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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”.
New Mexico Lawmakers Begin Abortion Debate Monday
SFNM
Less than a week after the New Mexico Legislature’s opening day, lawmakers will begin debating what could be one of the most controversial measures of the 60-day session: the proposed repeal of a 1969 law that makes it a crime to perform an abortion in the state.
The statute has been unenforceable since the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade. But women’s rights advocates and others worry the high court could overturn or weaken that decision in which justices found overly restrictive state government regulations of abortion unconstitutional with conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett taking a seat on the bench in October.
These New Mexico lawmakers were named to head legislative committees Walter Rubel, Southern New Mexico Journalism Collaborative
LAS CRUCES – Sen. George Muñoz, D-Gallup, has been named chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, replacing longtime leader John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, who was defeated in the Democratic primary last year.
Muñoz survived his own primary challenge last year, and went on to win re-election to his fourth term. He had been serving as the committee’s vice chairman.
The Finance Committee takes the lead in drafting the annual budget, and typically has the final say on any spending bills before they get to the Senate floor. New senators Crystal Diamond, R-Truth or Consequences, and Siah Correa Hemphill, D-Silver City, were both named as committee members, as were southern New Mexico senators Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces and William Burt, R-Alamogordo.