Roundhouse Roundup
The Santa Fe New Mexican
Senate Conservation Committee: Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, emerged from the Senate Conservation Committee with a big smile Tuesday.
He had good reason.
Wirth received unanimous support on two separate pieces of legislation he is championing alongside a Republican.
Both bipartisan bills focus on protecting the state’s natural resources.
Senate Bill 1, which Rep. Jack Chatfield, R-Mosquero, is cosponsoring, would transfer an additional $100 million to the Water Trust Fund. The Legislature appropriated the same amount to the fund last year to address its longterm solvency. Senate Bill 9, which Sen. Steven Neville, R-Aztec, is cosponsoring, would appropriate $300 million to the Conservation Legacy Permanent Fund.
“Money’s in the budget, so we just gotta keep it there,” he said while walking up to the fourth floor to meet with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.
Pitch to limit powers: In the past, both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have unsuccessfully pushed to limit a sitting governor’s emergency powers through legislation. House Republicans held a news conference in the Capitol Tuesday to announce they had introduced House Joint Resolution 8, which would put the question of limiting a governor’s emergency powers to voters via a constitutional amendment.
“From my view this is not a partisan issue,” said House Minority Leader Ryan Lane, adding he would support the bill regardless of whether a Republican or Democrat is in the governor’s seat. The joint resolution, if approved by voters, would require the governor to call a special session to gain legislative approval for extending any emergency order beyond 90 days.
HJR 8 has been assigned to the House Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee.
New deal for new museum: Members of the House Rural Development, Land Grants and Cultural Affairs Committee gave a unanimous pass on House Bill 174, which would create a one-time appropriation of $100,000 to the state Cultural Affairs Department in fiscal years 2025 and 2026 to conduct a feasibility study about establishing a national museum of New Deal art in New Mexico.
Rep. Matthew McQueen, D-Galisteo, who cosponsors the bill, told committee members that while he is not “an art guy” he sees a federally built New Deal art museum as “economic development” that would draw visitors to the state.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt implemented the 1930s-era New Deal initiative to get people, including artists, working on public projects. The bill’s fiscal impact report says that in New Mexico the program hired artists “to create murals and artworks in public buildings. According to advocates for New Deal art, there are over 90 communities with over 65 murals, 650 paintings, and 10 sculptures in New Mexico with public art and buildings” from the era. The bill next goes to the House Appropriations and Finance Committee for consideration.
Honoring New Mexico women: Members of the House Rural Development, Land Grants and Cultural Affairs Committee also gave a unanimous “do pass” to House Bill 82, which would give a one-time appropriation of $550,000 to continue the New Mexico Historic Women Marker Program.
The program, initiated more than 15 years ago, pays tribute to some of the state’s female historians, artists, advocates, educators and public servants in the form of roadside markers around the state. Cosponsor Pamelya Herndon, D-Albuquerque, told committee members there are about 100 markers in the program but more funding is necessary to add more. The bill next goes to the House Appropriations and Finance Committee for consideration.
Oil and gas royalty rate: The Land Grant Permanent Fund stands to receive an additional $50 million to $75 million under a bill approved the Senate Conservation Committee approved along a 6-3 party-line vote.
Senate Bill 24 would increase the top royalty rate charged for oil and gas development on state lands from 20% to the market rate of 25%, according to the New Mexico State Land Office.
State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard called the bill passing its first committee “a huge first step.”
“We should capitalize on the current oil and gas boom by raising what we charge to oil and gas companies to use land that belongs to New Mexicans,” she said in a statement. “The result would be huge amounts of new money for our schoolkids.”
Bear-able: The House of Representatives voted 70-0 to support House Memorial 14, which honors Smokey Bear, the animal that constantly warns about the need to prevent forest fires. Tuesday was Smokey Bear Day at the state Legislature.
The memorial’s sponsor, Rep. Harlan Vincent, R-Glencoe, said his wife’s grandfather was one of the firefighters who found the scared and burn-scarred baby bear that survived a fire in the Capitan Mountains in 1950 — often considered the original Smokey Bear. Rep. Mark Duncan, R-Farmington, said during the brief floor debate Smokey is “the ambassador of our forests.”
Quote of the day: “I’m not on my A-game this session.” —Rep. John Block, R-Alamogordo, after explaining on the House floor he had forgotten his Smokey Bear pen on Smokey Bear Day at the Capitol.
Rep. Harlan Vincent, R-Ruidoso Downs, takes note about Smokey Bear before the floor session of the House began Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024. Vincent introduced a house memorial to make Tuesday, Jan. 23, Smokey Bear Day. Smoky Bear was a bear cub that was found with his paws burned after a wildfire in Lincoln County, where Vincent is from. Photo by Luis Sánchez Saturno/The New Mexican
Sylvia Vigil, front left, and Sinforosa Lovato with El Centro Family Health shake hands with Lt. Gov. Howie Morales while he thanked health care workers at the state Capitol during Health Care Day on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024. Photo by Luis Sánchez Saturno/The New Mexican
