Legislative Update: GOP vaccine exemption bill advances, ‘red flag’ update bill heads to House floor

On Monday, many consequential bills were heard in New Mexico House and Senate committees, with some bad bills advancing, while one good bill advanced as well. Read our briefing below about these bills considered Monday and committees you can join on Tuesday. 

H.B. 9 was considered in the House Government, Elections, and Indian Affairs Committee on Monday. The bill would be the second phase of Gov. Lujan Grisham’s “Green New Deal” seeks to force extreme carbon emission requirements on all sectors with a “net-zero” carbon emission standard by 2050, the same timeline as the federal “Green New Deal” and the “Energy Transition Act” passed in 2019. Most of the bill’s supporters came from areas most affected by the extreme bill, such as natural resources-rich areas of the state. The opposition was mainly “community organizers” with far-out dark money groups and law firms that would benefit off of all the litigation involved in the passage of this bill. H.B. 9 was rolled over to a committee vote on Wednesday.  

H.B. 110, a bill sponsored by Rep. Patricia Roybal Caballero (D-Bernalillo) sought to raise the minimum wage to $12 by 2022 and $15 by 2024. The bill was heard in the Commerce and Economic Development Committee, however, it was not voted on or tabled. Rep. Roybal Caballero brought in an “expert witness,” Pameyla Herndon, to field questions about the bill. Herndon bragged in a 2020 Democrat fundraising call about ballot harvesting votes from senior citizens. 

Members of the committee commented on the bill, most notably Rep. Javier Martinez (D-Bernalilo) who went on a tangent about how he wanted to create a “universal basic income” through entitlements. 

“We need to reimagine the way we do public benefits. Ims tartgin to work around the concept of a universal basic income, for example, instead of putting as much as we do into these public benefits programs that, you know, for the last fifty years I think have been a safety net for many families, a very much needed safety net. But one could argue that they haven’t in some—in most cases—succeeded in uplifting people, with some exceptions, right? There’s always the story of me. ‘I did it.’ But generally speaking, we haven’t seen that transition of using a safety net into a better place…. I think until we reimagine that system, we still have the problem of if you’re —under hte current law by 2022, by 2025 youll get bumped three dollars. Will that impact your public benefits at that point? Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t but it’s something to think about.”  

H.B. 193 sponsored by Reps. Daymon Ely (D-Bernalillo) and Joy Garratt (D-Bernalillo), which seeks to expand the extreme “Red Flag” law passed in 2020, was heard in the House Judiciary Committee, where it passed the committee on party lines. Far-left extremist Sheriff Kim Stewart (D-Doña Ana) lauded the bill during the committee hearing. 

Many people spoke in opposition, with many arguments arguing its unconstitutionality defiant to the 4th Amendment regarding unlawful search and seizure. Multiple people from fringe anti-gun groups such as “Everytown” and “Moms Demand Action” supported the anti-gun unconstitutional measure. It passed the committee on a party-line vote of 8-4. 

Another anti-gun bill, H.B. 166 which sought to criminalize the creation and possession of multiple firearms and components was rolled over to a future hearing in the committee. 

S.B. 232 sponsored by Sen. Gregg Schmedes, M.D. (R-Bernalillo, Sandoval, Santa Fe & Torrance) sought to give parents the ability to refuse a vaccination for their child based on conscientious objections to the vaccine. The bill was considered in the Senate Health and Public Affairs Committee. Most of the public was in support of the measure, while most of the opposition claimed its passage would put more individuals at risk due to fewer vaccinations. Sen. Schmedes made a commonsense case for the bill, which was able to garner the support of one Democrat, Sen. Antoinette Sedillo-Lopez (D-Bernalillo), resulting in the bill’s passage on a vote of 4-3. 

Tuesday Committee Hearings:

SENATOR ELIZABETH STEFANICS, CHAIR Convenes Tuesday, February 23, 2021, 9:00 a.m. via Zoom

Please click here to register for public comment on a bill being heard by this committee: https://forms.gle/5pgx2bgxGyHEDeCS8

S.B. 312 GAME & FISH & WILDLIFE CHANGES by Sen. Jeff Steinborn (D-Doña Ana) and Rep. Nathan Small (D-Doña Ana). – BAD

S.B. 312 is a costly bill that takes power away from the people and gives it to the government, according to liberals, giving “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.” 

While the Piñon Post supports conservation efforts in our state, this 241-page overhaul bill further bureaucratizes 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. Read the fiscal impact report on the bill for more information.

SENATE TAX, BUSINESS AND TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE

SENATOR BENNY SHENDO JR., CHAIRMAN Tuesday, February 23, 2021, 1:30 pm 

*For Public Participation send an email to SCORC@nmlegis.gov with: Name, Entity Representing, Bill #, For or Against, and email address by Feb. 23, at 10 am. You will be contacted by our Zoom Operator with virtual meeting instructions.

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. 

HOUSE CONSUMER AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

ELIZABETH “LIZ” THOMSON, CHAIR, Convenes Tuesday, February 23, 2021 – 1:30 p.m. – Zoom

H.B. 254 – USE OF DEADLY FORCE REPORTING by Sen. Antoinette Sedillo-Lopez (D-Bernalillo) and Rep. Patricia Roybal Caballero (D-Bernalillo) – BAD

Note: both of these women are 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. 

H.B. 279 NO GOV. RESTRICTIONS ON GUN & AMMO STORES sponsored by Rep. Stefani Lord would do the following, according to the fiscal impact report: 

“Eliminate the governor’s current authority during a state of emergency to prohibit the possession of firearms or any other deadly weapon in any place other than a person’s residence or business; and  Prohibit the governor during a state of emergency from restricting the operations of firearm manufacturers, distributors, suppliers and sellers, the sale or transportation of firearms, the operations of shooting ranges, or the operations of businesses that provide firearm instruction.” 

This bill is pro-Second Amendment and it helps limit the Governor’s power, making it a bill supported by the Piñon Post. – GOOD.

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