John Block

URGENT ALERT: Sign up to testify against anti-life assisted suicide via lethal drugs bill on Monday

1 Comment / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

On Monday, the Senate Health and Public Affairs Committee will consider the radical anti-life H.B. 47 or “ELIZABETH WHITEFIELD END-OF-LIFE OPTIONS ACT” Monday, March 1, 2021 after the floor session happens. 

The bill seeks to further normalize a culture of death in New Mexico by letting medical professionals prescribe lethal drugs to patients who have been diagnosed with a terminal illness that could take their lives anytime up to six months.

H.B. 47, which devalues human life and dangerously violates ethical codes in medicine, is sponsored by anti-life extremist Rep. Deborah Armstrong (D-Bernalillo) and a few other partisan Democrats in the Legislature. 

The American Medical Association (AMA) itself decries assisted suicide as an affront to the practice of medicine. According to the American Medical Association’s Code of Ethics Medical Opinion 5.7: 

“Physician-assisted suicide is fundamentally incompatible with the physician’s role as healer, would be difficult or impossible to control, and would pose serious societal risks.” 

“Instead of engaging in assisted suicide, physicians must aggressively respond to the needs of patients at the end of life. Physicians:

Should not abandon a patient once it is determined that cure is impossible.

Must respect patient autonomy.

Must provide good communication and emotional support.

Must provide appropriate comfort care and adequate pain control.

In Oregon and California–states that allow assisted suicide–patients have been denied payment for treatments to save their lives, but have been told that less-costly lethal drugs would be covered. Assisted suicide creates a strong economic incentive to deny treatment, which is the antithesis of the above medical ethics mandate from the AMA to provide appropriate comfort care and adequate pain control. 

According to official numbers from Oregon, suicide in the general population in the state is 40% above the national average during the 20 year period that Oregon has had legal assisted suicide. 

In July, it was reported that New Mexico’s suicide rate was the highest in the nation. This bill would further encourage suicide as a socially acceptable alternative to life–a dangerous mindset to place in the minds of people young and old living in our state. By embracing more death and treating people who have a terminal illness as expendable, New Mexico would be dehumanizing individuals and treating them as a burden. 

In Canada, where assisted suicide is legal for the ill and the elderly, they are now trying to force through assisted suicide for people who have disabilities, claiming it will save health care costs (as the country has a socialized medicine system). They are threatening patients, such as a man named Roger Foley, who has cerebellar ataxia, a degenerative neurological condition, giving him only two options: pay $1,800 per day to remain in a hospital after he was mistreated at a government-assigned agency home care center, or kill himself with life-ending drugs. The legalization of H.B. 47 would usher in the so-called “progressive” policies of Canada, ultimately leading to disabled people being included in future bills to kill themselves because they are given impossible choices such as the one Mr. Foley had.

Also, the unsafe life-ending drugs used in the killing of these terminally ill patients would force patients to agree to the below statement that they understand it could take longer than three hours of excruciating pain for them to finally be poisoned to death:

“I understand the full import of this request, and I expect to die if I self-administer the medical aid in dying medication prescribed. I further understand that although most deaths occur within three hours, my death may take longer.” 

As Charlie Camosy, a bioethics professor in the theology department of Fordham University in New York said, “A medical system that kills is no longer recognizable as healing and caring.”

ACTION ALERT: 

H.B. 47 will be heard on Monday. However, the committee requires people to sign up 24 hours in advance to testify. Please sign up to testify using the link in the below button by 5:00 p.m. tomorrow (Sunday, February 28, 2021). Your help in defeating this bill will mean the difference between a culture of life or a culture of careless death in New Mexico. We should champion policies that promote life for all people in New Mexico, from conception to natural death. This bill corrodes the distinct and inherent value of every New Mexican’s life. NO HUMAN LIFE IN NEW MEXICO IS A BURDEN–PERIOD. Contact the committee members by finding their names here.

SIGN UP TO TESTIFY

If the button does not work, you can sign up via this link: https://ggle.io/3pe5.

Senate committee advances anti-police bill that could bankrupt local governments

Leave a Comment / New Mexico, News, Politics / By

On Friday, the New Mexico Senate Health and Public Affairs Committee voted to pass the anti-law enforcement H.B. 4, which passed on a partisan vote of 5-3. The bill would open local governments into bankrupting civil rights claims in state court, remove “qualified immunity,” and put a target on law enforcers’ backs.

During the hearing, bill sponsor House Speaker Brian Egolf (D-Santa Fe) spoke down to New Mexicans and critics of the bill, accusing them of “conflating” tort claims and civil rights claims while bashing attorney Grace Philips of the New Mexico Association of Counties, claiming her very real arguments about localities and law enforcements being hurt by the bill were “hollow.” 

