Bill Advances To Exempt New Mexico From Time Changes - By Morgan Lee, Associated Press
New Mexico would eliminate twice-annual seasonal time changes under a bill endorsed Friday by the New Mexico state Senate.
On a 22-18 vote, the Democrat-led Senate approved a bill that would keep New Mexico on daylight saving time throughout the year.
It was unclear if the House will bring the measure to a floor vote before the legislative session ends on March 20. Democratic House Speaker Brian Egolf was co-sponsor of a similar bill in 2015 that won Senate approval and stalled in the House without a vote.
Republican Sen. Cliff Pirtle, a dairy farmer from Roswell, has championed the initiative since 2013 without success, arguing that the time change is disruptive and that many people prefer to have extra daylight in the evening.
"The majority of people enjoy daylight savings time," he said. "They enjoy that extra hour to play baseball."
Democratic state Sen. Bobby Gonzales of Taos cast a no vote. He says the bill would result in children spending more time in freezing cold morning weather in northern New Mexico as they wait for school buses at sunrise.
"One hour makes a huge difference in the winter," he said.
Pirtle said schools are in the best position to determine starting times for attendance.
For the bill to go into effect, the state would need to request an exemption from federal transportation authorities.
Hawaii, Arizona and several U.S. territories do not make adjustments for daylight saving.
Daylight saving adjustments do take place at the Navajo Nation that encompasses portions of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.
New Mexico Senate Backs Bill To Change School Funding - By Cedar Attanasio Associated Press / Report For America
With the clock ticking and hundreds of bills on the table, New Mexico legislators are advancing funding priorities for public schools, higher education and early childhood programs.
In the Senate, lawmakers on Friday considered landmark changes to the public school funding formulas amid court judgments that require the state to funnel additional money to underserved students.
In a unanimous vote, the chamber advanced a funding bill that would increase the amount of money sent to school districts with non-taxable lands such as Native American reservations, military bases and federal housing. Currently, the state subtracts 75% of those federal dollars from state education funding.
Sen. George Muñoz pointed to his own district that covers part of western New Mexico. The Democrat said the problem is that 80% of McKinley County is non-taxable, meaning school districts there have to rely on the federal impact payments in lieu of taxes.
"This fixes a lot of problems for us," he said.
Some senators were concerned the proposed changes would erode per-pupil funding equality, which sets New Mexico apart from states that fund schools largely based on local property wealth. Still, they voted for the bipartisan bill.
Many of the school districts that will benefit serve large populations of Indigenous students, who are part of two lawsuits that prompted court rulings on constitutional deficiencies in the way the state funds day-to-day operations and long-term projects. A ruling in a federal case determined that impact aid was being unfairly assessed by the state.
"The impact aid districts will get more," said Sen. Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque. "And they need it."
A competing bill in the House would also lead to increased funding, but requires more of it to be used for capital projects.
The Senate also was scheduled to consider long-standing Democratic priorities to increase funding for two-year colleges, and to increase payouts from the state's $20 billion common schools endowment, aiming more funding at early childhood education.
Body Found In Vehicle At Albuquerque Airport Parking Garage – Associated Press
Albuquerque police say the body of a homicide victim was found Friday inside a vehicle in a parking garage at the city's airport.
No information was released immediately about the person whose body was found after Albuquerque International Sunport security personnel contacted police about a foul odor.
Interim police Chief Harold Medina said the victim was not killed at the airport but that investigators didn't immediately know where the homicide occurred.
Medina said the investigation was in its early stages but that detectives had some leads.
Aviation Director Nyika Allen said airport operations were functioning normally.
Police used crime scene tape to cordon off stairwells of the parking garage while detectives gathered around a vehicle on the top level of the structure.
Legislature Approves Bill To Waive Liquor License Fees - Associated Press
The New Mexico Legislature has approved a bill that would provide a one-time waiver of annual liquor license fees, amid discussions of a broad regulatory overhaul of alcohol sales.
A 64-0 vote of approval by the House of Representatives on Thursday sent the measure to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who has embraced a variety of economic relief measures in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Bill co-sponsor Rep. Matthew McQueen of Galisteo called the fee waiver a gesture of good will to liquor license holders.
The state will forgo about $3.6 million in income from fees.
There are roughly 3,800 active liquor licenses holders in the state, including about 790 dispenser licensees and 710 restaurant licensees.
Annual state fees range from $25 to $3,000, depending on the type of license.
Separately, the state Senate is weighing a House-approved bill that would relax state restrictions on liquor sales in an effort to energize the hospitality industry.
That bill would expand restaurant alcohol licenses that meet local ordinances to include not only beer and wine but also spirits with a 10 p.m. cutoff, while legalizing alcohol deliveries that are accompanied by food.
