Governor begins filling out WNMU board: Some two months after all but one of Western New Mexico University’s regents stepped down amid a scandal over allegations of improper spending at the school, the state Senate voted unanimously to confirm a former one of its own to the board: Steven Neville.
Neville, a Republican from Aztec who served in the Senate from 2005 to 2024, was the first confiree of four people Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham appointed to the board on Thursday. The appointments came amid calls from lawmakers for her to hasten her selection of new regents to replace former members of the board she called on to step down.
In addition to Neville, Lujan Grisham appointed Joseph Dean Reed, a former division director of national accounts and hospital sales at the Mayo Clinic Laboratories; John V. Wertheim, who served as chair of the state Democratic Party from 2004 to 2007; and Keana Huerta, who serves on the school’s student government and applied to be Western’s student regent. Trent Jones, the lone regent who did not step down, saw his term expire in December and will leave his post when Huerta is confirmed.
“The Governor’s office conducted an exceptionally rigorous vetting process for these appointees during a busy 60-day legislative session,” spokesperson Jodi McGinnis Porter wrote in an email. “The candidates underwent thorough vetting for financial expertise and accountability.”
On the Senate floor, lawmakers praised Neville for his decision to return to public service.
“You’re the right guy for the job down there,” said Sen. George Muñoz, D-Gallup. “There’s a lot of trouble you’re going to have to dig through.”
But with all the praise for Neville being thrown around, Senate Minority Leader Bill Sharer, R-Farmington, couldn’t let his former colleague’s head get too big.
“I am just thrilled that he finally got himself a real job,” Sharer said.
Groceries bill sparks partisan debate: It’s a problem no egg-eating New Mexican can deny: Grocery prices are going up.
The question is who, or what, to blame.
The House debated a bill to create a commission to reduce grocery prices around the state for hours Friday afternoon, with Republicans proposing multiple amendments to adjust the makeup of the board and the scope of market factors that impact grocery prices.
House Bill 17, sponsored by three House Democrats, would create a nine-person, bipartisan commission to look into strategies to lower the costs of basic groceries — eggs, milk, bread, tortillas, fresh produce, etc. — over the next year.
Some Republicans, however, saw the bill as partisan, with Rep. Cathrynn Brown, R-Carlsbad calling it a “politically-driven exercise and attempt to criticize the current president.”
Republicans proposed three separate amendments to require commission members to have taken a university course in economics, require one member of the commission to be a loss prevention specialist and to require the commission to review federal policies that resulted in price increases from the start of 2021 through last year.
The amendments were all voted down generally along party lines, with Democrats arguing such education requirements were not needed to address grocery price issues, that the perspective of a loss prevention specialist could already be represented by including retailers on the commission and that the scope of 2021 to 2024 was not wide enough.
The measure ultimately passed the House on a party-line, 39-27 vote.
Criminal history screening: A bill that exempts a handful of state agencies from the Criminal Offender Employment Act and allows them to consider certain misdemeanor convictions when conducting background checks for caregivers won unanimous approval Friday from the Senate.
Senate Bill 66 “protects children and vulnerable adults,” said sponsor Sen. Katy Duhigg, D-Albuquerque.
In addition to law enforcement agencies, the Criminal Offender Employment Act would no longer be applicable to the Early Childhood Education and Care Department, the Aging and Long-Term Services Department, the Children, Youth and Families Department, the Public Education Department and the Health Care Authority under SB 66.
When the Legislature passed legislation in 2021 dealing with the expungement of convictions and how convictions are factored in state hiring, “we included an exception for law enforcement hiring but we really should have included this exception for all these other folks as well, so this is correcting that,” Duhigg said.
House rejects caregivers amendment: House Republicans failed Thursday in an effort to expand a bill to disqualify certain caregivers.
House Bill 131, sponsored by Rep. Elizabeth “Liz” Thomson, D-Albuquerque, would expand the list of crimes that would disqualify someone from working as a health caregiver in New Mexico to include human trafficking, cruelty to animals and aggravated battery of a household member.
Rep. Stefani Lord, R-Sandia Park, proposed an amendment that would also have set parameters around the release of children to homes by CYFD. Under her amendment, crimes including kidnapping, rape and child abuse or neglect would disqualify a home from receiving a child.
Thomson said that amendment fell outside the scope of the original bill, and it was voted down 37-23. HB 131 went on to pass the House on a 48-7 vote.
Strategic water reserve: The House Agriculture, Acequias and Water Resources Committee voted 4-3 on Thursday to approve a bill to ensure funding of the state’s strategic water reserve, a 20-year-old measure in state law designed to help keep New Mexico’s rivers flowing.
Senate Bill 37 would create a strategic water reserve fund capped at $15 million. That reserve would permit the state to allow certain water rights to be designated for public use, including to fulfill water delivery requirements through the interstate compact or to preserve habitats for endangered species. Money appropriated to the fund could not revert back to the state’s general fund before it can be used.
“The reason to do this is because frequently, water rights transactions will take multiple years, and so if there is not a nonreverting fund, those monies could be reverted before they are able to be utilized,” said sponsor Rep. Meredith Dixon, D-Albuquerque.
Game Commission overhaul heads to governor: A bill to make major changes to the Game Commission is headed to the governor’s desk.
The Senate voted Thursday night to accept some mostly minor amendments the House made to Senate Bill 5. The bill will change the way commissioners are appointed as well as raising hunting and fishing license fees and renaming the Department of Game and Fish the Department of Wildlife.
There was little debate before the vote, although Sen. Candy Spence Ezzell, R-Roswell, did express concern about some of the fee increases on out-of-state hunters.
Quote of the day: “I call it the Santa Fe Autobahn from Albuquerque to Santa Fe. You don’t know if they’re going to be driving 65 or 85 or 95 at any point in time.” — Sen. George Muñoz, D-Gallup, during a debate on a bill regulating the speed of tractor trailers on interstates.