During public testimony, many law enforcers, law enforcement advocates, and representatives from small counties spoke out against the extreme anti-police bill, which would put targets on the backs of law enforcers and bankrupt local governments by forcing civil litigation into state courts while adding no protections for the counties. 

Detective Shaun Willoughby of the Albuquerque Police Officers’ Association said during public testimony, “This particular bill takes away our ability. This is basically a tax increase. We are taxing the public all over the state of New Mexico. Hurting budgets that can be used for training on the mental health, can be used for resources and social programs in the poorest state in the nation.” 

“It is alarming to me that during COVID–during the most unprecedented in modern history that anybody can remember where businesses are closing, we’ve been on lockdowns, people are out of work, and the poorest state becomes poorer, we choose now to attack the budgets of every single municipality to include the State of New Mexico who are going to be inundated with frivolous lawsuits,” Willoughby said. 

“This does nothing for accountability. This does nothing for meaningful reform. Reform is something you do with your law enforcement agencies, not to.”  

Proponents of the police-attacking bill came sponsored by dark money groups like billionaire Mike Bloomberg’s “Moms Demand Action,” the Soros-funded “Sierra Club,” and “Equality New Mexico.” These groups’ supporters claimed H.B. 4 was a necessary reform for civil rights while not addressing how it would cripple local municipalities’ budgets, open these localities to million-dollar frivolous lawsuits, and put targets on peace officers’ backs. Below are examples of people who testified against the bill. NOTE: Their names and faces have been blurred out to protect their identities.

Sen. David Gallegos asked Egolf about this act making localities uninsurable due to the expected high payouts by local governments with the implementation of the act. Egolf responded, “I do not believe that this will make any entity in government, especially with the amendment adopted earlier, I don’t think this will make them at risk of being uninsurable.” 

Sen. Stuart Ingle (D-Chaves, Curry, De Baca, Lea, and Roosevelt) made a closing comment on the bill, saying, “I visualize this as something that’s going to be unbelievably damaging to the outlook of New Mexico and when we try to recruit businesses and things to come in here when we pass things like this, it sends a very, very dark message as to where New Mexico is headed.” 

H.B. 4 now goes to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where it will be considered before being voted on the Senate floor. 

Egolf has been criticized for sponsoring the bill, as it would directly benefit his private law practice, which is 60% civil litigation and claims. His unethical sponsorship of the bill led a prominent retired judge to file an ethics complaint against Egolf. He had his lawyer file a motion to dismiss the ethics complaint, as reported on Friday. During House consideration of H.B. 4, Egolf voted against an amendment proposed by Rep. T. Ryan Lane (R-San Juan) to bar legislators from financially benefiting from the bill.

As Gov. MLG signs abortion up-to-birth and infanticide bill, she decries ‘dehumanization’

15 Comments / New Mexico, News, Opinion, Politics / By

On Friday, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced that she had signed the radical abortion up-to-birth and infanticide bill, S.B. 10, which the House of Representatives passed last week stripping away all protections for women, babies in the womb, and medical professionals.

In a condescending quote, Lujan Grisham said, “A woman has the right to make decisions about her own body,” adding, “Anyone who seeks to violate bodily integrity, or to criminalize womanhood, is in the business of dehumanization. New Mexico is not in that business – not any more. Our state statutes now reflect this inviolable recognition of humanity and dignity. I am incredibly grateful to the tireless advocates and legislators who fought through relentless misinformation and fear-mongering to make this day a reality. Equality for all, equal justice and equal treatment – that’s the standard. And I’m proud to lead a state that today moved one step closer to that standard.” 

Notice she claims pro-lifers are “violat[ing] bodily autonomy” (wrong), “criminaliz[ing] womanhood” (wrong), and are “in the business of dehumanization.” 

The false and ironic rhetoric from the Governor comes as she just signed a bill allowing late-term abortionists to rip infants limb from limb just moments before birth, not to mention infanticide–killing infants AFTER birth, which is already occurring in New Mexico. 

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Linda Lopez (D-Bernalillo), who refused to defend her bill on the Senate floor, said, “Thank you to Governor Lujan Grisham for signing this legislation, thank you to every one of my fellow bill sponsors and community advocates, and thank you to all of the voters of New Mexico who made your voices heard in the last election. Abortion is a personal health care decision. We can hold our own moral values on abortion and still trust individuals to make their own reproductive health care decisions.”

