By Cedar Attanasio Associated Press / Report For America
With less than a week remaining in the New Mexico legislative session, state senators are hashing out a proposal that could change the way education is funded for decades by increasing withdrawals from a unique $20 billion public endowment.
The initiative advanced Tuesday toward a Senate floor vote that would tap the trust fund to increase spending on preschool and K-12 education by about $250 million a year. Legislative approval would send the proposed constitutional amendment to a statewide vote.
The Land Grant Permanent Fund currently pays out 5% of its average five-year balance, mostly to K-12 schools. Oil income and investment gains doubled the value of the fund over the past 11 years.
Gov Lujan Grisham signs liquor law change | The NM Political Report nmpoliticalreport.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nmpoliticalreport.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Justice Michael Vigil wrote the opinion
SANTA FE, N.M. (Legal Newsline) - The New Mexico Supreme Court upheld the state’s $600,000 cap on non-economic damages in medical malpractice suits, rejecting arguments the statute violated the constitutional right to trial.
Lawyers for plaintiff Susan Siebert argued successfully in a lower court that the cap intruded on the New Mexico Constitution’s guarantee that the right to a jury trial is “inviolate” by preventing jurors from awarding her more than $600,000 in punitive damages and recovery for pain and suffering.
The jury awarded her $2.6 million in damages for injuries suffered during a surgical procedure, although the verdict didn’t specify how to allocate the roughly $1.6 million in damages that exceeded Siebert’s claimed $936,000 in medical expenses.
By Susan Montoya Bryan, Associated Press
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham says nearly three-quarters of $1 billion could be lost over the next four years if New Mexico sees even a 10% reduction of oil and gas production due to President Joe Biden s actions to curb leasing on public lands.
The first-term Democratic governor said Monday in a letter to the president that financial losses of that magnitude would have real effects on the state s ability to achieve goals like universal access to early childhood education.
The governor is asking that New Mexico be granted energy transition credit for actions the state already is taking to address pollution and move toward more renewable energy.