New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, with the support of high ranking state legislators, is calling a special session of the state legislature. Lawmakers will gather at the Roundhouse in Santa Fe, on Tuesday, April 5, for the legislature’s first special session of 2022.
A press release issued by the governor’s office on Friday, March 18, says that the special session will “take up measures of economic relief in the face of rising costs to consumers, keeping more money in New Mexicans’ pockets by building on the hundreds of millions of dollars in tax relief to New Mexico seniors, families, and businesses the governor and legislative leadership worked together to deliver in the 2022 regular session.”
During the special session legislators will also work through revisions to vetoed SB48, also known as the “Junior Bill”. This bill provided investments benefiting New Mexico communities. Gov. Lujan Grisham did not favor the legislation fearing its lack of transparency and fiscal responsibility.
In the press release the governor states, “As prices remain high nationwide, it is clear that we must act swiftly to deliver more relief to New Mexicans. Across the state, families are facing hard choices: can they afford to take their kids to school, to drive to work, to buy baby formula. It is our responsibility to do what we can to ease that burden.”
Reason for Special Session
The governor is calling the April 5 special session, in part, because Democrat and Republican lawmakers recently threatened to call an extraordinary session of the state legislature. The threat came as a result of Gov. Lujan Grisham’s veto of Senate Bill 48.
It is important to note that the calling of an extraordinary session is something lawmakers can do to override the governor’s veto. It is an extreme measure. The idea only succeeds if three-fifths of lawmakers in each of the state’s two legislative chambers are supportive. Historically, an extraordinary session has only been called by New Mexico legislators once in the past, approximately 20 years ago.
The movement for an extraordinary session became moot when Gov. Lujan Grisham and top ranking legislators were able to find parameters for a revised SB48. These parameters, which will be addressed during the special session, ensure that projects are budgeted either for “recurring or non-recurring funding”.
Senate Bill No. 48
SB48 was a $50 million spending bill that would have augmented communities’ abilities to fund “lawmakers pet projects across the state”. Senator Greg Baca (R – District 29) said in a KOB4 news report, “The Junior Bill [SB48] contained funding for law enforcement, senior centers, the courts, and other critical needs throughout the state.”
Representative Roger Montoya (D – District 40) expressed his concern about the negative impact the governor’s veto of SB48 will have on New Mexico rural areas like Lea County. Montoya said, “We deployed those funds from our heart with a deep understanding of what matters, and the funding that will no longer be available is deeply troubling to me as an activist and legislator….”
House Minority Leader Rep. Jim Townsend (R – District 54) is quoted in an article posted at USNews.com, “We have to be concerned about people’s standard of living.” Townsend went on to say that to make ends meet in New Mexico is problematic. As an example he commented that about “24% of seniors live in poverty and a little more than a third of those are raising grandchildren because of family issues.”
The special session is “a win-win for New Mexicans,” Majority Floor Leader Sen. Peter Wirth (D – District 25) is quoted as saying in the press release from the governor’s office. “We will provide much-needed relief from high fuel costs and fund fifty million dollars in projects that will benefit communities across the state.”
Lea County folks will have to wait to see exactly how the relief about which Sen. Wirth is talking will come their way. Legislators who represent Lea County in Santa Fe, so far, have had little to say about this relief or about the special session.