Previously, the 2019 version of the bill, H.B. 51 died in the New Mexico Senate after pro-life Democrats rejected the extreme bill. Out of spite, Lujan Grisham put her entire political machine into primary challengers to destroy these pro-life Democrats in the 2020 election. One of these pro-life Democrats, Sen. Carlos Cisneros passed away before the election.

Now, Democrats are looking to ram through another extreme anti-life bill, assisted suicide H.B. 47, which passed the House of Representatives with one Republican, Rep. Kelly Fajardo (R-Valencia), joining Democrats to help pass it through the chamber. Its next step is the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Legislative Alert: Dems trying to resurrect failed enviro bill, committee considering anti-police bill

Leave a Comment / Action Alert, New Mexico, News, Politics / By

Thursday was a busy day in the New Mexico Legislature, with the Senate Tax, Business, and Transportation Committee approving Gov. Lujan Grisham’s radical environmental bill, S.B. 11 carried by Sen. Mimi Stewart (D-Bernalillo) on party lines. This bill would result in a 20 cent or higher increase in gas prices, which would disproportionately harm the poor. Read more here.

A commonsense bill to protect women’s sports, H.B. 304, sponsored by Reps. Zachary Cook (R-Lincoln and Otero), Rod Montoya (R-San Juan), Jim Townsend (R-Chaves, Eddy, and Otero), among others sought to restrict participation by transgender athletes to the sports teams assigned to their “biologic sex.” The bill died on a 3-2 vote in the House Health and Human Services Committee. Far-left dark money groups lobbied against the critical bill, claiming it to be “transphobic.” 

There are many important committee meetings coming up on Friday and Saturday, and it is imperative the public shows up to testify against extreme bills that would harm New Mexico. Here is critical information you need to know about bills rushing through the Legislature: 

New Mexico Senate:

CONSERVATION COMMITTEE
Senator Elizabeth Stefanics, Chair – Saturday, February 27, 2021 – 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

URGENT ALERT: 

S.B. 312 GAME & FISH & WILDLIFE CHANGES by Sen. Jeff Steinborn (D-Doña Ana) and Rep. Nathan Small (D-Doña Ana). The bill previously died in the Senate Conservation Committee, with Democrat Sen. Liz Stefanics (Bernalillo, Lincoln, San Miguel, Santa Fe, Torrance, and Valencia), the chair of the committee, voting with Republicans to table it.

“My district is parts of six counties — it is all rural — and I, in this case, I’m going to have to support my constituents,” said Stefanics.

Now, Sen Steinborn and Rep. Small are looking to resurrect the failed 241-page proposal which would have taken power away from the people and given it to the government. According to liberals, it would give “wildlife conservation” a “modern approach to wildlife management. It directs the state to manage and conserve the public’s wildlife.” This power-grab would mean higher permit prices for many out-of-state permits, harsher restrictions on what wildlife one could hunt, and it would rename the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish to the “Department of Wildlife Conservation.” 

The extreme and costly overhaul bill would have further bureaucratized the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish and according to the bill itself, “[narrows] conditions for landowners on taking or killing animals on private land.” That means, in part, that it usurps the right for landowners to kill a wild animal on their land, for reasons of immediate threats to human life and for damage of property, including crops. It would now only allow killing the animal for the threat to human life. This would be required to be reported to the Department within 24 hours of disposal of the carcass. 

These burdensome restrictions, among countless other flaws in the bill, such as a large appropriation necessary for its passage, are a detriment to taxpayers, landowners, and hunters in the state. Many landowners and employers testified in opposition while extremist “conservation” groups tried to pass the bill forward. Read the fiscal impact report on the bill for more information. Please 

For spoken public comment register at https://forms.gle/5pgx2bgxGyHEDeCS8  by Friday, February 26 at 5:00 p.m. Submit written comment any time by emailing SCONC@nmlegis.gov with your Name, Entity Represented, Bill #, For or Against. You will be contacted by our Zoom Operator with the virtual meeting instructions.

HEALTH AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
Senator Gerald Ortiz y Pino, Chair – Friday, February 26, 2021 – 1:30 p.m.

H.B. 254 – USE OF DEADLY FORCE REPORTING by Sen. Antoinette Sedillo-Lopez (D-Bernalillo) and Rep. Patricia Roybal Caballero (D-Bernalillo) passed the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee by a party-line vote of 3-2. 

Note: both of the bill sponsors are currently running for Congress in CD-1. This is the House version of the Senate’s S.B. 274. 

