New Mexico

Gov. MLG threatens special session as early as Wednesday to ram through recreational pot bill

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Legislators worked into the wee hours of the morning on Saturday debating legislation, with many bills still bottlenecked on the House and Senate floor calendars as the end of the legislative session comes at 12:00 noon.

Much of the debate was on HJR 1, which seeks to raid the land grant permanent fund for “early childhood education,” better known as taxpayer-funded daycare.

Right after midnight, the House of Representatives voted on a proposal, S.B. 304, relating to voting district geographic data, which was amended on the floor to create an independent redistricting commission. The amended compromise bill between a bipartisan and Democrat-led proposal takes the power of redistricting away from the dark rooms of the Roundhouse and opens it up to the public in a fair, less partisan way. After a lively debate, the bill passed 64-2 with Rep. Eliseo Alcon (D-Cibola & McKinley) and Majority Leader Sheryl Stapleton (D-Bernalillo) voting against the bill. 

In a previous committee, Alcon complained about an independent commission taking away representatives’ “rights” to redraw their own districts, saying, “I don’t think it’s our duty to give up our rights.” He did not like the idea of a seven-member commission making the decisions, not him. “If these seven people really want to be part of the redistricting, then they should run for our spots,” he said, adding, “I will be a solid no matter how you look at it,” despite the majority of people in the committee hearing in support of giving more power to the people. 

Due to the bottleneck of radical Democrat legislation, it was revealed in the wee hours of the morning that Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham intends to call a special session as early as Wednesday to ram through her extreme recreational marijuana bill, according to one representative.

The Albuquerque Journal confirmed this, with the Governor’s communications director Tripp Stelnicki saying that a special session could be called “sooner rather than later,” adding “there was a largely-agreed upon framework in place between the Governor’s Office and lawmakers.” 

“Nobody wants to wait another year — it’s too close to being done,” said Stelnicki.

However, it doesn’t look like the Wagyu steak-eating Governor cares much about the political ramifications of her actions, despite a special session being “politically risky,” with a daily cost of around $50,000 per day, according to the Journal.

After it was revealed the Governor intends to call a special session, the New Mexico House Republicans wrote, “UNBELIEVABLE. After spending $2 million on a fence blocking YOU from the Roundhouse for a year- Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has FAILED to get her showpiece marijuana bill across the line. She now says she will call us back next week. Taxpayers, the Gov’s agenda is on your dime.”

Other bills are still stuck on the House and Senate calendars, including S.B. 11, the gas tax on the poor, S.B. 316 to harvest “gender” and “sexual identity” data from New Mexicans, and S.B. 230 instituting racism in state agencies and many other proposals, which as the clock ticks on look dead in the water.

Read more about New Mexico legislators bankrolled by the big marijuana lobby. 

Science-denying NM teachers union refusing to follow updated CDC guidelines

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On Friday, the New Mexico “American Federation of Teachers” of AFT sent out a statement denying the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) updated guidelines announcing that it had shortened its science-based recommended social distance from six feet to three feet, opening the doors for more students to get back to school.

But the anti-science, anti-student teachers union, AFT, couldn’t handle the news from the CDC, which means a green light for children to get back to school after nearly a year of lockdown and a loss of time in the classroom. The CDC is currently headed by Rochelle Walensky, a Joe Biden appointee.

The lockdown has prompted many children into depression, leading the suicide rate among adolescents to skyroket by 88% in New Mexico. In July, it was reported that New Mexico had the highest rate of suicide over every state in the union. We now have the fourth-highest unemployment rate.

However, the callous and self-serving teachers unions, who collectively throughout the country made a whopping $122 billion off of the last round of pork-filled “COVID-19 relief,” don’t want their teachers (who are forced to pay union dues in New Mexico) to go back to teaching, no matter how many children kill themselves or how many teachers leave the profession.

AFT New Mexico sent out the following statement denying the CDC’s science as “lacking” in the “totality” of the “safety strategy,” whatever that means. The union also denid the efficacy of the vaccine, claiming it is “not a silver bullet.” : 

“We, like all New Mexicans, want to see students and educators return to classrooms as soon as possible, but today’s physical distancing guideline revisions by the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) should give all students, parents, and educators pause.

