a drug possession charge or a DWI charge from another jurisdiction when considering sentencing someone as a “habitual offender.”
Senate Bill 84 would revise the state’s probation and parole system and tie punishments to the severity of the violation — rather than the crime that originally sent them to prison.
OTHER BILLS SIGNED Maddy Hayden, a spokesperson for the governor, said Lujan Grisham on Tuesday signed Senate Bill 29, which would make it easier for some incarcerated people to get parole for medical and geriatric reasons; and Senate Bill 388, which would raise the minimum age at which a child may be held in state custody or detained from 11 years to 12.
The governor has also signed Senate Bill 310, which could divert more people from the criminal legal system into services by allowing police to bring people to crisis triage centers for voluntary treatment by a mental health professional.
LOOKING FORWARD TO THE INTERIM
Over the interim, the ACLU of New Mexico will be working to generate ideas and broadening the public’s understanding of what public safety is, and what it needs to entail, Valdez said.
Valdez said she would not be surprised if crime ends up on the call for the next legislative session.
“We are taking the next few months to do everything we can to continue collaboration, education, and make sure the folks who represent us know and feel supported in their efforts to enact meaningful change when it comes to public safety,” Valdez said.
New Mexico governor signs bill to limit prescribed fires — Morgan Lee, Associated Press
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed legislation Tuesday that aims to prohibit prescribed burns — wildland fires set purposefully as a means of forest management — during periods of increased fire risk.
The Democratic governor also signed a lengthy list of other measures that expand to $1 million benefits for relatives of firefighters who die in the line of duty, significantly increase pay for most statewide elected officials and improve public instructions for use of the opioid overdose-reversing drug naloxone.
The fire safety bill from Republican state Rep. Ron Griggs of Alamogordo responds in part to devastating 2022 fires in New Mexico that were allegedly lit deliberately and escaped control.
The Calf Canyon Hermits Peak Fire started April 19, 2022, and burned up more than 530 square miles (1,375 square kilometers) in northern New Mexico. It was attributed to a prescribed burn set by the U.S. Forest Service that was stoked by heavy winds, amid seasonally parched conditions.
The new law takes effect immediately, amid seasonally dry, gusty spring weather across much of the state. The restrictions apply when the National Weather Service has issued a "red flag" warning about substantial fire risks due to warm, dry and windy weather.
The pay hike bill signed by the governor will deliver the first raises in 20 years to elected officials including the secretary of state, attorney general, state lands commissioner, state treasurer, state auditor and lieutenant governor.
Those salaries will increase by as much as 70% to at least $144,000.
Lujan Grisham currently earns $110,000 a year. She won't get a salary increase, but her successor will in 2027.
Sun Van an ART will be permanently free after council vote – Albuquerque Journal, KUNM
The Albuquerque City Council voted last night/Monday night to keep some of the city’s transit services permanently free.
The Albuquerque Journal reports that the Sun Van paratransit service for people with disabilities and Albuquerque Rapid Transit, or ART, which travels along Central Avenue, will continue operating with zero fares in perpetuity.
All bus service became free in January 2022 as part of a citywide pilot program, but it’s unclear if that will stay in place for routes outside of Sun Van or ART. The Transit Department is due to deliver an analysis of the pilot in late September.
Transit Director Leslie Keener said collecting fares on the ART route would bring in $810,000 per year. The cost to run it is $5.5 million annually.
The cost of running the Sun Van is about $7 million and charging passengers would bring in about $285,000 every year.
US rolls out funding for wildlife crossings along busy roads — Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press
Native American tribes, as well as state and local governments, will be able to tap into $350 million in infrastructure funds to build wildlife corridors along busy roads and add warning signs for drivers in what federal officials are billing as the first-of-its-kind pilot program to prevent collisions and improve habitat connectivity.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg rolled out more details about the program during a visit to Santa Ana Pueblo on Tuesday. Wildlife managers with the New Mexico tribe have been tracking mountain lions, elk and other animals across tens of thousands of acres in north-central New Mexico and have documented casualties along busy highways that cut through tribal boundaries.
Buttigieg visited one of the culverts under Interstate 25 near the pueblo that serves a migratory byway for animals that travel between the high desert mountain ranges that border tribal land and the cottonwood and willow forests along the Rio Grande.
He called it a great example, saying the safety solution needed in one location, like a busy crosswalk in the middle of a dense metropolitan area, is different from what is needed in an area where there are so many conflict points between traffic and wildlife.
"Whether you're talking about the broader effects on climate that come with what we do or don't do on everything from transit alternatives to the very design of our roads, all that is at stake in good transportation policy," he said, adding that not all the answers need to come from Washington, just more of the funding.
Nationwide, about 200 people are killed each year in collisions involving wildlife and vehicles, federal officials said.
Buttigieg said launching the pilot program marks an important step to prevent deadly crashes, particularly in rural areas. In New Mexico, he said, there's an average of about 900 crashes per year that involve wildlife.
The dedicated funding includes more than $111 million for the first round of grants that will be issued this year. Federal officials said the program will open the door for communities that may not have previously had access to money for such projects.
Many Western states — including Colorado, Arizona, Utah and Nevada — have already invested substantially in wildlife crossings and in recent years, have adopted legislation that advocates say will allow them to capture millions of dollars in federal matching funds to build the crossings.
California is among the Western states with new legislation. It broke ground last year on what it bills as the world's largest crossing — a bridge over a major Southern California highway for mountain lions and other animals hemmed in by urban sprawl.
New Mexico also joined the effort when lawmakers passed legislation this spring to set aside $100 million for conservation projects. That includes building the state's first wildlife highway overpasses for free-roaming cougars, black bears, bighorn sheep and other creatures.
The massive federal infrastructure law amounts to the largest investment in road and bridges in a generation. It's also the largest single sum ever allocated to address vehicle-wildlife collisions — a problem that stretches back nearly a century, when the government first began funding the construction of highways.
Technological advances have helped wildlife managers and public safety officials in some states identify the best locations for crossings, and where they can make the biggest difference for both wildlife and motorists.
At Santa Ana Pueblo, managers have been busy collaring mountain lions, bear, elk and other species as part of a long-term effort aimed at restoring wildlife and habitat across more than 70,000 acres (28,330 hectares) of varying terrain. The price tag has stretched into the millions and has produced more than one quarter of a million GPS location points, said Glenn Harper, the pueblo's range and wildlife division manager.
That data has helped to create maps showing where animals want to be on the landscape and where they want to cross. However, Harper said even more data will need to be collected over the next year in hopes of landing more funding for the wildlife crossing work.
At one point, managers thought they had more than a dozen lions crossing through pueblo lands. That included one named "Squeaks" that traveled more than 550 miles (885 kilometers) from Santa Ana to Mesa Verde National Park and Ute Mountain Ute tribal lands in southern Colorado in search for a new home range.
U.S. Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury, a New Mexico Democrat, pointed to the lion's journey, saying safe passage for animals and the development of more crossings will have as much of an impact on cultural heritage and the creation of climate refuges as it will on safety.
"What we're seeing is wildlife moving into new areas," she said, "and so projects like this will help wildlife reconnect on the land to historic spaces and the spaces that will sustain them ecologically as they're facing climate change."