Roundhouse Roundup
The Santa Fe New Mexican
Women’s Bill of Rights: Oh, boy.
Rep. Andrea Reeb, R-Clovis, has introduced a bill the House Republican communications office says will codify the “common sense understanding of the words ‘male’ and ‘female’ when used in law.”
The bill also “will help protect single-sex spaces, such as rape crisis centers, domestic violence shelters, prisons, athletic teams, locker rooms, and sororities,” a news release states.
As part of the push to promote House Bill 205, Riley Gaines, a former NCAA swimmer from the University of Kentucky who has gained national attention for advocating that only biological females be allowed to participate in women’s sports, is scheduled to visit the Roundhouse at an unspecified date “in early February.”
Gaines will co-host a news conference with the bill’s sponsors “and other pro-women groups to discuss the importance of women’s rights,” a news release states.
Tribal Fed fund moves forward: Members of the House Education Committee on Tuesday OK’d an amended version of House Bill 134, which would appropriate $100 million to a tribal education trust fund.
Changed to assuage concerns from the Navajo Nation about membership of the task force that will distribute the trust fund dollars, the new version of the bill will provide New Mexico’s 23 tribes, nations and pueblos more authority in determining members, said Rep. Derrick Lente, D-Sandia Pueblo, who sponsored the measure.
“With these changes, the bill gives maximum decision-making power to the sovereign tribes themselves, rather than proscribing who should be at the table when funding decisions get made,” Lente said.
A companion bill, House Bill 135, secured a unanimous “do pass” recommendation from the House Education Committee Jan. 26. If passed, that legislation would create the trust fund and authorize the Public Education Department to disburse money from the fund to tribes for educational programs.
School mental health bill stalls: House Bill 70, a Republican-led effort to appropriate $38 million for school-based mental health counselors in public middle and high schools, will not move forward this session after a discussion before the House Education Committee revealed the need for further study.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Mark Duncan, R-Kirtland, has also proposed a memorial, House Memorial 22, to study access to youth mental health services “with the goal of providing mental health care services at all public secondary school campuses” ahead of the 2025 legislative session.
The entire committee was in agreement: Middle-schoolers and high-schoolers need more mental health support. The trouble is, the $38 million required to make the change happen is not yet in the state’s budget bill, and analysis found differing figures regarding the services available and needed at schools across the state.
“It’s really, really needed, but I just hesitate personally to pass it if we can’t do it right,” Rep. Joy Garratt, D-Albuquerque said.
Free flu shots: Anyone — including community members and lawmakers — can get a free flu shot from 9 a.m. to noon Friday, or 9-11 a.m. Monday outside the state Capitol.
No appointment is necessary for a shot in Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Mexico’s Care Van in the east parking lot of the Roundhouse on 490 Old Santa Fe Trail. The flu shots will be provided by Southwest Vaccination and Consulting.
Quote of the day: “We can change captains, but the boat don’t float,” Sen. Crystal Brantley, R-Elephant Butte, pointing to turnover of Cabinet secretaries at the state’s Public Education Department and Children, Youth and Families Department during a confirmation hearing for newly confirmed CYFD Secretary Teresa Casados.