According to the bill, “Within twenty-four hours of a person suffering great bodily harm or death as a result of a peace officer’s actions, the sheriff or the chief of police of the jurisdiction in which the great bodily harm or death occurred shall report the great bodily harm or death in writing to the district attorney of the judicial district in which the great bodily harm or death occurred. The sheriff or chief of police shall report all instances of suspected great bodily harm to the appropriate district attorney, even if a more thorough assessment of great bodily harm will be undertaken at a later date,” 

The bill would put undue suspicion of wrongdoing on the part of the law enforcement officer, overburdening local sheriffs and district attorneys, while not trusting police officers to carry forth their duties. It now moves forward to its final committee, House Judiciary. 

For spoken public comment register at https://ggle.io/3pe5. If there is a high volume of requests for public comment, not everyone may be able to speak. Zoom link to the meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89738905182 

SENATE TAX, BUSINESS AND TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE
Senator Benny Shendo Jr., Chair – Saturday, February 27, 2021 – 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

SB 13 CANNABIS REGULATION ACT by Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto (D-Bernalillo). This particular bill, which puts a 21% tax on recreational marijuana, is supported by the far-left fringe group the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

SB 288 CANNABIS REGULATION ACT by Sen. Cliff Pirtle (R-Chaves, Eddy and Otero).

SB 363 CANNABIS REGULATION ACT by Sen. Jacob Candelaria (D-Bernalillo). 

All these bills relate to the legalization of recreational marijuana. You can read more about each by clicking on “analysis” and “fiscal impact report” on the above links for each bill.  Read more about these marijuana bills and the big money the weed industry has put into each of these bill sponsors. 

For public participation send an email to SCORC@nmlegis.gov with your Name, Entity Represented, Bill #, For or Against and indicate if you wish to speak. The deadline to respond is Friday, February 26 at 5:00 p.m. You will be contacted by our Zoom Operator with the virtual meeting instructions. Zoom link to the meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83239240693 

Despite protests of 20+ cent per gallon gas price hike on the poor, Dem enviro bill passes committee

3 Comments / New Mexico, News / By

On Thursday, the Senate Tax, Business, and Transportation Committee, on a vote of 7-4, passed S.B. 11, the “Clean Fuel Standard Act” despite protests from many of the public about the extreme effects of the bill on the poor and middle class, who would be most harmed by it. Sen. Mimi Stewart (D-Bernalillo) is the bill sponsor.

The bill puts extreme clean fuel standards on businesses that produce or import transportation fuels and fuels used in motor vehicles. The restrictions on these companies would force them to invest in costly upgrades to their fuel standards, meaning these costs would transfer to the consumers. The bill also adds vague and sweeping “enviro-justice” provisions to state law.

In California and Oregon, where clean fuel standards are already in place, there are already increased costs of up to 24 cents per gallon on gas, which directly hurts poor consumers.

Sen. Martin Hickey (D-Bernalillo) brought this concern up. He said, “I’m concerned too much of the cost is going to be born by those who can’t afford to do it.” 

New Mexico Energy Secretary James Kenney and Economic Development Secretary Alicia Keys tried to downplay the cost concern, claiming the effects on direct costs to the consumers were more like two cents per gallon, not citing any evidence to prove these numbers. 

Sen. Craig Brandt (D-Sandoval) asked the question again, to which Sen. Stewart got flustered, having the very real concern repeated to her. She said in a stern voice, “You know what gas costs in Europe? It costs $6-7 a gallon!” She said people drove smaller electric cars in the region and said she didn’t appreciate “the sky is falling” arguments regarding concerns attributed to her bill. Stewart also complained about the committee hearing nearing two hours long on her bill.

Sen. Peter Wirth (D-Santa Fe) lamented the bill didn’t go far enough on “climate change,” citing Joe Biden’s climate envoy John Kerry who apparently said the world has “twelve years to evade the worst possible consequences” of “climate change.” Sen. Wirth stressed his point that “climate change is obviously is here!” 

“This can be a huge boom in terms of jobs–jobs that pay well and have benefits with really proper companies,” stressed Secretary Keyes, despite any tangible arguments or information that could back up her claims. All that was truly apparent in the hearing was that companies that manufacture and transport carbon-emitting fuels will be penalized, and the poor would be forced to eat the cost of the legislation. 

The New Mexico Oil and Gas Association (NMOGA), which took a neutral stance on Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s “mini” Green New Deal (The Energy Transition Act) is also taking a neutral stance on this bill. NMOGA dumped thousands into Democrat campaigns in 2018 and 2020. 

S.B. 11 now heads to Senate Finance for approval, where its proposed $3,200,000 appropriation will be scrutinized, as well as its fiscal impacts. 

