Library Association Legislation Committee Co-Chair Joe Sabatini, Library Association past president David E. Cox and Library Association President Julia Kelso tabled in the Rotunda at the New Mexico Legislature on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (Photo by Austin Fisher / Source NM)
Librarians from across New Mexico came to Santa Fe on Friday to show their support for the freedom to read. The Roundhouse’s halls were otherwise pretty quiet, perhaps due to all the shushing.
House Bill 27 would require public libraries to follow their current written processes for challenging books for removal from the shelves, or adopt such policies if they don’t have them. A library that fails to follow a written policy could lose state funding.
“It’s not just anti-book banning, it’s also to protect librarians,” said Julia Kelso, library director at Vista Grande Public Library and president of the New Mexico Library Association.
The Librarian Protection Act is written to “protect the freedom to read and protect librarians from being prosecuted for making collection development decisions,” she said.
The librarians are also hoping lawmakers will include in this year’s budget bill money for the Rural Library Fund. Kelso said Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham wants $10 million for it, but the Legislative Finance Committee did not include it in its budget recommendation.
That money could go toward nonprofit libraries and those in communities with populations of 3,000 or fewer, Kelso said. It could pay salaries for librarians, for books to add to their collections, or computers for the public to use.
“Often, these are libraries that are the only resource for telehealth or computers or phone service in communities,” she said.
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.
Elsewhere in the Roundhouse, a group of agency heads met with subcommittees of the House Appropriations and Finance Committee to discuss their budget requests and proposed policies.
The Office of the Superintendent of Insurance secretary Alice T. Kane will be at the center of several hot-button issues of great interest to lawmakers and the public, and she fielded questions Friday afternoon from the subcommittee.
One of those issues is the state’s potential foray into the property insurance market, as private insurers here increasingly jack up premiums or cancel policies, especially in wildfire-prone areas.
Read more about that here and view a map that shows in which ZIP codes insurers chose not to renew policies in 2022.
Via a proposal known as the FAIR plan, Kane is seeking to increase the amount of coverage, and also premiums charged, for the state’s insurer of last resort. She’s also seeking subpoena power to obtain records from private insurers who she said Friday “weren’t always as detailed as they could be” when providing information about their practices here to the state insurance regulator.
Lawmakers also asked Kane about the high premiums for medical malpractice insurance that physicians, particularly obstetrician-gynecologists, pay to do business in New Mexico. Some lawmakers are considering bills that would, among other things, cap the maximum medical malpractice penalty allowable under state law.
Think tank Think New Mexico published a report last year on New Mexico’s health care worker shortage and identified the state’s malpractice laws as a major factor in doctors leaving the state or retiring early.
A news release from the organization earlier this week says it drafted Senate Bill 176, which would cap attorney’s fees in medical malpractice attorney lawsuits; end lump-sum payouts from the Patient Compensation Fund (PCF); and send 75% of any punitive damages awarded in a medical malpractice cases to a new public fund designed to improve patient safety.
Last year, a Gallup hospital faced a nearly $70 million medical malpractice jury award for a botched hernia operation, amid unrelated financial difficulties. Searchlight New Mexico recently did a deep dive into what medical malpractice liability in New Mexico means for the state’s doctor shortage.
A freshman lawmaker announced efforts to strengthen New Mexico’s press freedoms, both in and outside the Roundhouse.
A legislative panel focused on education gave a passing grade to two bills Friday, one that would require university regents to get training, the other allowing tribes to establish cultural schools where young students start their educational careers fully immersed in their Native language.
The House Judiciary Committee questioned state finance and legal officials about President Donald Trump’s attempt to freeze federal grants and loans.
The Senate and the House will reconvene on Monday, at 11 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., respectively.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.