The New Mexico Legislature in Santa Fe on April 17, 2024. (Photo by Austin Fisher / Source NM)
It’s never 9 to 5 at the Legislature, but this Saturday lawmakers met from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. between committee hearings and floor sessions — and one committee headed back Sunday for just a little more.
Over the weekend, the House passed a handful of bills, including changes to limit housing discrimination against renters, addressing leadership at higher education and expanding solar for tribal and rural communities.
One bill would prohibit so-called “source-of-income discrimination” by landlords against prospective tenants. It amends the state Human Rights Act to prohibit landlords from refusing to rent to tenants who carry vouchers or other forms of subsidized rent, including Section 8 vouchers. The bill has been introduced in several recent sessions but never cleared the House until now.
All the legislation that cleared the floor now heads to the Senate side for committee assignments and a full Senate vote.
Also related to housing, the House Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee endorsed a bill creating a new executive Office of Housing Planning and Production. The effort, pushed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, would create a small team in the governor’s office to coordinate various housing programs across the state and collect real-time data.
The governor’s push for an Office of Housing failed last session amid objections from the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority. This year, NMFA Executive Director/Chief CEO Isidoro Hernandez spoke in favor of the legislation, which now heads to the House Appropriations and Finance Committee.
The House Judiciary committee heard five bills on Saturday related to the Children Youth and Families Department. The committee advanced four of the bills unanimously to the House Floor.
Those bills are:
- House Bill 5, which would create an independent Office of the Child Advocate attached to the New Mexico Attorney General. The advocate would have a six-year term and be appointed by a committee of nine members from all three branches of government.
- House Bill 203, which would require CYFD to back up all electronic records, including emails, texts, instant messages and interagency communications.
- House Bill 205, which would move the program for substance-addicted newborns out of CYFD and under the New Mexico Health Care Authority; establishes a nominating commission for CYFD leadership; beefs up the Substitute Care Advisory Council and moves it to the New Mexico Attorney General’s office; and requires CYFD to implement evidence-based prevention services qualifying for federal funds.
- House Bill 364, which would require CYFD to determine if children in state custody are eligible or receiving federal benefits; build an account to keep the benefits in and prevent the CYFD from using those funds to pay or reimburse the department from costs of the child’s care.
The final piece of legislation, House Joint Resolution 5, advanced on a party line 6-4 vote. The bills would ask for voter’s approval in 2026 to amend the state’s Constitution to create a new commission to appoint CYFD’s director, removing that responsibility from the executive office.
The constitutional amendment overlaps with the same provision in HB 205. If both pass, the nominating commission in HB205 would be in place until voters make the decision on the 2026 constitutional amendment.
CYFD reforms are part and parcel to the behavioral health and public safety reforms lawmakers put in place this session, said House Speaker Javier Martínez (D-Albuquerque) in a news release.
“New Mexico has made incredible strides in improving child well-being in recent years, but the systems designed to protect our most vulnerable children are failing them,” Martínez said. “These failures contribute to generational cycles of poverty, trauma, and substance use, and worsen crime in our state. Preventing juvenile crime starts with protecting the health and safety of our kids.”
CYFD, in turn, released statements saying that two of the bills would be disruptive, generate conflict of interest concerns and are opposed by experts overseeing court-ordered reform.
“Linking the Office of Child Advocate, administratively, to the Attorney General’s Office will lead to jurisdictional disputes and potential conflicts of interest,” CYFD Secretary Teresa Casados said in a written statement. “This would be a grave disservice to New Mexico’s most vulnerable children and the dedicated CYFD professionals who have devoted their careers to protecting and helping them.”
The news release advocated for putting an independent office in the Regulation and Licensing Department, which is in Senate Bill 363, which has not yet had a hearing before Senate Rules Committee.
The news release said HJR5 would jeopardize the state’s ability to meet requirements of 2019 Kevin S. settlement and court-mandated orders.
Wild living
The Senate gave the nod to a bill to alter the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish and the body that oversees it in a 28-12 vote.
Senate Bill 5 renames the Department of Game and Fish to the Department of Wildlife, broadens the agency’s mission and revamps how the New Mexico Game Commission is appointed.
Hunting and angling groups, conservation and wildlife nonprofits and a good government policy organization back the bill.
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