“While positive progress has been made regarding access and administration of vaccines for educational staff, a vaccine alone is not a silver bullet for making our places of learning safe. Vaccines are only one piece, among many, of the strategy for safely re-entering our buildings and classrooms. 

“We also question abandoning the pandemic’s most enduring safety strategy, namely ensuring a 6-foot distance between individuals, as rapid changes in health and safety guidance not only cause confusion but can undermine public trust in science-based guidance. We, like many education professionals and organizations across the country, urge the CDC to continue their research and understanding of the impact of reduced distancing by expanding their research to broader, more representative sampling of our communities. Additionally, we hope future CDC guidance decisions will more fully consider a totality of other factors which impact safety in schools, including the extent of aerosol spread of COVID-19 through substandard or outdated ventilation. 

You read that right–the AFT teachers union is actually questioning the Centers for Disease Control so it can hold hostage full reopening of schools. Parents in New Mexico are sure not likely to be pleased with this news, as children have been waiting over a year to get back to school and make up for lost time.

Heinrich exposed as a ‘fraud’ for suddenly wanting to abolish filibuster after using it 350+ times

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On Friday, Democrat Sen. Martin Heinrich was roasted on Twitter for his massive flip-flop on the filibuster. He recently released a statement claiming he wants to abolish it to push through radical Democrat bills due to the 50-50 split Senate between Republicans and Democrats.

Heinrich wrote the following:

The filibuster should be abolished or, at the very least, reformed to force senators to physically hold the floor to extend debate. Too often the filibuster has been used to block our country’s continued march toward equality. We must change this. Georgia legislators are attempting to take Sunday voting away. They want to prevent Black voters from participating in our elections. Let’s call this what it is: A racist attempt to steal future elections.

We have the legislation to stop this. The For the People Act would restore voting rights to Americans targeted by efforts like those in Georgia. We can’t let the filibuster continue to shield structural racism in our country. I cannot support the continued abuse of the filibuster in the United States Senate.

But Charles Cook of the National Review called out Heinrich for this blatant hypocrisy on the Filibuster, pointing out that he has used it over 350 times since 2014, calling Heinrich “a fraud.” He also noted how Heinrich “declined to abolish it when in the majority; and has published a letter supporting it that, just four years ago, you signed.” 

The text of the letter signed by Heinrich supporting the filibuster in 2017 is below:

We are writing you to support our efforts to preserve existing rules, practices, and traditions as they pertain to the rights of Members to engage in extended debate on legislation before the United States Senate. Senators have expressed a variety of opinions about the appropriateness of limiting debate when we are considering judicial and executive branch nominations. Regardless of our past disagreements on that issue, we are united in our determination to preserve the ability of Members to engage in extended debate when bills are on the Senate floor.

We are mindful of the unique role the Senate plays in the legislative process, and we are steadfastly committed to ensuring that this great American institution continues to serve as the world’s greatest deliberative body. Therefore, we are asking you to join us in opposing any effort to curtail the existing rights and prerogatives of Senators to engage in full. Robust, and extended debate as we consider legislation before this body in the future.

Heinrich is proving how much of a fraud he is now that he has made a complete 180 with his stance on the filibuster, one of the crown jewels of the United States Senate for hundreds of years that he’s used countless times himself.

Nasty feud between two Dem senators reaches boiling point in heated late-night floor debate

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Late on Thursday, Sen. Daniel Ivey Soto (D-Bernalillo) and President Pro Tempore Sen. Mimi Stewart (D-Bernalillo) continued their nasty feud again on the Senate floor after multiple little battles as they butted heads this session in committees.

During a discussion on H.B. 20, which is a “paid sick leave” bill, Sen. Ivey-Soto repeatedly questioned Sen. Stewart on her bill applying to both private and public entities. The provisions of the bill would mandate employers to pay out one hour of sick leave per 30 hours of work. 

She called the bill “very moderate” and “very reasonable.” 

“This bill was not written for a public employee sick leave policy,” said Sen Stewart. 

Ivey-Soto shot back, saying, “While I understand that it was written for [the] private sector when it left the Senate Judiciary, it was no longer was for [the] private sector.” He added, “What I seem to be hearing you say is ‘we the government want to apply a standard to private enterprise that we don’t want to apply to oursel[ves].’ And I just find that very problematic…. The last time I checked, among frontline workers, would not police officers be included in frontline workers?” 

Stewart continued to claim that the bill was designed to cover “people that work in grocery stores, bars, restaurants, food delivery services, the folks that are out there without a plan at all, without a plan to get paid sick leave.” 

Ivey Soto continually used the example of a receptionist at UNM Hospital versus one at Presbyterian and whether they would be eligible for the bill’s paid sick leave. Stewart continued to claim that the bill was for the private sector, intended for smaller businesses. 

In multiple points during the debate, Stewart claimed Ivey-Soto’s questions were “abusive” and at another point refused to recognize Ivey Soto at all. 

After the contentious debate, the Senate took a ten-minute recess requested by Sen. Jacob Candelaria (D-Bernalillo) following Sen. Liz Stefanics angrily scolding Sen. Ivey-Soto for his questions, claiming “we are in a bullying state at this point in time and it’s disgraceful to the public.” 

Watch a supercut of the whole fiery exchange between the two Democrats:

The two senators previously hashed it out in the Senate Judiciary Committee, where they gave each other sass while discussing an assisted suicide bill. Ivey-Soto claimed “leadership” told him he could no longer debate on House bills, so he left the meeting and claimed he would not hear House bills in his Senate Rules Committee for the foreseeable future. The Senate floor debate appears to be a boiling point for the two senators’ feud. 

TODAY: Legislators scramble to ram through gas tax on the poor, recreational pot bills

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On Thursday, legislators stayed up late to duke it out over bills regarding a ballot initiative to raid New Mexico’s permanent fund and pass through a trapping ban on public lands. The question of whether to raid the permanent fund will go to the voters in the next election and the trapping ban bill goes to the Governor’s desk. The body also debated H.B. 20, the “Healthy Workplaces Act,” where Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto (D-Bernalillo) and Pro-Tem Mimi Stewart continued their feud. The bill passed by 25-16.

However, there are many hotly contested bills that Democrats still hope to ram through in their dead-of-night, closed-door legislative process, including initiatives to harvest gender and sexual identity information from citizens, legalize recreational marijuana, and pass a radical gas tax on the poor.

Recreational Marijuana Bill

The extreme pot bill, H.B. 12, finally was pushed through its final committee this week after Chairman Joseph Cervantes was “pushed” by Democrat leadership to hear the bill and fast-track it so it could reach the full Senate before the session closes at noon on Saturday. 

This marijuana legalization bill according to the bill sponsor, Rep. Javier Martinez (D-Bernalillo) “makes for the perfect conditions if you will. I don’t think the opportunity has ever been better than it is now to pass a legalization bill.” He says New Mexico needs the bill to cover for gaps in the budget, despite revenue projections being astronomically lower with recreational legalization of pot in states that have legalized it like the state of Colorado.

The revenue projections from the fiscal impact report claim in 2022 the law will increase state revenues by $15,186,000. Mind you, the state’s projected budget is over $7 billion, meaning pot legalization would only make up 0.2% of revenues. Even with the bill’s higher projections of $35,128,400 in revenues by 2024, that would only be approximately 0.5% of the needed revenues for a state budget projected at $7 billion. 

Pro-family groups such as the Family Policy Alliance are organizing against the legalized pot bills, making the case that, “Since Colorado legalized recreational weed, our neighboring state has seen a dramatic increase in violent crime, traffic fatalities, and marijuana hospitalizations. And usage by minors – sometimes fatal, from eating poorly regulated marijuana “candies” – has soared.” 

The Senate will likely vote on the proposal Friday after a long debate. The bill, if passed through the chamber, would need to make its way back over to the House of Representatives for the lower chamber to approve the amendments made in the Senate before hitting the Governor’s desk. It is unclear if all of this can be achieved in a single day. 

Find and contact your legislator to oppose the bill by clicking here.

Read more about New Mexico legislators bankrolled by the big marijuana lobby. 

