Governor releases her proposed budget – Santa Fe New Mexican, KUNM News
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham released her budget recommendations Thursday ahead of the legislative session, which includes a 3% raise for most state government and public school employees and a 14% raise for State Police officers.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports the budget has $10.5 billion in recurring spending, a nearly 10% increase from the last fiscal year. Of that there is $4.5 billion proposed for the state’s public education system – an increase of $283 million.
There are also investments for housing, public safety, economic development, and health care, including $2 billion for the Health Care Authority, which the governor’s office referred to as “formerly the Human Services Department.” There is $88 million allocated for rate increases to Medicaid providers.
Another $25 million would create a new family services division within the Children, Youth and Families Department and $100 million would go towards the Rural Healthcare Delivery Fund.
Under economic development, $100 million would launch the New Mexico Match Fund to leverage federal infrastructure investments.
The Legislative Finance Committee is scheduled to release its proposed budget Friday. The two spending plans will guide creation of the state budget in the legislative session, which stars on January 16.
Democrats will again push to pass New Mexico green amendment - Santa Fe New Mexican, KUNM News
Democratic lawmakers will once again seek to pass a green amendment in the upcoming legislative session.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports the idea is to create a constitutional amendment that would go before voters and ensure that a clean, healthy environment is a right in the state.
This would be the fourth time lawmakers have tried to pass a green amendment, even though Democrats have a majority in both chambers. No Republicans have supported past efforts. This year’s session is only 30 days long and only a small percentage of bills and measures are likely to pass.
Advocates say the amendment would make officials enforce current laws and also give them constitutional authority when existing regulations don’t cover threats to public health and the environment.
But opponents say it gives the government too much power and would hurt industries like oil and gas extraction and agriculture.
New York, Montana, and Pennsylvania are the only three states in the country to adopt a green amendment so far.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham would not need to approve the proposed amendment, but bill sponsor, Sen. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, said the governor’s support would help the effort. Lujan Grisham did not respond to the New Mexican’s request for comment. If the Senate and House approve the amendment it would go before voters in the fall election.
New Mexico considers setback requirements for oil wells near schools and day care centers - By Morgan Lee and Susan Montoya, Bryan Associated Press
A bill to ban oil and gas production within a mile of schools and day care centers across New Mexico is among the first published proposals as the state Legislature prepares for a 30-day session that could bring an overhaul to fundamental oil and gas regulations.
Regulators in the No. 2 U.S. state for oil production are considering reforms including setback requirements aimed at protecting children from pollution, amid pressure from environmental groups and other advocates to bolster pollution controls and fulfill constitutional obligations to regulate the industry.
Published Wednesday, a bill introduced by Democratic state Rep. Debra Sariñana of Albuquerque would halt approval of new drilling permits within a mile of school facilities starting in July of this year. It also would halt most oil and natural gas operations in those zones by 2028.
Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham directed the state Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department to consult with a variety of stakeholders and develop its own robust set of proposed reforms to the New Mexico Oil and Gas Act, which regulates production of the two fossil fuels.
The results of that process will include the establishment of setbacks from schools, hospitals, medical facilities, multifamily housing, single family homes and water bodies statewide.
Lujan Grisham spokesperson Maddy Hayden said in an email Wednesday that the distance of the setbacks has yet to be determined. A draft of the agency's proposal includes language that refers to a setback of 2,640 feet for schools, homes and health care facilities.
Sariñana, a retired high school math teacher, said her proposal would likely affect about 800 existing wells out of more than 65,000 across the state.
"It's about our kids. This year it's about our kids," she said.
The state and governor are being sued by environmental groups over alleged failures to meet constitutional provisions for protecting against oil and gas pollution. The groups have pointed to buffers around schools, homes and health care facilities as one way the state could meet its obligations. Plaintiffs and other advocates say that limiting the buffer to just a half-mile doesn't go far enough.
In a letter sent to the state Oil Conservation Division in December, they argued that research shows a setback of at least one mile is necessary to protect public health. As setback distances decrease, they said the likelihood and magnitude of exposure risk for people who live, work, go to school or frequent places near oil and gas production increases.
"We feel this should be a no-brainer," Gail Evans, a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. She represents the plaintiffs in the constitutional case.
While the State Land Office has imposed its own buffer around schools, Evans and others say the mandate should be expanded beyond state trust land and that it has been failures by the state Legislature to address the issue of contamination and pollution that led to the legal challenge.
The Legislature convenes from Jan. 16 through March 15 to approve an annual budget. Other initiatives can be considered at the discretion of the governor.
Published legislative proposals also include ban on the use of fresh water in fracking and enhance oversight and sanctions for spills by well operators.
APD releases data showing arrests are up, use of force is down - Albuquerque Journal, KUNM News
The Albuquerque Police Department has now released statistics showing that the department has been arresting more people, but incidents involving the use of force from their officers has gone down.
