Roundhouse Roundup
The Santa Fe New Mexican
Gun bills head to House: A couple of contentious gun control measures are headed to the House floor after winning approval Monday in the House Judiciary Committee.
House Bill 129 would impose a 14-day waiting period on gun purchases. House Bill 27 would add health care professionals to the list of people who can ask law enforcement officers to file a petition for an extreme risk firearm protection order. It also clarifies that law enforcement officers can file petitions.
Both proposals passed long party lines, with Republicans voting in opposition.
Background checks OK’d: Members of the Senate Education Committee unanimously voted to approve Senate Bill 152, which makes technical clarifications to the types of employees and volunteers who must undergo background checks in the state Early Childhood Education and Care Department and the Children, Youth and Families Department.
According to SB 152’s fiscal impact report, the fix is necessary under FBI guidelines.
Sen. Siah Correa Hemphill, D-Silver City, who sponsored the bill, told committee members passage of the bill is necessary before current FBI background check regulations for the two departments run out in September. The bill next goes to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
New graduation requirements: House Bill 171, which would impose new high school graduation requirements starting in the 2025-26 school year, was approved Monday by the House Education Committee.
Sponsored by House Education Committee Chairman Andrés Romero, D-Albuquerque, and House Minority Leader Ryan Lane, R-Aztec, the bill would make a few key changes to high school graduation requirements, including better integrating career-technical education options into core subjects; removing a requirement that students take Algebra 2; and allowing school governing bodies to require two class units based on community preferences.
Notably, HB 171 would require high-schoolers to complete the same total number of class units — 24 — prior to graduation. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham vetoed a similar bill last year, noting in her veto message it “weaken[ed] graduation standards” by decreasing required units to 22 from 24.
Though some argued the proposed graduation requirements remain too weak, the bill garnered overwhelming support from lawmakers and school leaders alike.
“This bill does not lower the bar for our graduates, but it makes it more appropriate for students with a different definition of success than just going to college after high school,” said Danny Parker, assistant superintendent of secondary education at Artesia Public Schools.
He added, “Too long, we have just been preparing our students for college and college, and this really helps make that college and career pathway possible.”
A new Bill of Rights: A bill affording additional protections to student loan borrowers and co-signers received approval from the House Education Committee in a 7-3 vote Monday.
Called the Student Loan Bill of Rights Act, House Bill 71 would impose licensing requirements for student loan servicers, prohibit unfair and deceptive loan practices, discharge private loans due to a permanent disability and create a student loan ombudsman to guide students through the loan repayment process, the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Christine Chandler, D-Los Alamos, explained during the committee meeting.
“It’s essentially a consumer protection bill designed to support those weighted down with often very significant student loan debt,” Chandler said.
The committee’s Republican members expressed concerns about the burdens the bill might place on small student loan providers as well as the investment required to create the statewide student loan ombudsman.
I’ll drink to that: Past efforts to impose a higher alcohol excise tax rate to fund harm reduction programs and perhaps lead people to drink less have failed, including last year.
But a new bill proposing an increase — by an average of about 25 cents per serving, according to a fiscal impact report — cleared its first legislative hurdle Monday when members of the House Health and Human Services Committee voted 6-3 to approve it.
House Bill 179 would also create an alcohol harms alleviation fund and change the way excise tax distributions are given out to current beneficiaries.
Marlene Lira, director of research for Workit Health, who testified for the bill, told the committee members, “This very modest increase could have really wonderful benefits for public health.” HB 179 next goes to the House Tax and Revenue Committee for consideration.
On-court camaraderie: One of the few consistently bipartisan efforts in the Legislature will take place at 7 p.m. Feb. 8 at Santa Fe Indian School, 1501 Cerrillos Road. That’s the “Hoops 4 Hope” basketball game, which pits members of the Senate against members of the House to raise funds for cancer research and treatment at the University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Sen. Bill O’Neill, D-Albuquerque, organizes these games. Over the years, the effort has raised tens of thousands of dollars for the center. The suggested donation is $5.
Quote of the day: “I’d like to propose an amendment to this certificate that we put all the bills that pass this year in Zozobra and burn them,” —Sen. Mark Moores, D-Albuquerque, on the Senate floor as lawmakers recognized this year’s 100th anniversary of Old Man Gloom. The nod to Zozo included some imitations of his famous, fiery cry, led by Sen. Pete Campos, D-Las Vegas.
Jenika Padilla, with the University of New Mexico’s College of Pharmacy, takes Rosemary Rowe’s blood pressure at the state Capitol Monday, Jan. 29, 2024. Photo by Luis Sánchez Saturno/The New Mexican
Brixen Michaels, 13, right, on a trip to the Roundhouse from Aspen Community Magnet School, speaks with Mina Christie, a post-doctoral research fellow at the Center on Alcohol Substance Use and Addiction, about the dangers of mixing alcohol and prescription drugs at the Rotunda. Monday, Jan. 29, 2024, was UNM Day at the Capitol. Photo by Luis Sánchez Saturno/The New Mexican
