Ed Funding Overhaul Nears Final Steps Despite Concerns About Secondary School Boost In New Mexico
Rep. Andrés Romero, D-Albuquerque
By MARGARET O’HARA
The Santa Fe New Mexican
Key provisions of a plan to overhaul New Mexico’s per-student formula for financing public K-12 education are raising concerns even as the proposal nears the finish line.
State lawmakers already have allocated $4.4 billion for education spending — the single biggest piece of New Mexico’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2026.
House Bill 63, the result of two years of inquiry by the Legislative Education Study Committee, would make some changes to how the state divvies that money by student, offering up targeted Read More
Denish: DOGE And Musk Impact New Mexicans
By DIANE DENISH
Corner To Corner
diane@dianedenish.com
Elon Musk has been dominating the headlines recently with his slash and burn efforts as head of “DOGE” – the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.
The world’s richest man is everywhere, firing federal workers, in the Oval Office, you name it.
I wanted to learn more about Musk, so I listened to the biography of Musk by Walter Isaacson (20 hours). I’ve also read a slew of business articles about Tesla, SpaceX and Musk’s current endeavor DOGE.
Here is what I learned.
He’s a South African by birth. Although he once attended an anti-apartheid Read More
Robinson: How Many Doctors Do We Have To Lose In New Mexico Before Lawmakers Act?
By SHERRY ROBINSON
All She Wrote
© 2024 New Mexico News Services
Dr. Lawrence Andrade and his wife, Dr. Aedra Andrade, are leaving Gallup. He’s a private practice family medicine doctor and owner of Family Medicine Associates. He’s practiced in Gallup since 2003. She’s a family practice physician with Rehoboth McKinley Christian Hospital. Together they have 9,000 active patients in a place that’s already undeserved.
Andrade has deep roots here, which makes his loss all the more painful. He’s a Gallup native and graduate of Gallup High School, UNM and the UNM School of Medicine. He is the team Read More
Amid Federal Crackdown, DEI Bill Clears First Committee In New Mexico Legislature
Co-sponsor Sen. Shannon Pinto, D-Tohatchi
By MARGARET O’HARA
The Santa Fe New Mexican
DEI is not dead yet in New Mexico.
Amid increasing hostility from the Trump administration toward diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, a state Senate committee on Sunday advanced a “Diversity Act” that would create positions in the State Personnel Office and other agencies to lead DEI efforts.
The Health and Public Affairs Committee — the first stop for Senate Bill 356 as the 60-day legislative session heads into its final two weeks — voted 6-3 to approve the proposal after less than 15 minutes Read More
New Mexico Paid Leave Bill Clears First Senate Committee
House Sponsor Rep. Christine Chandler
By NATHAN BROWN
The Santa Fe New Mexican
A bill to extend paid time off to more New Mexico workers took a step closer to becoming law Saturday.
The Paid Family and Medical Leave Act passed out of the Senate Tax, Business and Transportation Committee on a 6-4 party-line vote. It now heads to the Senate Finance Committee, which approved last year’s version of the bill.
Paid leave advocates have been pushing for years to create a state-run program. Last year’s bill passed the Senate before failing narrowly in the House. This year’s bill started in and has already Read More
Bill To Protect Residents In High-Risk Wildfire Areas Passes The New Mexico Senate
The Roundhouse in Santa Fe. Post file photo
New Mexico Senate News:
SANTA FE – Senate Bill 81, a bipartisan measure aimed at protecting New Mexico residents in the wake of devastating fires, Saturday passed the floor of the New Mexico Senate (34-1). The bill, sponsored by Senator Peter Wirth (D-Santa Fe) and Representative Harlan Vincent (R-Ruidoso), in partnership with the Office of Superintendent of Insurance (OSI), addresses the urgent need for increased property insurance coverage in the state, especially in light of recent natural disasters.
Senate Bill 81 aims to expand and enhance Read More
Grid Modernization, Cost Concerns Clash In Debate On Energy Overhaul
Sponsor Rep. Dayan Hochman-Vigil, D-Albuquerque
By NICHOLAS GILMORE
The Santa Fe New Mexican
Amid a larger energy transition that promises a move away from fossil fuels alongside sharp increases in demand for electricity, Democratic lawmakers have zeroed in on the changes they say are needed for New Mexico’s aging grid to handle increased capacity and changing technologies for generating and deploying electricity.