Gas Tax on the Poor

The extreme gas tax on the poor, S.B. 11, passed the House Energy, Environment, and Natural Resources Committee on a party-line vote, despite concerns of New Mexicans’ gas prices being hiked by 20+ cents — harming poor and middle-class New Mexicans the most. 

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Mimi Stewart (D-Bernalillo) callously dismissed these concerns, claiming that in other states who have implemented these extreme policies, “Gas is cheaper now than when they started.”

That was a lie.

“When everybody talks about, ‘Oh the poor are gonna be hurt,’ I do believe the poor care about the climate,” said Stewart.

Despite the concerns from poor New Mexicans, the committee advanced her bill, which is scheduled to be heard today on the House floor. 

Find and contact your legislator to oppose the bill by clicking here.

Harvesting Gender and Sexual Identity Info

This extreme bill, S.B. 316, brought forth by Sen. Carrie Hamblen (D-Doña Ana) harvests gender and sexual identity information from New Mexicans, putting more information into the hands of the state government, for them to use for whatever they want. The bill is mostly copy/pasted from a California bill, Assembly Bill 677 from 2017, and would put this private information in the hands of government bad actors who could weaponize this data against New Mexicans.

The House of Representatives will likely consider this bill today

Find and contact your legislator to oppose the bill by clicking here.

FULL LIST: These sitting ‘GOP’ legislators voted for MLG’s ‘mini’ Green New Deal

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In March 2019, just a little over two years ago, during one of New Mexico’s most destructive legislative sessions to date, Republican New Mexicans were slapped in the face by people they elected and thought they could trust to help stop radical anti-energy bills. 

But unfortunately, thanks to the help of extremely moderate “Republicans” in the New Mexico House and Senate, wolves in sheeps’ clothing came out swinging to aid the failing Michelle Lujan Grisham Administration in pushing forward the single most destructive anti-energy proposal to ever become law in New Mexico — the “Energy Transition Act,” also known as MLG’s “mini” Green New Deal. 

The law forces through stringent environmental mandates, including 50% renewable energy by 2030 and 100% by 2050. It has already skyrocketed energy costs for New Mexicans, and even the bill’s biggest proponents say it needs to be heavily amended as to not completely wreck the state.

The radical environmental bill has been praised by the farthest-left extremists around, including newly confirmed Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, nominated by Joe Biden.

Now, as New Mexico fights for its political survival against other extreme environmental bills, such as S.B. 11, the gas tax on the poor, the quiet and weak “moderate” Republicans that slither around the roundhouse keep their lips zipped shut and hide as more outspoken members, who are in the extreme minority, fight alone against these harmful proposals.

So, who were these “Republicans” who helped the Governor ram through her destructive, corrosive, and anti-New Mexico “green” agenda? Here is a full list of the members who are still in power:

House of Representatives: 

Rep. Kelly Fajardo (R-Valencia) 

Office 986-4221, room 202A
kelly.fajardo@nmlegis.gov

Rep. Bill Rehm (R-Bernalillo)

Box 14768, Albuquerque, NM 87191
Office 986-4214, room 201B
bill.rehm@nmlegis.gov

See the full vote in the House of Representatives here.

New Mexico Senate:

GOP Leader Sen. Greg Baca (R-Bernalillo & Valencia)

P.O. Box 346, Belen, NM 87002
Office , room 415I
(505) 385-7303(w) greg.baca@nmlegis.gov

Sen. Ron Griggs (R-Doña Ana, Eddy and Otero) 

Office, Room 414A
(575) 439-1331(w) ron.griggs@nmlegis.gov

Caucus Chair Sen. Mark Moores (R-Bernalillo)

P.O. Box 90970, Albuquerque, NM 87199
Office, room 414D
mark.moores@nmlegis.gov

Sen. Cliff Pirtle (R-Chaves, Eddy, and Otero)

Office, Room 414B
cliff.pirtle@nmlegis.gov

See the full vote in the New Mexico Senate here.

Most of these politicians never were challenged during the Republican primary for their seats. Let us never forget these people helped ram through this destructive anti-energy, anti-jobs legislation, leading to the destruction and further decline of our state.

