Roundhouse Roundup
The Santa Fe New Mexican
Gun ban bill goes forward: Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 6-2, along party lines, to forward a bill that would prohibit the carrying of firearms within 100 feet of a polling place Friday evening. Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, co-sponsor of the bill, said he believes it is necessary to ensure the safety and fairness of elections for New Mexicans exercising their fundamental right to vote.
Wirth said he is trying to prevent “the intimidation people feel with folks with guns in voting places.” Wirth amended the original bill to include a provision that would allow New Mexicans to leave their guns in their vehicles while they go inside voting sites to cast ballots.
Senate Bill 5 now goes to the Senate floor for a vote. If the body votes to approve it, it will move over to the House of Representatives for consideration in committee hearings and on that chamber’s floor.
Sen. Moores gets his wish: “I wonder if The Santa Fe New Mexican is going to write an article about what you guys did tonight,” Sen. Mark Moores, R-Albuquerque, wondered aloud as he chided Sen. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, after Cervantes announced he was going to put an end to Friday evening’s Senate Judiciary Committee meeting and continue it on Saturday.
The hearing, scheduled to start mid-afternoon Friday, technically began at 3 p.m. but since three Democrats were missing, there was no quorum to start the show. Cervantes, chairman of the committee, was tied up in another committee presenting a bill that would impose a 14-day waiting period before a New Mexican could purchase a handgun. The committee heard the first bill on its agenda around 4:45 p.m. Friday.
Republican senators took some heat the day before for failing to show up for a Senate Tax, Business and Transportation Committee meeting in which a paid family and medical leave act was to be heard, leaving the committee without a quorum to vote on the measure.
Moores made note of that Friday evening, telling Cervantes, “We were here on time. The Democrats weren’t. … We cannot control the quorum, you guys control the quorum. … That’s hypocritical to be chastised and you don’t show up.” He and other Republicans on the committee said it was not fair to call them back in to finish the business at end, which included hearing Senate Bill 6, a set of proposed changes to the state’s Cannabis Regulation Act.
Moores went on to say if Democrats, who outnumber Republicans in both chambers, don’t show up in force enough to have a quorum “this place is going to melt down.”
Cervantes apologized for being in another committee for so long and then, agreed to quickly hear two more bills and then recess for the night, putting off hearing SB 6 until Monday.
Primary care bill clears committee: A $15 million bill to pay to build a primary care facility in Taos passed unanimously out of the Senate Health and Public Affairs Committee Friday evening.
The committee voted unanimously to support Senate Bill 113, which would build the facility on county-owned land next to Holy Cross Medical Center. Supporters said it will help residents who have to travel to Santa Fe or Albuquerque for primary care now.
“If you don’t have primary care in a community, everyone is going to end up at the medical center, the emergency room,” said Dan Weeks, a lobbyist with the New Mexico Hospital Association.
Sen. Greg Nibert, R-Roswell, noted that many rural communities in New Mexico are facing the same problems.
“We have to address the issues in rural New Mexico, and if we don’t we’re not going to have hospitals or clinics available in virtually every small town in New Mexico,” he said.
Paid leave moves forward: A bill to create a paid family and medical leave program in New Mexico was voted out of the Senate Tax, Business and Transportation Committee Saturday morning.
The committee first heard Senate Bill 3 on Thursday, but was unable to vote because, with all the Republicans boycotting the committee and a Democrat absent, there wasn’t a quorum to vote on the bill. On Saturday, the bill advanced on a 6-2 vote.
Quote of the day: “For my entire time in the Legislature, past 10 years, there has been significant dysfunction at the Game Commission under two different governors.” —Rep. Matthew McQueen, D-Galisteo, pitching House Bill 178, to give the Legislature the power to appoint some Game commissioners. It passed out of committee on a 6-5 vote.