House Bill 13 — or the Power Up New Mexico Act — passed the House Saturday afternoon after a long debate by a mostly party-line vote of 36-23.
Democrats argue it’s an important Read More
Determan: Time To Speak Up For Tax Reforms For Health Care Workers
From ANDREA DETERMAN
Chair
DPLA
Think New Mexico’s proposed legislation to fully repeal New Mexico’s Gross Receipts Tax (GRT) on medical services is approaching its critical decision point.
This morning, House Bill 344 passed the House Health & Human Services Committee unanimously and it now heads to the House Taxation and Revenue Committee. Meanwhile, the Senate version of the bill, Senate Bill 295, received a positive hearing in the Senate Tax, Bustiness & Transportation Committee yesterday afternoon.
The House and Senate tax committees will soon be meeting to decide Read More
Bill To Sharply Scale Back Immigration Detention In New Mexico Counties Passes State House Of Representatives
By NATHAN BROWN
The Santa Fe New Mexican
A bill that would sharply scale back immigration detention in New Mexico, potentially setting the state up for a fight with a Trump administration that is moving aggressively to ramp up deportation efforts, has passed the state House of Representatives.
After three hours of debate, House Bill 9 passed on a 35-25 mostly party-line vote and now heads to the Senate. The Immigration Safety Act, as it’s called, would ban public entities such as local governments from entering into contracts to detain people for civil immigration violations and would require Read More
Legislative Roundup: 15 Days Remaining In Session
HB 137 Sponsor Rep. Susan Herrera, D-Embudo
The Santa Fe New Mexican Staff:
Water’s for agreeing: The formerly controversial Strategic Water Supply Act may be controversial no longer.
House Bill 137 sailed through the House of Representatives on a 57-4 vote Friday, with four Democrats opposed. The bill was amended last month to remove the most controversial provision allowing the treatment of fracking wastewater, leaving only provisions dealing with treating brackish water for other uses.
“By developing New Mexico’s brackish water resources, we’re charting a new course that balances Read More
Musk/Trump And CDC – Laying The Foundation For The Next Pandemic
By RICHARD SKOLNIK
White Rock
The staffing and budget cuts that Musk/Trump are taking to CDC will do immeasurable harm to the health of Americans and to the health of people globally. These harms will take many years to overcome and must be stopped now.
Eliminating critical personnel and funds will immediately harm CDC’s ability to detect, prevent, and help us respond to infectious disease threats. It will harm our preparedness to deal in a timely manner with the next emerging infectious disease, at a time when vaccination rates are falling and bird flu poses potentially grave risks to us and to Read More
Santa Fe Osteopathic Medicine School Pitch Hits Snag Over State Support Request
The Roundhouse in Santa Fe. Post file photo
By GABRIELLE PORTER
The Santa Fe New Mexican
An embryonic proposal to launch a new osteopathic medical school in Santa Fe hit a snag this week over a request for state support.
The idea to create New Mexico’s third school of medicine came from an organization called Access Health Initiative, led by the same people behind the Orlando College of Osteopathic Medicine, and is “really at the inception,” partner Phil Zaveri said in an interview Friday.
A key part of that plan was a bill sponsored by Rep. Tara Lujan, D-Santa Fe, calling for $40 million from New Mexico’s Read More
Fentanyl, Juvenile Crime Bills Shot Down In House Committee
HB 274 Sponsor Rep. Elaine Sena Cortez, R-Hobbs
By ESTEBAN CANDELARIA
The Santa Fe New Mexican
During debates on the crime package passed last month — which bundled together several tough-on-crime measures but which critics said was inadequate — lawmakers said they were just getting started.
But Thursday evening, a panel known for killing Republican-sponsored legislation shot down two bills held up by GOP lawmakers, prosecutors and Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham as ways of tackling some of the state’s greatest public safety issues.
