New Mexico Legislature: 5 Days Left, 4 Bills of 568 Passed, 3 Signed by Governor to Date

There is nothing like waiting till the last minute to take action. The New Mexico legislature has been in session for 25 days. It has 5 days left and by law must end the session. How effective has it been in its first 25 days?

So far within the session 658 bills have been introduced and only 3 have been signed into law. Not even 1% of those considered have even passed both houses with 5 days to go. As of today only 21 have passed only the House and 26 have passed only the Senate.

The three bills that have been enacted into law include:

HB 1 - the "feed bill" that bill funded the legislative session ensuring legislative staff and per diem are paid to the legislative body. Of course that passed and was signed into law first and above all other legislation. Signed into law on Jan 19, 2024.

HB 141 which increased pay for the New Mexico Supreme Court and the judiciary. Signed into law February 10th, 2024

HB 171 The bill maintains the current requirement of 24 units to earn a high school diploma, increases unit requirements in core academic subject areas, requires the development of graduate profiles, requires school districts and charter schools to set two of the required units for graduation, and allows additional courses in career technical education (CTE) and work-based learning to count toward core academic requirements. The bill would go into effect for high school students beginning ninth grade in the 2025-2026 school year. Graduation requirements would not change for students currently in high school. Bill was approved by all the Otero County delegation of Senators Griggs, Burt and Pirtle and approved by House members Block and Madrid. Signed into law Feb 9th, 2024.

Representative John Block made a big ordeal out of impeachment of the Governor. That bill has not budged since he and Representative Lord commissioned it and it has not even been printed for consideration by a single committee. Of Mr. Blocks capital outlay requests the largest request on his wish list is $1.7 Million for the golf course. Of 20 bills drafted 14 were not worthy of being printed to date and have not even made it past the first committee for review. Of the 6 remaining most are bogged down in committee.

News 13 asked the governor at her news conference how she is feeling about that progress at this point: “I always find it very concerning that we don’t have more upstairs,” Lujan Grisham says, “I am particularly concerned about my public safety agenda, and I will tell you that my sense is that New Mexicans are going to be really upset if we don’t have a sound and productive public safety set of achievements this session.”

Thus, with 5 days to go the scramble to pass anything of substance remains to be seen. Stay tuned...

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