Legislative Alert: Thursday committee hearings on job-killing enviro bill, women’s sports protections

1 Comment / Action Alert / By

The New Mexico Legislature is in full-swing and these are some opportunities for you to get involved by supporting good legislation and opposing bad legislation. 

New Mexico Senate:

SENATE TAX, BUSINESS AND TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE
SENATOR BENNY SHENDO JR., CHAIRMAN Tuesday, February 25, 2021, 1:30 pm 

S.B. 11 (as amended) CLEAN FUEL STANDARD ACT by Sen. Mimi Stewart (D-Bernalillo) and Nathan Small (D-Doña Ana) – BAD (This is one of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s legislative priorities).

This anti-business bill put forth by two anti-energy extremist legislators, would in the bill sponsors’ own words, “[require] fuel providers that refine, blend, make or import fuel used in New Mexico to gradually reduce the carbon intensity of the transportation fuel itself, we can reduce emissions by 4.7 million metric tons in carbon dioxide equivalent by 2040. That’s like taking 44,000 cars off the road every year for 15 years.” 

This bill would harm critical industries in New Mexico with expensive and punitive new regulations on the transportation of the fuels New Mexicans rely on to keep them driving and doing business. This bill has an appropriation of $1,210,000 for the 2022 fiscal year alone, with it gradually increasing annually.

Join the meeting:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83239240693

Meeting ID: 832 3924 0693

One tap mobile

+16699009128,,83239240693# US (San Jose) 12532158782,,83239240693# US +(Tacoma)

Dial by your location        +1 669 900 9128 US (San Jose)        +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)  +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)  +1 646 558 8656 US (New York)   +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)       +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago)

Meeting ID: 832 3924 0693

New Mexico House of Representatives:

HOUSE CONSUMER AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
ELIZABETH “LIZ” THOMSON, CHAIR Thursday, February 25, 2021 – Ten minutes after floor session – Zoom

H.B. 304 WOMEN’S SPORTS PROTECTION ACT sponsored by Reps. Zachary Cook (R-Lincoln and Otero), Rod Montoya (R-San Juan), Jim Townsend (R-Chaves, Eddy, and Otero), among others seek to restrict participation by transgender athletes to the sports teams assigned to their “biologic sex.” – GOOD

Testify in support of this bill with the following information: 

Please click the link below to join the webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89243737297 Or iPhone one-tap : US: +16699009128,,89243737297# or +12532158782,,89243737297# Or Telephone: Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location): US: +1 669 900 9128 or +1 253 215 8782 or +1 346 248 7799 or +1 646 558 8656 or +1 301 715 8592 or +1 312 626 6799

Webinar ID: 892 4373 7297

HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS AND FINANCE COMMITTEE
PATRICIA A. LUNDSTROM, CHAIR Thursday, February 25, 2021 – 15 minutes after the floor session adjourns – Zoom

H.B. 43 BLACK EDUCATION ACT by Rep. Sheryl Williams Stapleton (D-Bernalillo) and Sen. Harold Pope (D-Bernalillo) – BAD

This is a racist bill that would force public schools to institute sensitivity training, or “anti-racism” training, as well as mandatory Black culture curricula by changing the Public School Code.

The fiscal impact report reads: “It creates a New Mexico Public Education Department (PED) Black Education Liaison and a Black Education Advisory Council, and provides the powers and duties of these. It creates new sections in the Public School Code requiring racial sensitivity and anti-racism training or professional development for school personnel. It requires PED and the New Mexico Higher Education Department (HED) to cooperate in developing programs, curricula and instructional materials that recognize and teach Black culture and antiracism.” 

Please click the link below to join the webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89195400245 Or iPhone one-tap : US: +13462487799,,89195400245# or +16699009128,,89195400245# Or Telephone: Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location): US: +1 346 248 7799 or +1 669 900 9128 or +1 253 215 8782 or +1 312 626 6799 or +1 646 558 8656 or +1 301 715 8592

Webinar ID: 891 9540 0245

Senate committee narrowly advances most extreme anti-police bill in the nation

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On Wednesday, the Senate Health and Public Affairs Committee met to consider S.B. 227, which the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has dubbed the most extreme or “the strongest” anti-police “use of force” standard instituted in the nation. The bill is sponsored by Sen. Linda Lopez (D-Bernalillo).

After massive public outcry, the bill’s sponsor tweaked the bill slightly in a committee substitute to take away the bill’s ban on pepper spray, rubber pellets, take out a provision mandating a 45-second delay before an officer can enter a premise, and a section making the bill mandatory not only for police officers but for corrections officers also.