As the Albuquerque Journal reports, the data released Wednesday showed annual arrests skyrocketed 29%, from just below 9,500 in 2021 to just over 12,200 in 2023. Officer use of force incidents decreased 30%, from 739 to 515.
APD spokesman Gilbert Gallegos told the Journal that, of those 515 use of force cases in 2023, 13 cases were found to be “out of policy.” That resulted in 17 officers receiving some sort of discipline and seven were given written reprimands.
This data comes as the department nears full compliance with a Court-Approved Settlement Agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice in 2014 – which mandated sweeping reforms to APD.
Since 2022, APD officers have shot, or shot at, 32 people, with at least 16 being fatal.
N.M. counties sketch spending wish list for 2024 - By Austin Fisher, Source New Mexico
New Mexico’s county governments want state lawmakers in the upcoming legislative session to allocate an additional $188 million, to pay for a variety of local government functions like public sector workers’ health care, new courthouses, jail operations and pay raises.
New Mexico Counties, a lobbying group for all 33 county governments in the state, outlined that the bulk of the requested money is set to go toward covering insurance costs for state employees.
The counties are asking lawmakers to set aside $149 million to cover a shortfall in the pot of money used to pay for state employees’ health care, New Mexico Counties executive director Joy Esparsen told lawmakers on the Revenue Stabilization & Tax Policy Committee.
Esparsen said counties were blindsided last year by bills from the state General Services Department for the deficit in the Employee Health Benefits Fund.
Some counties and cities sued the state over the invoices last summer after House Bill 2, the legislation setting out the state budget, called for local governments to pay one-time fees of $10.2 million for health insurance premiums and $299,100 for life insurance premiums, according to Eastern New Mexico News.
“We recognize that funds need to be solvent but we don’t have a voice in that discussion when those premium increases were waived,” Esparsen said. “We have commitments from several legislators that this is going to be an issue that’ll be discussed early on this session.”
PAYING FOR COURTHOUSES
The counties want lawmakers to set aside $20 million each year for building and renovating state district courthouses.
Often, state district courts and county magistrate courts share space in what are called “judicial complexes,” but counties cover the cost of maintaining them, Esparsen said.
“This is something we’ve considered an unfunded mandate for many years,” Esparsen said. “We look at this as a much better approach to this as a shared revenue.”
The most recent state operating budget does have $23 million set aside by lawmakers for the Administrative Office of the Courts to cover these costs, the counties wrote.
$15 million of that was used to resolve a lawsuit between the Eighth Judicial District Court and Otero County.
The other $8 million is being distributed based on need across the state, the counties wrote. Various court officials asked AOC to use the money, but their requests totaled $22 million, Esparsen said.
PAYING JAIL GUARDS
Lawmakers passed a law directing the state to set up a special fund in 2023 called the Detention and Corrections Workforce Capacity Building Fund, to help counties recruit and retain jail guards, Esparsen said.
Now the counties are asking lawmakers to put $10 million in that fund, she said.
“We have detention centers that are operating at very concerning numbers of staff, and it’s a compounding problem — you have staff then that’s working multiple overtime,” Esparsen said.
PEOPLE IN STATE CUSTODY HELD IN COUNTY JAILS
The counties are asking lawmakers to set aside $7.5 million that will reimburse county jails that detain people convicted of felonies who are sentenced to state prison, but are actually incarcerated in county jails.
According to the counties’ presentation, lawmakers created the County Detention Facility Reimbursement Fund in 2007 with $5 million, but the pot of money “diminished to less than $2.5 million over the next decade.”
Even though lawmakers restored it to $5 million in 2022, the counties wrote that it costs an average of $7.5 million to incarcerate state prisoners in county jails each year, according to the New Mexico Sentencing Commission.
ADMINISTRATIVE FEES BY STATE
The New Mexico Municipal League wants lawmakers to eliminate a 3% fee charged to local governments by the state Taxation and Revenue Department. They want lawmakers to make it based on costs instead of a flat fee.
Esparsen said it’s also a concern for counties. That 3% is unreasonable and not based on actual costs, she said. She said counties paid $26 million last year to collect county sales taxes, she said.
FINES AND FEES BACKFILL
Mentioned in the counties’ presentation but not in Esparsen’s comments to lawmakers was a proposal for lawmakers to make up for the $1.3 million each year that was reportedly being raised by fees for traffic tickets and criminal charges imposed on top of the fines required by the state’s criminal laws.
Lawmakers tossed out those fees last year.
FIREFIGHTERS AND MEDICS
The counties are asking lawmakers to find “a more sustainable shared” source of revenue to pay for emergency medical services.
That same day, the New Mexico Municipal League suggested lawmakers put 10% of health insurance premium tax revenue into the fund to pay for local EMS services’ supplies, equipment and vehicles.