GOP senators escape fortressed Roundhouse to honor National Guardsmen stationed outside

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While the Legislature is wrapping up, Senators Gregg Schmedes, M.D. (R-Bernalillo, Sandoval, Santa Fe & Torrance) and David Gallegos (R-Eddy and Lea) ventured outside of the shuttered New Mexico state Capitol into the “dangerous” outdoors. 

The pair trekked outside the safe space created by Democrat politicians, complete with over $700,000 worth of metal chain-link fencing, concrete blocks, surveillance, National Guardsmen, and police fortressing the Capitol, where legislators are busy at work sneaking through bills in the least transparent legislative session in New Mexico history.

But the circumstances didn’t stop Senators Schmedes and Gallegos, two freshmen to the Senate after winning upset victories in their districts following their service in the House of Representatives. Despite claims from Democrats that the Capitol needed to be protected from the public, the two senators escaped the fortified building to honor the men and women protecting the Capitol.

“Today, Dr. Schmedes and I went out the secured fence and fought our way through no protestors the give pins to two of our NM National Guardsmen. Even though we have not had a single protester, we wanted to let them know that we supported them,” wrote Sen. Gallegos.

They presented the Guardsmen with silver and turquoise inlaid pins reading “Legislative Detail”: 

The legislative session is wrapping up to a close at noon on Saturday, March 20th, and there is still a lot of work left for Republican legislators to stop the extreme bills being rammed through by Democrats in both chambers. More info on the bills that are being passed through can be found here.

Legislative Update: $7.4B budget passes Senate, anti-police bill heads to Governor’s desk

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Wednesday was busy at the Legislature, with many bills being rushed through the Senate and the House, with many extreme bills moving forward. Here are just some bills that were advanced:

ANTI-POLICE BILL

H.B. 4, sponsored by Speaker of the House Brian Egolf, is a radical bill that would directly line Egolf’s pockets. The civil litigation brought forth from the bill against law enforcers will send lucrative business to civil rights lawyers like Egolf. 

In doing so, the bill would bankrupt local communities and create a hostile environment for police officers. During testimony on the bill during the committee process, many law enforcers spoke up to talk about how the bill would put targets on their backs and force many peace officers to flee the state for less hostile areas of the country. 

On Wednesday afternoon, the House of Representatives voted 43-26 on a mostly party-line vote. It now goes to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s desk, where she is expected to sign it.

Read more about the bill here. 

HUGE $7.4 BILLION BUDGET PASSES SENATE

H.B. 2, the “General Appropriations Act,” passed the New Mexico Senate after a lengthy debate between Republicans and Democrats, with Democrats looking to fill more pork and radical funding mechanisms into the bill, while Republicans sought to amend the bill to cut off funding for abortions while also lowering Gov. Lujan Grisham’s contingency fund. 

Sen. Bill Sharer (R-San Juan) called the $7.4 billion pork-filled budget “bloated”

“I’ll remind this body that just a year or so ago, we built a budget about the same amount, and then we had to have a special session … to shore up the budget,” said Sen. Bill Burt (R-Chaves, Lincoln, and Otero) “I think we spent about half the reserves, about $800 million, and y’all correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s a lot of money. Currently, our reserves at this level are $1.76 billion. If we have another downturn like that, that’s going to be a little tough.”

Radical Democrat Sen. Antoinette Sedillo-Lopez sponsored amendments to double the cost-of-living adjustment for state workers to 3 percent and another to raise the wages of any state government employee who makes less than $15 an hour to at least $15.

The spending plan passed on a 29-13 vote. Two Republicans, Sen. Steve Neville (R-San Juan) and Sen. Pat Woods (R-Curry, Quay, and Union) voted with Democrats voted to support the budget. 

RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA BILL HEADS TO SENATE FLOOR

On early Thursday morning, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance House Bill 12 sponsored by Reps. Javier Martinez (D-Bernalillo) and Andrea Romero (D-Santa Fe), an extreme recreational pot legalization bill, on a 5-4 vote. The bill was amended to include “new provisions allowing for a three-year cap on plant production and requiring an independent testing organization to regularly test the product for safety purposes,” according to a report. 

“I don’t believe your bill has been very carefully read,” said Sen. Joseph Cervantes to the bill sponsors during the committee meeting. He voted with Republicans against the bill.