Despite the small concessions by the bill sponsor, the “expert witnesses,” Barron Jones and Paige Fernandez, both from the ACLU who lauded the bill, invoking the name of the late George Floyd, a felon and drug addict who died over the summer during an arrest where a police officer put his knee on Floyd’s neck. 

Fernandez claimed the new regulations encompassed in the extreme bill would institute new “tactics” and “de-escalation techniques” that would cripple officers in how they can do their jobs by removing the “reasonable” use of force standard. 

Multiple police unions, officers, and pro-law enforcement groups testified in support of the bill, 

Douglas Ford, Chief of Police at the Clovis Police Department testified that the bill’s removal of less lethal options would be “sending us back thirty years in law enforcement. These are the tools we use to help in de-escalating and not using the force that is unnecessary.” 

Roger Jimenez, the Chief of Police with the Española Police Department echoed these statements, talking about how because of the less-lethal force available, his officers were able to tase “and subdue” a man who was wielding a knife instead of using lethal options. He said if his officers did not have those tools at their disposal, “this gentleman would have been shot and killed.”

On the other side of the argument, many social justice advocates invoked George Floyd’s name and “community activists” with dark money Mike Bloomberg group “Moms Demand Action,” an organization with a mission to disarm America.

Sen. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez called this bill “important” to “transform” the bill, which she said compliments another anti-police bill she is sponsoring. Sen. Lopez responded, “We have to look at the totality of the system.” 

Sen. Gregg Schmedes (R-Bernalillo, Sandoval, Santa Fe & Torrance) took exception with the use of “totality of the circumstances” in the bill, which Sen. Lopez had her “expert” Paige Fernandez explain away. He repeatedly made the point that he wants police officers to be able to have the ability to respond with appropriate “discretion” so they can do their jobs appropriately. 

Sen. David Gallegos (R-Eddy & Lea) emphasized the need to tailor this bill to all communities in New Mexico, not just high-crime areas like Albuquerque. “The rural communities have a different relationship with their safety officers, and I think we could cause them harm by including them in the same scenario that you would in Albuquerque because that seems to be where the problem is.” 

The extreme anti-law enforcement bill passed the committee on a vote of 4-3. Sens. David Gallegos, Gregg Schmedes, and Bill Tallman (D-Bernalillo) voted against the bill. If Sen. Stuart Ingle (R-Chaves, Curry, De Baca, Lea, and Roosevelt), who was excused, had been present, the bill would have been tabled. S.B. 227 now moves forward to Senate Judiciary Committee.

NM Dems release frantic defense of Deb Haaland after confirmation hearing trainwreck

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Over the past two days, Deb Haaland has been questioned in front of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in the confirmation process for Department of the Interior secretary. 

However, during the hearings, she has had trouble with forming coherent sentences or giving direct answers, constantly repeating vague terms like “I understand” or “I appreciate what you are saying” without formulating tangible answers to give any information that could help senators understand her qualifications.

Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID) plainly asked Haaland, “Did you or do you now support the Biden action of shutting down the Keystone Pipeline his first day in office?” She refused to answer the question, responding, “I have to respect it, uh, Senator. He is the president of the United States and I realize that, um, these are some of the things that he talked about when he was running for office.” Not until Sen. Risch had to press three more times did he get a vaguely discernible answer from Haaland where she finally said, “I will tend to support President Biden’s positions. I assume you could take my answer as a yes.” 

During one line of questioning by Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), Haaland was asked why she made the statement that she would vote to legalize marijuana to account for lost jobs in the oil and gas industry due to extreme government regulation. She claimed her argument was merely one about “diversify[ing] our funding streams.” 

Barrasso pressed her, “Is selling marijuana among what the Biden administration calls ‘better choices… to give jobs to displaced oil and gas workers?” Haaland said she didn’t know Biden’s position on the legalization of weed. Barrasso clapped back, “Well, we know what your stance is on replacing the revenue from the energy jobs… And your preference is to turn to drugs is what you’ve recommended to the voters.” 

During another exchange, Haaland had difficulty answering basic questions about oil and gas pipelines on federal lands from Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), ultimately admitting she didn’t know the answer to the question.

After Haaland’s disastrous performance, the Democrat Party of New Mexico (DPNM) released a panicky statement, trying to bolster Haaland as “qualified” (of course) because she is a Native American woman. However, despite Haaland’s ancestry, she has nothing of achievement in the field of land or resource management that she can credit as her own other than taking extreme positions that will inevitably bankrupt New Mexico and the United States.

