The New Mexico Legislature adjourned after just one day of a special session, passing only one bill. Besides relief for fire victims in southern New Mexico, none of the issues Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham had called for lawmakers to address were heard.
Lujan Grisham had called lawmakers into a special session to tackle what she sees as urgent matters of public safety. Amid pushback from those within her own party, she signed a proclamation Wednesday that laid out priorities like involuntary mental health commitment, increased penalties for gun possession by those with felonies, and restricting panhandling.
With no one from her own party willing to carry them, Sen. Mark Moores (R-Bernalillo) stepped up to sponsor most of the governor’s proposals. He told his colleagues that the crime rate in Albuquerque was one of the reasons he has decided to move elsewhere.
“Even though I oppose this governor, she was right on this issue,” he said on the Senate floor. “And I stood up for her on these bills.”
However, none were heard before the Legislature adjourned.
“Maybe she needs a Republican Legislature here to actually advance this agenda,” he said. “And I hope the voters are listening.”
Democrats in the Senate spoke to their concerns about the proposal and the session overall on the floor.
Sen. Katy Duhigg (D-Bernalillo and Sandoval) had expressed interest in looking closer at the bill limiting panhandling, but said there were problematic issues that needed to be addressed.
“Cities already have the ability to do this if they want to,” she said. “We do not need a state law regulating, potentially limiting, the public speech on medians and roadways.”
Sen. Joseph Cervantes (D-Doña Ana) said a special session has its time and place, but it’s not in legislating criminal justice.
“The bills before us are so complicated at times, and so deserving of our deliberative roles as lawmakers, that we not rush them and do more harm,” he said.
The Democratic majority did pass one bill in the hours-long special session — a House funding bill that would normally just pay for the expenses of holding the session, but got padded with a few additional items.
It appropriates nearly $212,000 to pay for holding the special session, though most of that is not likely to be used. Past special sessions have cost about $50,000 a day.
It also puts $30 million in grants and $70 million in forgivable loans toward recovery efforts from the Salt and South Fork fires — the only item on the governor’s priority list lawmakers addressed.
It also gives $3 million to the Administrative Office of the Courts for behavioral health treatment pilot programs.
The funding bill quickly passed through the House Appropriations and Finance Committee with just one lawmaker, Republican Rep. Randall Pettigrew, objecting to shoehorning additional proposals into the “feed bill,” usually meant to pay for administering the session.
“This money doesn’t belong here. It belongs in its own standalone bill,” he told his colleagues. “I stand against this not because it’s the wrong thing to do. It’s the wrong way to do this.”
The House passed the legislation on a 57 to 7 vote before the Senate gave it unanimous approval. As the Senate adjourned sine die, Republican Sen. Cliff Pirtle said lawmakers had squandered an opportunity.
“With the exception of the legislation with the fire, this first special session of the 56th Legislature could have been handled in an email,” he said.
In a statement, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said the one-day session amounted to “one of the most disappointing days of my career.”
“The legislature should be embarrassed at their inability to summon even an ounce of courage to adopt common-sense legislation to make New Mexicans safer,” she wrote.
She said the public “should be outraged,” and promised to continue to fight to protect New Mexicans.
On Wednesday, while signing the proclamation, the governor said it was not out of the question to call multiple special sessions in row — though she has not indicated whether that is a step she will take.
Support for this coverage comes from the Thornburg Foundation and KUNM listeners