Rep. Liz Stefanics (D-Albuquerque) asked Esparsen if the counties agree with the cities’ suggestion, and she said “absolutely.” She said the counties have met with the municipal league about the issue multiple times, along with the New Mexico Association of Chiefs of Police.
TRANSPORTING AND EXTRADITING INCARCERATED PEOPLE
The counties are asking lawmakers to set aside $750,000 to reimburse them for moving incarcerated people around the state or extraditing them from outside the state, according to their presentation.
There’s already a fund in state law that allows the state to pay back counties for this work but lawmakers have never put money into it, Esparsen said.
SERVICES FOR INCARCERATED PEOPLE
The counties are asking lawmakers to increase funding for mental health care, medication assisted treatment, housing, job training and other services for people incarcerated in county jails.
The Reach, Intervene, Support and Engage Program is overseen by the Behavioral Health Services Division of the state Human Services Department. The group runs in a dozen counties across the state — Bernalillo, Colfax, Dona Ana, Eddy, Grant, Lincoln, Luna, Roosevelt, San Juan, Sierra, Socorro and Valencia counties, according to the group’s presentation.
Neither the counties’ presentation nor Esparsen’s comments to lawmakers specify how much money goes into the program and how much more they want. More money “would provide sustainability and enable expansion” of the program, the counties wrote.
ELECTEDS’ SALARIES
The counties are asking lawmakers to increase the salary cap for newly elected officials by 15%, and for their salaries to match the Consumer Price Index.
The counties wrote that an increase to the salary cap is imperative this year because it would affect any incoming elected officials who will take office in January 2025. The cap was last changed in 2018, they wrote.
Esparsen said 14 counties are at the cap set by state law.
“The reality is when you have a deputy that is making $40,000 to $50,000 more than the elected official, it doesn’t make it very enticing for them to run as an elected official, or to retain that institutional knowledge,” Esparsen said.
City of Albuquerque outlines winter weather supports - By Nash Jones, KUNM News
With snow falling across the state, Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller and representatives from several city departments Thursday gave an update on available winter-weather supports.
Keller emphasized preparation by city support services for the cold conditions. Namely, the recently-expanded Gateway Center’s 85 overnight beds in addition to the Westside Emergency Housing Center’s 24-hour shelter and meals.
For people stuck outside when it drops below freezing, the Albuquerque Community Safety Department now provides after-hours transportation to shelters from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m.
Additionally, the Department of Municipal Development highlighted their efforts to keep roads clear with a fleet of 40 trucks to spread salt. Keller said Emergency DMD crews “were monitoring this storm in real time and were ready to go.”
Albuquerque Fire Rescue shared safety tips, including keeping a 3-foot area around space heaters clear, getting fireplaces serviced annually, and not using gas stoves to heat homes due to the risk that carbon monoxide poses.
Four cities will host gun buybacks on Saturday – Farmington Daily Times, KUNM News
New Mexico State Police will hold gun buybacks in four cities Saturday.
The Farmington Daily Times reports the agency is asking residents in Albuquerque, Española, Farmington and Las Cruces to anonymously turn in firearms in exchange for Visa gift cards.
This is the second buyback since Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham issued a public health order in September to address rising gun violence following the shooting deaths of several children in Albuquerque.
Previous buybacks in Albuquerque, Española and Las Cruces brought in 279 firearms. But this will be the first event in Farmington, after an earlier event brought public backlash and was cancelled.
The weapons will be destroyed or recycled into other products. They do not need to in working order. Officials will offer $100 gift cards for handguns and $200 gift cards for rifles and shotguns.
The buybacks will take place between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. at these locations:
· Expo New Mexico, 300 San Pedro, Gate 8 off Louisiana Blvd. in Albuquerque
· Harriet B. Simmons Office, 101 W. Animas in Farmington
· First Baptist Church, 4201 N. Sonoma ranch Blvd. in Las Cruces
· Espanola Annex Building, 1101 Industrial Park Road in Española
Tony Sanchez introduced as New Mexico State's head football coach after 2 seasons as receivers coach - Associated Press
New Mexico State didn't need to look far when searching for a new head football coach.
Eleven days after Jerry Kill stepped down after two seasons with the Aggies, Tony Sanchez was officially introduced Wednesday as the program's 36th head coach.
Sanchez, 49, was a wide receiver for New Mexico State from 1994-95 and coached that position the past two years.
The Aggies had a 7-6 record in 2022, winning the Quick Lane Bowl, then went 10-5 last season and played for the Conference USA championship.
It marked the school's first back-to-back bowl games since 1959-60.
"Now there's a new standard here," Sanchez told reporters Wednesday. "We don't want to win anymore, we expect to win. That's going to be our attitude moving forward. We've got a great coaching staff, a great core group of players and I know we'll continue to move this thing forward."