Here is what the Democrat Party of New Mexico released: 

“Representative Haaland made it unequivocally clear today that her knowledge, passion, and experience make her the right person to take on the responsibilities of Secretary of the Interior,” said DPNM Chair Marg Elliston. “As a fierce advocate for New Mexico, Representative Haaland has shown that she can work across the aisle to enact the sort of forward-thinking policies that we need in our federal government. As this confirmation process begins, it’s clear that she will continue to make New Mexicans proud as a voice for all those who cherish and value our nation’s natural resources.” 

Haaland is by no means a “bipartisan” member of Congress, voting 95% of the time with radical socialist “Squad” member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) over 95% of the time. 

After the shameful performance in front of the committee, Western States Director Larry Behrens of the pro-energy group “Power the Future” released the following statement:

“It’s pathetic that Senators need to ask Deb Haaland the same question four times before they get a straight answer from her. In fact, the number of answers Deb Haaland doesn’t have is stunning. 

Deb Haaland has a long record of radical statements and actions, but for the last two days she would have us believe she doesn’t have a position on critical issues facing New Mexico and the rest of the nation. Deb Haaland is pretending to be someone else during these hearings and it’s clear some of the Senators aren’t convinced.”

Haaland’s nomination hangs by a thread, with the New York Times reporting that Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) may derail her nomination due to her anti-energy extremism. If this happens, it would be a massive blow to DPNM and Joe Biden, after Biden’s other cabinet pick for the Office of Personnel Management, Neera Tanden, will likely get the boot from the Senate after Manchin rejected her.

Legislative Update: Far-left wildlife bill dies, radical anti-police legislation to be heard Wednesday

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S.B. 312 GAME & FISH & WILDLIFE CHANGES by Sen. Jeff Steinborn (D-Doña Ana) and Rep. Nathan Small (D-Doña Ana), a bill opposed by the Piñon Post died in the Senate Conservation committee with Democrat Sen. Liz Stefanics (Bernalillo, Lincoln, San Miguel, Santa Fe, Torrance, and Valencia), the chair of the committee, voting with Republicans to table it. 

“My district is parts of six counties — it is all rural — and I, in this case, I’m going to have to support my constituents,” she said.

The extreme and costly bill would have taken power away from the people and given it to the government. According to liberals, it would give “wildlife conservation” a “modern approach to wildlife management. It directs the state to manage and conserve the public’s wildlife.” This power-grab would mean higher permit prices for many out-of-state permits, harsher restrictions on what wildlife one could hunt, and it would rename the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish to the “Department of Wildlife Conservation.” 

The 241-page overhaul bill would have further bureaucratized the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish and according to the bill itself, “[narrows] conditions for landowners on taking or killing animals on private land.” That means, in part, that it usurps the right for landowners to kill a wild animal on their land, for reasons of immediate threats to human life and for damage of property, including crops. It would now only allow killing the animal for the threat to human life. This would be required to be reported to the Department within 24 hours of disposal of the carcass. 

These burdensome restrictions, among countless other flaws in the bill, such as a large appropriation necessary for its passage, are a detriment to taxpayers, landowners, and hunters in the state. Many landowners and employers testified in opposition while extremist “conservation” groups tried to pass the bill forward. Read the fiscal impact report on the bill for more information.

H.B. 254 – USE OF DEADLY FORCE REPORTING by Sen. Antoinette Sedillo-Lopez (D-Bernalillo) and Rep. Patricia Roybal Caballero (D-Bernalillo) passed the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee by a party-line vote of 3-2. 

Note: both of the bill sponsors are currently running for Congress in CD-1. This is the House version of the Senate’s S.B. 274. 

According to the bill, “Within twenty-four hours of a person suffering great bodily harm or death as a result of a peace officer’s actions, the sheriff or the chief of police of the jurisdiction in which the great bodily harm or death occurred shall report the great bodily harm or death in writing to the district attorney of the judicial district in which the great bodily harm or death occurred. The sheriff or chief of police shall report all instances of suspected great bodily harm to the appropriate district attorney, even if a more thorough assessment of great bodily harm will be undertaken at a later date,” 

The bill would put undue suspicion of wrongdoing on the part of the law enforcement officer, overburdening local sheriffs and district attorneys, while not trusting police officers to carry forth their duties. It now moves forward to its final committee, House Judiciary. 

H.B. 306 – CONCEALED HANDGUN LICENSE TIME LIMITS by Rep. Stefani Lord (R-Bernalillo, Sandoval & Santa Fe), passed the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee, while another pro-gun bill from Rep. Lord, H.B. 279 failed on a vote of 3-2 to table it.

H.B. 306 bill will require the Department of Public Safety “to issue or deny an application for a concealed handgun license no more than 90 days after receiving a completed application and to renew a license no more than 60 days after a license submits a renewal request.”