If the bill passes the New Mexico Senate and then gets signed into law, the State of New Mexico would begin issuing licenses on March 1, 2022.

Find out out what representatives and senators are bankrolled by the marijuana lobby.

ACTION ALERT:

In these final hours of the New Mexico Legislature, extreme proposals are still making their way through. Please contact your legislators today and ask them to oppose these measures that are on the calendar:

S.B. 11 — the “Clean Fuel Standards Act,” also known as the gas tax on the poor sponsored by Sen. Mimi Stewart (D-Bernalillo) would result in a gas price increase of 20+ cents per gallon on New Mexicans. Contact your NM House Representative to oppose this bill. 

S.B. 230 —  the “Institutional Racism In State Agencies” bill sponsored by Sen. Linda Lopez (D-Bernalillo) “SB230 directs each state agency or entity that receives state funding to annually develop and submit a plan to address institutional racism as part of its annual final budget submission. SB230 would require copies of the annual plans to be provided to the Legislature, the Legislative Finance Committee, and the Courts, Corrections, & Justice Committee,” according to the Fiscal Impact Report. 

This bill would foster racism within state agencies based upon arbitrary attributes that employees cannot control. This would further bureaucratize New Mexico state agencies and waste hard-earned taxpayer money on programs that do not directly benefit the state in any way, shape, or form. Contact your NM House Representative to oppose this bill. 

S.B. 316 — “Gender and Orientation Data Collection” by Sen. Carrie Hamblen (D-Doña Ana) harvests “gender identity” and “sexual identity” information from New Mexicans through every state agency, which would put this private information in the hands of government bad actors who could weaponize this data against New Mexicans. Contact your NM House Representative to oppose this bill. 

NM House Dems pass bill letting pedophiles and rapists out of prison and into communities

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On Tuesday night, the New Mexico House of Representatives considered S.B. 114, sponsored by Sen. Bill O’Neill (D-Bernalillo) and Rep. Andrea Romero (D-Santa Fe), which seeks to allow “geriatric” convicts (age 55 or older) out on parole with a plea to the New Mexico Corrections Department. 

According to the fiscal impact report of the bill, “eligible inmates (or their representatives) submit applications for medical and geriatric parole to NMCD, and the department determines whether to recommend the applicant be granted parole under the medical and geriatric parole program.”

The bill would allow pedophiles and rapists to be released from prison on this parole program, which Republican members of the House took issue with.

Rep. Stefani Lord (R-Bernalillo, Sandoval & Santa Fe) rose to the floor to condemn the bill. She said, “What they found in a study in 2008 is that people who are sex offenders have a decreased brain matter, and it results in a compulsive behavior where they are compelled to rape and molest children over and over again. So, when I was doing my research, there was no cure for pedophiles. And there was extremely limited rehabilitation for rapists, and that was if they were in therapy constantly and there is still a high rate of recidivism.”

“And so when I was reading through this, I was thinking, you know, a really good idea would be not to put these sex offenders back out on the street, and that’s because 50% of all rapists have a prior conviction and the typical pedophile will commit 117 sexual crimes in their lifetime. That’s nationwide. In Virginia, they have found for the Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission that pedophiles molest an average of 300 children in their lifetime. So, I started thinking about that. Do we really want to release sex offenders back out into a community when the bureau of justice says they are four times more likely to be arrested on another crime?”

“And our oldest pedophile is 101 years old. So, pedophiles and sex offenders don’t quit raping and molesting children,” continued Lord.

Rep. Lord attempted to amend the bill to stop pedophiles and rapists from being released into communities to continue to cause acts of sexual and other violence upon New Mexicans. 

During the debate on the amendment, Lord said, “I don’t think that’s the kind of people we want to release.” She cited a case in New Mexico where a pedophile was released and in one week raped three children. “Sex offenders sex offend their entire life. They don’t suddenly get better.” 

The bill sponsor, Rep. Romero, claimed the amendment was “unfriendly.” 

