Committee backlogs cause some bills to wither on the vine at Roundhouse

SANTA FE — With the clock ticking toward adjournment of this year’s 60-day session, it’s crunch time for advocates trying to pass — or kill — bills still awaiting hearings at the Roundhouse.

Some legislative committees have a backlog of bills, leaving it in the hands of committee chairs to decide which measures are voted on.

Regina Griego of Albuquerque has been spending long hours at the Capitol in recent weeks trying to convince lawmakers to hear a hotly debated proposed assault weapon ban.

But the bill has remained stuck in the Senate Finance Committee for more than a week, leaving it with increasingly long odds for passage.

“They should just put it up for a vote,” Griego told the Journal. “That’s all we’re asking.”

Griego, who is involved with the group Moms Demand Action and has lost family members to gun violence, vowed she and other supporters would be back at the Roundhouse in future years if this year’s legislation, Senate Bill 279, fails to pass.

But she’s hardly alone in her situation at the Roundhouse.

As of Tuesday, there were 107 bills awaiting action in the House Judiciary Committee and 130 bills awaiting hearings in the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to legislative data.

It’s typical for both of those committees to have bill backlogs in the final stanza of legislative sessions, since they receive a large quantity of bills.

There were even more bills backed up — a total of 141 bills — in the Senate Finance Committee, where all legislation with a budgetary impact is typically sent.

Sen. George Muñoz, D-Gallup, the Senate Finance Committee’s chairman, said this week the assault weapon ban would get a hearing, though he did not specify when that might happen.

The bill has also generated heated opposition, with critics saying it could turn some law-abiding New Mexicans into criminals overnight.

Given that backdrop, a lengthy hearing on the bill could mean less time to take up the other bills still in limbo at the Roundhouse.

Another gun-related bill did pass the Senate on Tuesday, however, as senators voted 21-18 to pass legislation allowing consumer protection lawsuits to be filed against online vendors who sell illegal firearm modification devices.

The vote on the bill, Senate Bill 318, was delayed for several days after GOP senators used a parliamentary motion to require the attendance of all senators on the chamber floor.

But one Republican senator, Pat Boone of Elida, could not be located for several days. Boone returned to the Roundhouse on Tuesday, one day after the parliamentary motion was lifted.

Meanwhile, other bills still awaiting key committee hearings in the final days of this year’s session include several proposed interstate health care worker compacts and an expansion of the state’s anti-racketeering laws to include human trafficking and other crimes.

Despite the high stakes, legislators have kept a sense of humor about the situation.

Sen. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, said Monday the old tradition of pinching someone who wasn’t wearing green on St. Patrick’s Day might soon be replaced at the Roundhouse.

Instead, he said, those who forget to wear green would have their bills sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee.