Legislature 2019: Session summary (New Mexico)

The Albuquerque Journal ^ | March 18, 2019 | Dan McKay and Dan Boyd

[CedarDave]

Legislators passed bills with wide-ranging implications for New Mexico’s future.

The 2019 legislative session was one of the busiest in recent state history. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has until April 5 to act on bills passed during the session.

Budget/taxes
Passed: A $7 billion budget bill with hefty spending increase for public schools; a broad tax package that increases some tax rates and expands a working families tax credit; lifting the annual spending cap on film incentives from $50 million to $110 million; $933 million package for infrastructure projects.
Failed: Expanding early childhood education by tapping into the Land Grant Permanent Fund; increasing the state’s gasoline tax rate by 10 cents per gallon; allowing municipalities in the Oil Patch to impose a 5 percent tenancy tax on long-term renters.

Guns
Passed: Requiring background checks before nearly any firearm sale; prohibiting gun possession by domestic abusers or people subject to an order of protection under the Family Violence Protection Act.
Failed: Allowing courts to order the temporary taking of guns from someone deemed an immediate threat; criminal penalties for failing to properly secure firearm arms around children.

Business/labor
Passed: Raising the statewide minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2023; regulating the production, research and manufacturing of hemp; doubling state investment the nonprofit Small Business Investment Corp.; barring counties from enforcing local “right-to-work” ordinances.
Failed: Capping interest rates for payday loans at 36 percent.

Elections
Passed: Overhauling campaign finance regulations; creating legislative caucus committees; allowing voter registration on Election Day; expanding automated voter registration at Motor Vehicle Division; signing New Mexico onto national popular vote compact.
Failed: Opening primary elections to independent voters.

[CedarDave]

Other hits and misses:

Education - Created a Cabinet-level department of early childhood education; repealed the state’s A-F grading system for schools; increased pay for teachers; establishing four centers of excellence at colleges and universities; extending school year and allowing medical marijuana at school. A moratorium on new charter schools around the state through 2021 failed.

Drugs - Penalties for marijuana possession were reduced, but legalizing recreational marijuana failed as did making possession of all types of drugs a misdemeanor.

Energy - Established an Energy Transition Act to move to carbon-free energy generation by 2045; new rules dealing with violations by oil and gas operators. A four-year fracking moratorium failed as did raising royalty rates on oil and gas production on state trust lands.

See the article for info on legislation affecting Ethics/transparency, Criminal Justice, Health/family, and Environment/wildlife.

[CedarDave]

Only a 30-day session next year to focus only on the state budget plus issues identified by the governor.

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[JWNM]

Apparently, the new legislature felt our votes no longer count and have abdicated to the will of California and New York voters by voting to join the popular vote compact.