Happening Today: 

SENATE HEALTH AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
Senator Gerald Ortiz y Pino, Chair, convenes Monday, February 22 – 30 minutes after floor session (which is scheduled to convene at 11:30 a.m.)  

*Times are subject to change depending on the Senate floor schedule. Join the meeting here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89738905182 

S.B. 227 –  INSPECTION OF POLICE MISCONDUCT INVESTIGATION – Sen. Linda Lopez (D-Bernalillo) – BAD 

This bill is opposed by the Bernalillo County Deputy Sheriffs Association and the New Mexico State Police Association. It adds crippling restrictions on law enforcement and adds strict reporting criteria which does nothing by penalize law enforcers for simply carrying out their duties. Included in the bill are restrictions, such as the following:

“A law enforcement officer shall not use a chokehold. J. A law enforcement officer shall not discharge tear gas or other chemical weapons. K. A law enforcement officer shall not discharge rubber pellets from a propulsion device. L. A law enforcement officer shall not direct a dog to bite a person.” This is an anti-law enforcement bill, which takes critical tools away from officers, which would leave them defenseless while barring them from doing the very job they took an oath to carry out: protect and defend communities. 

According to far-left fringe groups, this bill is the “strongest in the nation” in terms of limits to local and state law enforcement. The bill’s supporters have spent countless dark money dollars from out-of-state lobbying for this anti-police bill, which would make it the most radical in the nation. 

Haaland confirmation hanging by a thread as GOP reveals her radicalism

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On Tuesday, Rep. Deb Haaland spoke in front of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in her first confirmation hearing to be U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) secretary.

However, during the committee, her extreme left-wing agenda was picked apart by even the most moderate senators in the committee, angered by the Biden administration’s assault on fossil fuels energy.

Despite claiming in her opening statement that “fossil energy does and will continue to play a major role in America for years to come. I know how important oil and gas revenues are… critical services, but we must also recognize that the energy industry is innovating and our climate challenge must be addressed.” 

Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) challenged Haaland on her previous comment claiming “Republicans don’t believe in science,” asking her if she truly believed GOP senators, especially him as a doctor, rejects science. “If you’re a doctor, I would assume you believe in science.” Barrasso clapped back, “It’s a concern of us here today.” 

Also, her comments about her desire to ban “stop all gas and oil leasing on federal and public lands” if she “had her way.” 

When Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) challenged Haaland on presidential authority regarding public lands, she tried to change the subject, talking about Lee’s home state’s natural resources. “Senator, I want to say, um, I’m, I’m a little jealous that you’re from Utah and I’m from New Mexico because I know you have so much beautiful land there and a lot of history. I’ve been to Bears Ears, and the Pueblo Indians’ ancestral homeland is there, and I realize it covers a very wide space.” Lee did not take kindly to her pandering.

Even moderate Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) took offense to Biden’s singling out of Alaska in his extreme “climate change” proposals. She said, “Why is this administration out to get us?” Haaland responded, “I want you to know that if I’m confirmed, I will rely heavily on our relationship moving forward.” 

During Sen. Martin Heinrich’s (D-NM) commentary on Haaland, he defended Joe Biden’s extreme job-killing anti-energy policies, which Haaland would champion at DOI. He said. “

“We have not lost thousands of jobs in the oil and gas sector in New Mexico because there is no ban and because the industry stockpiled an enormous number of leases under the fire sale that Secretary Berhardt had at the end of the last administration. However, I want to say we do recognize that we will need to move to a fully decarbonized economy. And frankly, pretending that isn’t going to happen is not going to serve any of our workers well. I would submit that our energy workers would be best served if those of us on this committee show leadership by both investing in energy communities that have put us where we are today and in the technologies necessary to actively manage this transition.”

The meeting adjourned until Wednesday at 9:00 a.m. ET, where it is uncertain if Haaland will be successfully confirmed. Sen. Manchin, the chairman of the committee, shoed hesitate in supporting Haaland’s nomination, which garnered shade from socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, where she blasted him for his vote to confirm the former Attorney General Jeff Sessions:

Call these senators on the fence asking them to oppose Haaland’s nomination:

CHAIRMAN — Sen Joe Manchin (D-WV) 202-224-3954 — EXTREMELY important 

Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) 202-224-5941

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) 202-224-2235

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) (202) 224-5824

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) (202)-224-6665 — EXTREMELY important 

Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) is also on the committee, however, he has pledged to vote for Haaland. Feel free to call his office anyway and share your dissatisfaction: (202) 224-5521

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