Lujan Grisham says she supports the efforts to reform the state's liquor licensure program and allow alcohol deliveries.
Legislators are wrestling with how to modernize a closely guarded monopoly on licenses for packaged liquor sales that routinely sell for more than $300,000 and serve as family inheritances.
New Mexico Governor's Grocery Bills Prompt Calls For Audit – Associated Press
Senate Republicans on Thursday asked for a special audit of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's use of a discretionary fund following reports that the Democrat spent thousands of dollars on liquor and groceries while holding small in-person meetings at the governor's mansion amid the pandemic.
Fourteen GOP lawmakers signed the letter that was sent to the state auditor's office seeking a review of the fund, which has been used for decades by governors to pay for dinners, gifts for protocol meetings or spending on gestures of congratulations or condolences.
"The law makes it clear that this fund is not for the governor's personal entertainment," Sen. Craig Brandt, R-Rio Rancho, said in a statement. "Taxpayers should not foot the bill for the governor's alcohol, Wagyu beef and dry cleaning. These clearly fall outside the allowable expenditures for this fund."
Lujan Grisham's office did not have an immediate comment about the request for an audit.
The first-term governor recently acknowledged that spending on goods and services such as dry cleaning, tuna steaks and tequila over a six-month period in 2020 didn't look good. The governor's office said previously that some of the groceries were used to feed her cabinet and staff during long meetings last year.
Groceries were also purchased for the governor to cook and bake holiday gifts and the bottles of alcohol were meant for a party that never happened, her office has said.
The receipts also showed several charges for dry cleaning, which was for the governor's clothes for news conferences and other remote meetings.
"We're talking about $13,000 (in total contingency fund spending) in a budget of $7 billion," Lujan Grisham spokesman Tripp Stelnicki recently told The Santa Fe New Mexican. "It's absolutely the public's right and obligation to scrutinize the spending of public dollars, but I think that context is important."
State lawmakers approved a bill in 2018 that changed the way the money is distributed and overseen after former Republican Gov. Susana Martinez used discretionary funds to throw a raucous holiday party at a Santa Fe hotel that involved the police.
Spending from the fund increased during Martinez's final year in office to about $64,000, up from just over $58,000 the previous year, according to records obtained by The Associated Press.
Under former Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson, annual spending from the fund climbed to $139,000 — the tally for 2008 when food and drink accounted for $60,000. During his two terms, the governor's mansion played host to events involving film stars, foreign dignitaries, community groups and nonprofit organizations.
Senate Energy Panel Backs Haaland For Interior Secretary - By Matthew Daly, Associated Press
A key Senate committee on Thursday approved the nomination of New Mexico Rep. Deb Haaland to be interior secretary, clearing the way for a Senate vote that is likely to make her the first Native American to lead a Cabinet agency.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved Haaland's nomination, 11-9, sending it to the Senate floor. Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski was the lone Republican to support Haaland, who won unanimous backing from committee Democrats.
Murkowski, a former chair of the committee, said she had "some real misgivings" about Haaland, because of her support for policies that Murkowski said could impede Alaska's reliance on oil and other fossil fuels. But the senator said she would place her "trust" in Haaland's word that she would work with her and other Alaskans to support the state.
Her vote comes with a warning, Murkowski added: She expects Haaland "will be true to her word" to help Alaska. Haaland was not in the committee room, but Murkowski addressed her directly, saying, "I will hold you to your commitments.''
"Quite honestly,'' Murkowski added, "we need you to be a success.''
Democratic Sens. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico and Maria Cantwell of Washington state both called the committee vote historic, and both said they were disappointed at the anti-Haaland rhetoric used by several Republicans. Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the panel's top Republican, and other GOP senators have repeatedly called Haaland's views "radical" and extreme.
Heinrich said he voted for two interior secretaries nominated by former President Donald Trump "whose views (in support of expanded drilling and other resource extraction) may have been considered quite radical by many of my constituents." Still, he never used that word to describe them, Heinrich said.
Heinrich, who lives in Haaland's district, said she "always has an open door and an open mind" to a range of views.
The committee vote follows an announcement Wednesday by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, that she will support Haaland in the full Senate. Her vote, along with Murkowski's, makes Haaland's confirmation by the Senate nearly certain.
The panel's chairman, Sen. Joe Manchin, announced his support for Haaland last week. Manchin, a moderate Democrat from West Virginia, said Thursday that he does not agree with Haaland on a variety of issues, including the Keystone XL oil pipeline, but was impressed by the strong endorsement by Alaska Rep. Don Young, a conservative Republican who is the longest-serving member of the House and has forged a strong working relationship with the liberal Haaland.