House Bills 134 and 274, which respectively would Read More
Bill To Battle Climate Change Sparks Divide In Senate
Senate President Pro Tempore Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, debates on the floor of the state Senate Thursday, March 6, 2025. Photo by Michael G. Seamans/The New Mexican
Senate Minority Leader Bill Sharer, R-Farmington, takes a break from debating on the floor of the state Senate Thursday, March 6, 2025. Photo by Michael G. Seamans/The New Mexican
By Daniel J. Chacón
The Santa Fe New Mexican
Republicans rebuked a bill Thursday to fight climate change, describing it as an assault on the oil and gas industry that has provided a revenue boom for the state of New Mexico.
Senate Bill 83, which calls for Read More
New Mexico Delegation Opposes Plans To Use Kirtland And Fort Bliss For Immigration-Related Operations
NM Delegation News:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), and U.S. Representatives Teresa Leger Fernández (D-N.M.), Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) and Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.) sent a letter to President Donald Trump and Department of Defense (DoD) Secretary Pete Hegseth opposing the Trump administration’s reported plans to use military installations, including Kirtland Air Force Base (KAFB) and Fort Bliss, to create a nationwide network of military detention facilities.
“Using our military installations for these purposes threatens Read More
Los Alamos Public Schools Celebrates Native American Culture In Classrooms And At New Mexico State Capitol
Students representing the Los Alamos High School Native American Culture Club participated Feb. 7 in American Indian Day at the New Mexico Legislature. Pictured in front of the Roundhouse from left, Ramon Romero, Davis Vigil, Juan Diego Lopez, Evan Allen, Hailey Duran, Sawyer Burnette, Dyami Shorty, Marcos Shije, Quentin Nickols, Rowan Mowrer and Caleb Moss. Courtesy/LAPS
Traditional belt and rain sash weaver Cris Velarde spoke recently to students in Piñon Elementary School teacher Stephanie Rittner’s art class as part of their unit on weaving. Courtesy/LAPS
LAPS News:
Eleven students Read More
New Mexico Lawmakers Hope To Strengthen Alert, Search Systems For Missing Elderly
HB 197 Sponsor Rep. Joseph Sanchez, D-Alcalde
By MARAGET O’HARA
The Santa Fe New Mexican
Tangerine Bolen has become an unofficial expert in organizing civilian searches for missing elders in the last year.
In March 2024, she coordinated a search for Esther Barnes, a 98-year-old who walked away from Las Soleras Senior Living. Bolen and her fellow searchers ultimately found Barnes’ body about a half-mile from the facility.
And she helped organize searches earlier this year for 80-year-old Jose Orozco-Montijo, a man with dementia who in January wandered away from his family’s home in Eldorado. Read More
Legislative Roundup: 16 Days Remaining In Session
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham speaks to people assembled in the Rotunda at the state Capitol in honor of Women’s History Month Thursday, March 6, 2025. Photo by Michael G. Seamans/The New Mexican
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham speaks to people assembled in the Rotunda at the state Capitol in honor of Women’s History Month Thursday, March 6, 2025. Photo by Michael G. Seamans/The New Mexican
The Santa Fe New Mexican Staff:
State’s court highest upholds most of governor’s emergency orders on guns, drug use: The New Mexico Supreme Court on Thursday ruled Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s emergency orders Read More
Luján, Rosen, Markey Introduce Legislation To Prevent The Political Weaponization Of The FCC
U.S. SENATE News:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Ranking Member of the Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Media, and U.S. Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) announced the introduction of the Broadcast Freedom and Independence Act, legislation that would prohibit the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from revoking broadcast licenses or taking action against broadcasters based on the viewpoints they broadcast.
The legislation would reaffirm the importance of the independence of the FCC, including that the President Read More
Bill To Allow Medical ‘Magic Mushrooms’ In New Mexico Gets Groovy Reception From Lawmakers
Co-Sponsor Sen. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces
By DANIEL CHACÓN
The Santa Fe New Mexican
First marijuana, now magic mushrooms.
A state known for ending up at the bottom of a long list of rankings could be among the first in the nation to roll out a program for medical use of psilocybin mushrooms, commonly known as magic mushrooms.
The Senate Judiciary Committee late Wednesday endorsed Senate Bill 219 on an 8-1 vote.
The lone holdout, Sen. Katy Duhigg, D-Albuquerque, praised psilocybin’s efficacy.
“I am very torn on this because I know that psilocybin has amazing potential for substance use Read More