Sanchez was UNLV's head coach from 2015-19 and had a 20-40 record.
New Mexico State athletic director Mario Moccia said Sanchez is expected to sign a five-year contract.
"We had a lot of really good coaches that I thought might have the ability to take over," Moccia said Wednesday. "In my opinion, Tony was the most ready. And that's why we made this selection."
Moccia added that two other major projects are upcoming for the football program — a new video board and new locker rooms.
NM lawmaker to propose limits on assault-style weapons - Santa Fe New Mexican, KUNM News
Less than a month after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham called on lawmakers to consider restrictions on assault-style weapons in the upcoming legislative session, Democratic Rep. Andrea Romero is answering the call.
The Santa Fe New Mexican reports Romero says she plans to introduce legislation similar to a federal proposal from U.S. Senator Martin Hienrich that aims to limit how lethal the weapons are. The GOSAFE ACT would require that the weapons have permanently fixed magazines. It would also limit rifles to 10 rounds and some heavy-format pistols to 15.
While Romero’s proposal last year to prohibit magazines that hold more than 10 bullets failed, she says she’s drafting this year’s push with the help of law enforcement and legal counsel.
She says she knows the bill will be controversial, but that it’s important to have “hard conversations” about what’s needed to protect people.
A spokesperson for the governor told the New Mexican that her office is reviewing Romero’s proposal, adding that they look forward to working with lawmakers to “put forth a robust suite of common sense gun laws in the upcoming session.”
New Mexico regulators reject utility's effort to recoup some investments in coal and nuclear plants - By Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press
Regulators rejected on Wednesday an effort by New Mexico's largest electric utility to recoup from customers millions of dollars of investments made in a coal-fired power plant in the northwestern corner of the state and a nuclear power plant in neighboring Arizona.
The Public Regulation Commission's decision means Public Service Co. of New Mexico customers will not have to bear some costs associated with PNM's stake in the Four Corners Power Plant near Farmington or in the Palo Verde Generating Station outside of Phoenix. Commissioners said those investments were not prudent.
Overall, residential customers will see a decrease in rates instead of the 9.7% increase that the utility was seeking.
The commission said in a statement that PNM still will be able to collect a reasonable return on its investments while providing reliable service to more than 500,000 customers around the state.
PNM filed a request for its first-rate hike in years in late 2022, saying the nearly $64 million in additional revenue was needed as part of a long-term plan to recoup $2.6 billion in investments necessary to modernize the grid and meet state mandates for transitioning away from coal and natural gas.
The utility also had cited the expiration of lease agreements for electricity from the Palo Verde plant and the desire to refinance debt to take advantage of lower interest rates.
Hearing examiners with the Public Regulation Commission who reviewed the case recommended in December that the commission reject costs associated with the sale of leases at Palo Verde to a third party. They also said PNM's 2016 decision to invest in extending the life of the Four Corners plant wasn't prudent.
PNM officials said late Wednesday that they were reviewing the commission's order. The utility has until Feb. 2 to seek a rehearing before the commission.
Consumer advocates and environmental groups were pleased the commission opted to reject some of the costs associated with PNM's investments.
"The commission recognized that PNM failed to do its due diligence before reinvesting in Four Corners after 2016, when there were clear signs that coal is a costly and deadly fuel," said Matthew Gerhart, a senior attorney with Sierra Club.
The utility had tried to divest itself from Four Corners by transferring its shares to a Navajo energy company. However, regulators rejected that proposal, a decision that was later upheld by the New Mexico Supreme Court.
Located on the Navajo Nation, the Four Corners plant is operated by Arizona Public Service Co. The utility owns a majority of shares in the plant's two remaining units.
Navajo Transitional Energy Co. had sought to take over PNM's shares, saying that preventing an early closure of the power plant would help soften the economic blow to communities that have long relied on tax revenue and jobs tied to coal-fired generation.
The nearby San Juan Generating Station was shuttered in 2022, sending financial ripples through the surrounding communities. PNM had operated that plant for decades.
USDA Deputy Sec. Torres Small tours NM with the state’s congressional representatives - By Nash Jones, KUNM News
U.S. Agriculture Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small is in New Mexico this week touting the Biden administration’s infrastructure and clean energy investments as well as its efforts to make use of the work happening at the nation's universities and research facilities.
Wednesday, Torres Small kicked off her trip to her home state by visiting Sandia Pueblo with U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury. They visited a tribal fire station that’s tapped USDA funds for emergency response equipment, according to a press release.
Thursday, she’ll tour New Mexico State University with Rep. Gabe Vasquez. They’ll focus on NMSU’s science and agricultural research efforts related to the USDA’s mission to further research, education and economics.
Torres Small will wrap up her visit Friday with Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez in Mora County. They’ll tour a business that received the agency’s Rural Energy for America Program grant to access renewable energy systems.