The special legislative session ended in Santa Fe on Thursday afternoon, with Democratic lawmakers celebrating the passage of bills designed to lessen the impact of federal funding cuts.
But while there was Republican support for some of the agenda, GOP lawmakers stepped away from debate in the House of Representatives Thursday to hold a press conference where they said they were shut out of deliberations.
House Minority Whip Rep. Alan Martinez (R-Rio Rancho) accused Democratic leaders of not allowing them to help plan the special session and refusing to hear their bills.
“If we had been invited to the table, this special session might have dealt with emergency situations that are faced in our communities every day by everyday New Mexicans,” he said.
Republican lawmakers prefiled six bills for consideration, all of them stalled and were never heard on the floor of either chamber.
Most of their bills were related to the Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD), like creating a new commission to nominate a CYFD secretary, implementing new standards on a “child’s best interest” when determining parental rights, and empowering police to charge people who expose children to drugs.
There were also bills to allow juveniles as young as 14 years old to be tried as adults, change medical malpractice laws, and allow out-of-state doctors to receive licenses within New Mexico.
Rep. Gail Armstrong (R-Magdalena) said Democratic leadership refused to work with them.
“We came with solutions. We asked for debate. We were shut down at every turn,” she said.
House Speaker Javier Martinez (D-Albuquerque) said at a press conference on Wednesday that the Republicans never asked to be involved in planning the session.
Support for this coverage comes from the Thornburg Foundation.
