Joanne Ferrary News Today

This article first appeared at ProPublica and Capital and Main. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story…

Unplugged oil and gas wells accelerate climate change, threaten public health and risk hitting taxpayers’ pocketbooks. ProPublica and Capital & Main found that the money set aside to fix the problem falls woefully short of the impending cost.

A bill that would increase penalties for felons in possession of firearms passed the House on a bipartisan vote, a rare crime-related bill to pass the House. HB 316 passed the House 53-11. The bill would increase the penalty for a felon possessing a firearm “or destructive device” to five years in prison. Rep. Bill

The push to change the state’s taxes on alcohol all but ended Friday when the House Taxation & Revenue Committee voted down one bill and declined to take action on another.

New Mexico has more than 2,000 alcohol-related deaths every year – that doesn't include DWI arrests and other alcohol-related incidents.

/PRNewswire/ -- Alcohol Justice is reporting that tomorrow, Wednesday, February 7 at 11 a.m., Representative Joanne Ferrary, Senator Antoinette Sedillo Lopez...

Lawmakers in the House Judiciary Committee are scheduled to debate a bill that would change some of the rules on marriage.

Most significantly, a tax calculated as a percent of alcohol’s wholesale or retail price would be largest on the most expensive drinks and smallest on the cheapest ones.

This legislative session several new bills are bringing different tax proposals. One of them would tie the tax rate to the price of the alcohol.

A bill that seeks to make it easier for schools to access solar energy passed the House Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee Saturday on a 7-4 vote. The bill provides a tax credit to those who install solar arrays on school property. The schools will be able to contract with companies to provide them