Another busy week in store for the session, and today also marks the second to last Monday of the 2021 Legislative Session. Lawmakers will definitely have their hands full in these last days, with plenty of high profile measures still to decide.
Today we talk the status of House Joint Resolution 1, which is an annual effort to allow the state to take more money from the permanent land grant fund and put that money (about $170 million a year) toward early childhood programs. This measure has often been a political hot potato, but it passed out of Senate Rules on a 7-4 vote. Next, it will move to Senate Finance.
Senate Bill 102 is the measure to keep New Mexico on daylight savings time year round, if the federal government approves. That measure is also moving forward after passing the full Senate Friday evening 22-18.
Senate Bill 15 is the compromise bill around redistricting reform. It is also moving forward after passing out of Senate Judiciary over the weekend. Next stop, the full Senate Floor.
There are also developments on legislation to do away with qualified immunity protections for police and other government employees who violate individual's civil rights. Senate Bill 376 which would change the state's Tort Claims Act to prohibit the use of qualified immunity stalled in committee over the weekend. That may have consequences for the New Mexico Civil Rights Act, HB4, which would eliminate the qualified immunity defense in New Mexico entirely. We talked about this issue on The Line on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22hS2dNxor4" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; color: inherit; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">New Mexico in Focus Friday night. We encourage you to give it a watch to learn more about the debate and discussion on the issue.
The Full House will once again convene today at 11am, and the Senate gathers at about 2:30pm to consider business. And, there is a full slate of committee hearings as well. You can find the full schedule, webcast information and more by heading to the New Mexico PBS homepage.
Let us know what bills or issues you are following and we will do our best to keep you up to date on all of that as the session heads into the final days of the 2021 session.
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Your New Mexico Government is a collaboration between KUNM, New Mexico PBS and the Santa Fe Reporter. Funding for our coverage comes from the New Mexico Local News Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and KUNM listeners like you, with support for public media provided by the Thornburg Foundation.
