House advances early childhood funding, revised rule on lawmaker email release

SANTA FE — The state House today  approved legislation to create a path toward increasing payouts from the Land Grant Permanent Fund for early childhood programs and a proposed rule change to protect lawmakers from requirements to make public some documents such as emails.

The House approved House Joint Resolution 13 on a 37-32 vote after about three hours of debate on the proposed constitutional amendment to create new funding for early childhood programs. It now goes to the Senate for consideration.

Earlier in today’s session, the chamber voted 48-16 to approve House Concurrent Resolution 1 and sent it to the Senate for consideration. A minimum of 47 votes were required for the proposed rule change to advance.

The bill’s sponsor, House Minority Leader Donald Bratton, R-Hobbs, said the rule would make clear that emails that lawmakers act only as a group, therefore individual communications such as emails exchanged between lawmakers and their constituents would not be allowed for release.