Legislative update: Radical anti-gun bill to be heard Tuesday

It is another week of the 2022 Legislative Session and Democrats ager going full-speed ahead trying to ram through extreme bills left and right.

Here are the bills you need to know about and how you can help stop them:

H.B. 68 “CRIMINAL CODE CHANGES” by Rep. Meredith Dixon (D-Bernalillo)

This radical bill turns law-abiding gun owners into felons if they are carrying a gun within a school zone. According to state Rep. Stefani Lord (R-Sandia Park), “Exceptions are in the car if over age 19” and concealed carry. “However, open carry is LEGAL in NM, but you would now be arrested for a felony if you walked down the sidewalk within 1000 feet of a school zone. If you lived in a school zone, you are now a felon once you walk to your car on the street.”

Other issues with the bill include “school zone” being “defined to mean any public, private or parochial school or property used for school purposes and the area within 1,000 feet of the school property line, but it does not mean a post-secondary school. This bill is unnecessary, overbroad, confusing and sets up legal traps for law-abiding citizens. First, let’s acknowledge that criminals ignore gun-free zones. This bill will impact law-abiding gun owners,” Lord writes.

These bills will be considered on Tuesday in the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee. To testify, the Zoom details are below: 

When: Jan 25, 2022 01:30 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada) Topic: House Consumer & Public Affairs Committee Please click the link below to join the webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82353539692 Or One tap mobile : US: +16699009128,,82353539692# or +12532158782,,82353539692# 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: 823 5353 9692

S.B. 15 “KN95 MASKS AND EDUCATION” by Sen. Jeff Steinborn (D-Doña Ana)

This radical bill will waste more taxpayer money by shelling out $10 million state dollars to buy “KN95” masks to disseminate across all New Mexico schools, as well as a fund “a robust statewide public education campaign about the importance and proper usage of masks.” 

The wasteful bill will appear in the Senate Health and Public Affairs Committee on Monday, January 24, 2022, at 1:30 or a half-hour after the floor session that day. The hearing will be held in Room 311.

The meeting details are below: 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87967039414 or via telephone 1 669 900 9128.  The Webinar ID for SHPAC is 879 6703 9414.

Contact the committee members to advocate against this bill by clicking here. 

S.B. 3 ENHANCING DEATH BENEFITS FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT by Sen. George Muñoz (D-Cibola, McKinley, and San Juan)

This commonsense bill would enhance the death benefits for peace officers, mounted patrol officers, and reserve police officers in New Mexico.

After an officer has been determined to be killed in the line of duty, “[i]n addition to any other death benefits provided by law, the surviving spouse, children or parents shall be paid… one million dollars ($1,000,000) as supplemental death benefits.” 

It appears Muñoz’s bill will also create a new fund called the “peace officers’, New Mexico mounted patrol members’ and reserve police officers’ survivors fund” that will reserve ten percent of “all money received for fees, licenses and penalties from life, general casualty and title insurance business pursuant to the New Mexico Insurance Code” to be paid monthly to the state treasurer and credited to the fund. It is to never have less than $1 million in the fund at all times. 

It will also be heard in the Senate Health and Public Affairs on Monday at 1:30 p.m. or following the floor session that day.

S.J.R. 8 “SALARIES FOR PUBLIC OFFICIALS” by Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto (D-Bernalillo)

This bill would attempt to change the New Mexico Constitution to give authority to the Democrat-controlled State Ethics Commission to “review and establish the salaries of all elected state officers every two years.”

This legislation could open the door to sweeping increases in raises for elected officials in New Mexico, as well as bestow even more authority to the Democrat-controlled Supreme Court: 

“When necessary, the chief justice of the supreme court may designate any justice of the supreme court, or any district judge of the state, to act as a judge of the court of appeals, and the chief justice may designate any judge of the court of appeals to hold court in any district, or to act as a justice of the supreme court.”

According to the fiscal impact report on the bill, it conflicts with H.J.R. 10 being proposed by socialist Rep. Angelica Rubio (D-Doña Ana) and Rep. Javier Martinez (D-Bernalillo), which would attempt to change the Constitution to give a salary to legislators — despite legislators making per diem and a pension. New Mexico’s legislature is supposed to be a “citizen legislature” not made up by career politicians.

This bill will be heard on Monday at 9:00 a.m. in the Senate Rules Committee, conveniently chaired by Sen. Ivey-Soto. The Zoom details are below: For public participation click on the following link https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86412647187 to join the Webinar or via telephone 1-253-215-8782 Webinar ID: 864 126 47187

Other legislation to keep an eye out for in the coming days is S.B. 14, which would result in at least a 20-35 cent-per-gallon tax on fuel — hurting the poorest New Mexicans. This bill was previously proposed in the 2021 Legislative Session, but thanks to the Piñon Post’s advocacy to engage New Mexicans to testify against the bill, it died before reaching final passage.