As a former governor, Manchin also said he knows how important it is for a president to have his "team on board" in the Cabinet.
"It is long past time to give a Native American woman a seat at the Cabinet table,'' he said. Interior oversees the nation's public lands and waters and leads relations with nearly 600 federally recognized tribes.
Barrasso, who has led opposition to Haaland, said her hostility to fracking, the Keystone XL oil pipeline and other issues made her unfit to serve in a position in which she will oversee energy development on vast swaths of federal lands, mostly in the West, as well as offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska.
Barrasso said a moratorium imposed by Biden on oil and gas leases on federal lands "is taking a sledgehammer to Western states' economies." The moratorium, which Haaland supports, could cost thousands of jobs in the West, Barrasso said.
Navajo Nation Reports 19 New COVID-19 Cases, 7 More Deaths - Associated Press
The Navajo Nation on Thursday reported 19 new COVID-19 cases with seven additional deaths.
The latest figures from tribal health officials bring the total number of COVID-19 cases to 29,816 cases since the pandemic began.
The death toll now is 1,194.
Health facilities on the reservation and in border towns are conducting drive-thru vaccine events or administering doses by appointment. The Navajo-area Indian Health Service has vaccinated more than 135,000 people so far.
A daily curfew from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. and a mask mandate remain in effect for residents of the reservation to prevent the spread of the virus.
New Mexico Business Group Worried About Oil, Gas Moratorium - By Hannah Grover Farmington Daily Times
The San Juan Basin has gone through booms and busts before, but Jamie Church, the president and CEO of the Farmington Chamber of Commerce, said a federal moratorium on new oil and gas leases and on permitting would be different than any bust the region has seen in the past.
Church sent a letter to Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on behalf of the chamber asking the governor to speak up against a moratorium instituted by President Joe Biden.
Church told the Farmington Daily Times that there were some operations planned for the basin that needed to go through permitting, but a 60-day moratorium on permitting led them to pursue options in Texas instead. Texas has significantly less federal land, which is the kind impacted by the moratoriums.
Church said past busts haven't been accompanied by the same political movement away from fossil fuels. As an example, she highlighted the Energy Transition Act that was passed in 2019 to increase renewable portfolio standards and provide a mechanism to refinance past investments in coal-fired power plants as utilities exit their ownership in those plants.
"The whole outlook on the national level is changing," Church said.
Proponents of these actions highlight the changing climate, which is leading to increased drought and wildfires as well as extreme weather. They say these actions are necessary to reduce emissions and reduce some of the impacts of climate change. The moratoriums will also give the federal government an opportunity to review existing leasing and permitting processes.
Church said the actions could destroy Farmington's economy by taking away one of the major economic sectors when there is nothing that can replace it.
2020 Marks Increase For Hot Pepper Production In New Mexico - By Susan Montoya Bryan Associated Press
For chiles, 2020 wasn't all bad as New Mexico farmers reported increased production and yield levels for the state's most famous crop.
Numbers released Thursday by the U.S. Agriculture Department's statistics service show 68,000 tons of red and green chile were produced in 2020. That's an 8% increase over the previous year.
The crop's value also increased to nearly $52 million. Growers had reported labor shortages and reduced demand last year due to the pandemic.
State Agriculture Secretary Jeff Witte says the positive numbers are a testament to New Mexico's farmers. He said the crop forms the basis of salsas, sauces and other valuable products.
The 2020 crop was helped by a mild growing season that was warm and dry — just what chile plants like.
Joram Robbs, executive director of the New Mexico Chile Association, said the tonnage and yield increases can be attributed to technological advancements that include better genetics.
But there are still challenges on the horizon, including decreased demand as the restaurant industry has yet to recover. Robbs said some processors and distributors have reported up to a 40% decrease in sales that normally would have been sold to restaurants.
Then there are systemic labor issues that started before the pandemic and are expected to continue into the future.
"It is hard to find people that want to work in this industry anymore and it's not about the wages they receive," Robbs said. "Most of the pickers are making well over minimum wage, but people are moving away from wanting to work on a farm or in a processing facility."
He said increased costs and regulations also are worrying farmers this year along with predictions from forecasters that New Mexico and much of the Southwest could be in for above-average warm and dry conditions. Water managers along the Rio Grande and Pecos River already have warned farmers that this year's irrigation allotments will be among historic lows due to less snowpack.
Foreign competition is yet another factor, Robbs said.
"Imported chile can be sold for much less than chile grown in New Mexico and as costs and regulations increase in the state, many farmers will not be able to compete," he said.
The latest data shows nearly 80% of the 2020 crop was sold for processing, with the remaining going to the fresh market.