Rep. Pettigrew said, “We’ve had conversations on this on a multitude of bills as they’ve gone through CPAC (Consumer and Public Affairs Committee), and unfortunately all of them, they seem to be unfriendly when it comes with respect to sex offense and pedophiles and different serial rapists and stuff like that. And it is unfortunate. I agree with your amendment… and I will support it.”  

However, Democrats, led by Rep. Doreen Gallegos (D-Donña Ana), voted to protect pedophiles and table the amendment on a vote of 41-28. The only Democrats who voted against tabling the amendment were Reps. Harry Garcia (D-Bernalillo, Cibola, McKinley, Socorro, San Juan & Valencia), Candie Sweetser (D-Grant, Hidalgo & Luna), and Marian Matthews (D-Bernalillo). 

During debate on an amendment, Democrats snuck into S.B. 114 duplicative language to a bill regarding felon voting rights that looks likely dead in the Senate, H.B. 74. Republicans, including Rep. Rod Montoya (R-San Juan), brought up the House rule stating how it is against House rules to do such a thing. 

Despite that, Speaker Brian Egolf (D-Santa Fe) claimed his closed-door, dead-of-night lawmaking (which includes Democrats erecting a fence around the Capitol to keep the people out of the People’s House) was “extreme transparency and openness in this entire process.” He said the discussion was “a wonderful example of complete transparency.”

The bill finally passed, without the amendment barring pedophiles and rapists out on parole, by a vote of 37-33.

Radical anti-police bill bankrupting local governments one hurdle away from becoming law

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On Tuesday, the New Mexico Senate passed H.B. 4, dubbed the “Civil Rights Act,” sponsored by Speaker of the House Brian Egolf, Rep. Georgene Louis (D-Bernalillo), and Sen. Joseph Cervantes (D-Doña Ana), all attorneys practicing civil litigation. 

The bill has the ability to bankrupt local communities with slews of frivolous civil rights lawsuits, end qualified immunity and put a target on law enforcers’ backs. Local governments from all across the state are vehemently opposed to the measure, as well as many local law enforcement officials from all over New Mexico.

During the Senate debate of the bill, Sen. Bill Sharer (R-San Juan) said, “We don’t want to deprive somebody of their civil rights, but we also don’t want to make the taxpayers of whatever jurisdiction just pour money into this endless pit of lawsuits.”

Sen. Stewart Ingle (R-Chaves, Curry, De Baca, Lea, and Roosevelt) said, “We have the most liberal liability laws of any place except Washington, D.C., and the stuff we didn’t have has now been added through this.” He added, “It’s going to open up areas for liability that we have never seen before. And our counties and our cities, our highway departments, every state agency we have, I think, is going to be subject to things that they have never even thought about.” 

“More money for insurance or claims means less money for essential services or higher taxes,” said Santa Fe County Attorney Greg Shaffer during testimony against the bill in a Senate committee. “This shifting of risk impacts all citizens,” he said. “More money for insurance or claims means less money for essential services or higher taxes.”

In a previous hearing of the bill, Detective Shaun Willoughby of the Albuquerque Police Officers’ Association said, “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.” 

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,” “ProgressNow New Mexico,” 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. 

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.

The measure barely squeaked by the Senate Judiciary Committee on a vote of 5-4, with Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto (D-Bernalillo) voting with all Republicans against the radical measure. Another similar measure was brought forth by Sen. Joseph Cervantes (D-Doña Ana) regarding tort claims and qualified immunity. However, it was swiftly rejected, with two Democrats voting to kill the bill. Cervantes also may profit off of his co-sponsorship of H.B. 4 despite his claims that he has “no conflict of interest or financial motive in bringing this legislation.” Only time will tell on that.

The Senate amended the bill to eliminate mandatory attorney fees. However, the small concession did not fix New Mexico’s small communities and local governments’ many concerns. In its amended form, the bill will go to the House of Representatives for concurrence before it is sent to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham for a signature. It passed the Senate on a 26-15 with one Democrat in opposition, Sen, George Muñoz (Cibola, McKinley, and San Juan), siding with all Republicans against the extreme bill.

According to the New Mexico House Republicans at 10:37 p.m. on Tuesday that “[W]e are recessed until the Speaker’s bill, HB 4, is passed by the Senate and he can bring it to our chamber for concurrence.” 

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