Legislative Roundup: 57 Days Left In 2021 Session
SFNM
There’s jobs to be had: The House Appropriations and Finance Committee held its initial meeting online Thursday, with lawmakers reviewing budget proposals of both Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and the Legislative Finance Committee.
One big difference in the two budgets which are about $600 million apart is the LFC’s inclusion of $60 million for state, public school and higher education employees average raises of 1.5 percent, as well as $3 million for pay increases for essential health and social service front-line employees. The governor’s budget has no across-the-board raises.
David Abbey, director of the Legislative Finance Committee, told lawmakers the money could help in recruiting and retaining state employees. The state has an 18 percent vacancy rate. In terms of keeping up on salary increases, Abbey told the committee, “We’ve fallen behind”.
Legislative Roundup: 58 Days Left In 2021 Session
SFNM
Quote of the day: “One of my concerns is that we’re instituting all this security, and I have not heard of really a credible threat. I’ve heard what’s described as chatter – not real clear what that means – but we’re going through quite a bit of [an] extensive security operation there at the Capitol to combat this, and I just sometimes wonder if it’s all warranted or not.” –Senate Minority Leader Greg Baca, R-Belen, during Republican Party of New Mexico Chairman Steve Pearce’s weekly statewide radio broadcast on Network New Mexico.
Fox News correspondent Doug Luzader reports on the latest.
The New Mexico House Democrat that President Biden has picked to lead the Department of the Interior will be if confirmed the first Native American Cabinet secretary, but her views on the hot-button issue of fracking have been met with resistance from conservatives.
Rep. Deb Haaland was announced in December as Biden’s choice to fill the position that oversees U.S. natural resources and tribal lands. The 60-year-old was first elected to Congress in the 2018 midterms and now says she is honored and ready to serve as America’s Secretary of the Interior.
January 18, 2021
Couy Griffin at a Trump rally on Jan. 6, 2021, before the storming of the U.S. Capitol.
The FBI arrested Otero County commissioner Couy Griffin, who is also the leader of a pro-Donald Trump political group, over his alleged role in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol earlier this month.
Griffin was arrested while in Washington D.C. on Sunday.
An FBI affidavit quoted a video posted by Couy Griffin in which he said he intended to return to the U.S. Capitol. In the video, Griffin said Trump supporters could have a “2nd Amendment rally” on the steps of the building and continued, “if we do, then it’s gonna be a sad day, because there’s gonna be blood running out of that building. But at the end of the day, you mark my word, we will plant our flag on the desk of Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer and Donald J. Trump if it boils down to it.”