The Santa Fe New Mexican Staff:
State police arrest pair at Capitol: New Mexico State Police arrested two men Wednesday on suspicion of causing a disturbance outside the Secretary of State’s Office in the Capitol North Building.
Capitol security called state police around 1 p.m. asking for assistance with two men causing a disturbance, spokesperson Wilson Silver wrote in an email.
“Officers made contact with the two males, later identified as Thomas Porwitzky and Matthew Jones, who were yelling, screaming, cursing and causing a disruptive disturbance in the Secretary of State’s Office,” he wrote.
The pair was informed they were trespassing and left, he said, adding they returned about an hour later and caused another disturbance.
“At this point, both males were placed under arrest,” Silver wrote, adding they were arrested on suspicion of disorderly conduct and trespassing.
The building where the incident unfolded, also known as the Capitol annex, houses the offices of several lawmakers.
Double, double, DOGE bill trouble?: State Auditor Joseph Maestas is weighing in on a proposal to create an office in state government that would be New Mexico’s version of the federal Department of Government Efficiency.
Maestas said he commends the sponsor, Sen. Jay Block, R-Rio Rancho, “for his dedication to enhancing accountability” but raised concerns about duplication of efforts.
“The proposed legislation overlaps with the constitutional mandate of the [Office of the State Auditor] and would result in unnecessary expenditure of taxpayer money,” he said.
Maestas, who noted he wasn’t consulted for an analysis of the bill, proposed alternative actions, including additional funding for his office “to ensure we continue to serve as an effective financial watchdog.”
In response, Block said he appreciated Maestas’ interest regarding his proposed Government Accountability to Taxpayer Office.
“I look forward to continuing these efforts and working alongside anyone who wants to expose waste, fraud and abuse from state government,” he said.
Hot (beaver) dam: A bill directing the Department of Game and Fish to work with stakeholders to create a statewide beaver management plan is making its way through the Legislature.
Beavers are known to benefit water systems by building systems ponds, dams and wetlands that can raise ground water tables and storage, reduce erosion, improve downstream water quality and “greatly enhance the resiliency” of riverways and the animals that live in them.
That’s significant in an arid state like New Mexico, the legislation states.
In 2014, the legislature adopted an identical measure.
But, Sen. Carrie Hamblen, D-Las Cruces, said, Game and Fish employees reported that during the Martinez administration, the measure wasn’t a priority and a plan was never developed as a result.
It was another animal, however, that brought Hamblen onto the bill. The Senator owns a 50-pound tortoise christened “Beaver” by her nine-year-old neighbor. The name stuck.
Gillian Joyce, Government Relations Advocate for the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, said beavers have an important role in water health. But they are tough to wrangle on farmlands.
“While beaver activities benefit our watersheds, extend our surface water irrigation seasons, make us more resilient to drought and replenish our aquifers, they also present real and unique challenges on agricultural land,” Joyce said.
Union members need help with infrastructure adaptation and beaver reaction, Joyce said, and expressed support for the bill.
The measure passed the committee 6-0.
Free condom proposal advances: A public high school nurse’s office may not be a place you want to be seen asking for a condom.
So to make such contraceptives more accessible to New Mexico’s students, lawmakers are pushing House Bill 517, which would make condoms free in all public high schools and higher-education institutions in places like restrooms. The measure passed the House Health and Human Services Committee on a 5-3 vote on Wednesday.
High schoolers from Albuquerque turned out to support and present the bill, saying they’ve seen the adverse impacts of unsafe sexual activity on students’ education firsthand.
“Our goal is basically just to ensure that our peers — who we know for a fact are already participating in sexual activities — are able to be safe while they do it,” one student said.
Giddy up, free-roaming horses: A bill providing for the adoption and relocation, when appropriate, of free-roaming horses — while prohibiting their slaughter — passed the House in a 54-4 vote Wednesday.
Bill sponsor Matthew McQueen, D-Galisteo, said free-roaming horses — like the ones in his district near Placitas — can cause significant environmental damage, in addition to becoming emaciated or roaming on highways.
McQueen described House Bill 284 as a “reasonable” and “humane” step toward addressing New Mexico’s wild horse population, though he noted, “we have other issues with free-roaming horses that this bill just doesn’t get to.”
Headhunting, concierge program for medical providers: House Bill 15, a proposal to recruit health care providers who graduated from a New Mexico institution but no longer work in the state, passed the House Wednesday in a 39-21 vote.
Sponsored by Rep. Marianna Anaya, D-Albuquerque, the bill would create a new program in the state Department of Workforce Solutions to strategically recruit health care workers who have left the state, in addition to walking recruits through the state’s health care provider incentive programs — like loan forgiveness and tax credits — as well as the licensing and credentialing process.
“If we can roll out the red carpet for our own graduates, I think it’ll be a really great thing to be able to not only get our folks back home but to have them think about living here in a more holistic way,” Anaya said.
Quote of the day: “Representative Grandpa. Chairman Grandpa. Abuelito.” —House Speaker Javier Martínez, responding to an announcement from Rep. Derrick Lente, D-Sandia Pueblo, that his second granddaughter was born Wednesday morning.
