House approves $1.2 billion capital outlay bill, after heated debate over abortion funding

SANTA FE — For the second time in three years, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham made waves at the Roundhouse by earmarking state capital outlay funding for construction of a new reproductive health and abortion clinic in New Mexico.

The $10 million earmark in this year’s $1.2 billion infrastructure package prompted Republicans to pull their support from the bill on Wednesday, though it was still approved with Democratic support.

“I just think it’s a misappropriation of taxpayer dollars,” said Rep. Rod Montoya, R-Farmington, who predicted the clinic would appeal primarily to out-of-state women seeking abortion services.

During a lengthy Wednesday debate, Montoya led a GOP-driven push to strip the appropriation from the bill, House Bill 450, on the House floor.

But that attempt was rebuffed by majority Democrats. The bill was then approved on a 41-25 vote, with Rep. Joseph Sanchez, D-Alcalde, joining House Republicans in opposing the legislation.

A Lujan Grisham spokeswoman confirmed the $10 million appropriation would be used to build a new clinic in northern New Mexico.

But the Governor’s Office said additional details, including an exact location, were not yet available.

Lujan Grisham in 2023 included $10 million for the construction of a new reproductive health and abortion clinic in Doña Ana County in the annual infrastructure bill. The Democratic governor attended a groundbreaking for the new Las Cruces clinic in September.

During Wednesday’s debate, several House Democrats accused Republicans of trying to politicize the need for more reproductive health care facilities north of Santa Fe.

“They don’t believe there ought to be reproductive health care in the north of New Mexico,” said Rep. Art De La Cruz, D-Albuquerque.

The possibility was also raised that the governor could retaliate against lawmakers if the proposed reproductive health care facility funding were to be struck from the bill by vetoing other projects.

But Rep. Stefani Lord, R-Sandia Park, suggested she was prepared for such a showdown, saying, “If she’s going to line-item veto, have at it.”

Funding for new clinic renews abortion debate

New Mexico has emerged as a safe haven for women seeking abortion services after the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 overturned the landmark ruling of Roe v. Wade.

While some neighboring states, including Texas, have approved near-total abortion bans, Lujan Grisham has signed measures aimed at shielding New Mexico abortion providers from out-of-state arrest warrants and lawsuits and blocking local anti-abortion ordinances from taking effect.

The New Mexico Supreme Court in January upheld the latter law, while striking down local ordinances adopted by Eunice, Jal and several counties.

In all, patients coming to New Mexico from Texas made up about 70% of the estimated 21,000 abortions provided in the state in 2023, according to a Guttmacher Institute study.

Rep. Derrick Lente, D-Sandia Pueblo, said he alerted Republican members of the House Taxation and Revenue Committee to the inclusion of the abortion clinic earmark before a Wednesday morning hearing on the bill in order to avoid a “gotcha” vote on the bill.

House Speaker Javier Martínez, D-Albuquerque, said he understood GOP lawmakers’ moral objections to the capital outlay package.

But he cautioned that other projects could also be found questionable if lawmakers review the bill line by line.

“At the end of the day, the governor does get to appropriate a share of the capital outlay,” Martínez said during Wednesday’s committee hearing. “And she gets to appropriate that as she sees fit.”

Cash infusion could help finish stalled projects

The earmark for the new reproductive health care clinic dominated Wednesday’s debate, leaving little time for discussion of the 1,400 or so projects in the capital outlay bill.

Under New Mexico’s capital outlay system, the governor and each legislative chamber are given a certain dollar amount to divvy up for infrastructure projects.

This year’s bill provided each House member with $2.5 million in available funding, Lente told reporters. Senators got a slightly larger share of nearly $4.2 million each.

The state’s capital outlay system has come under criticism in recent years for being secretive and ineffective. As of last summer, New Mexico had roughly $5.8 billion in unspent capital outlay funding that was appropriated for roughly 5,300 projects.

But this year’s bill includes about $50 million to finish about 90 projects that have been started but not finished, Lente said.

Most of those projects are in rural parts of New Mexico, including several hospital projects, Lente said.

While Republican lawmakers voted against the bill due to the proposed abortion clinic funding, several lauded the approach.

“That’s probably one of the best things that will come of this, is being able to finish those projects,” said Rep. Mark Duncan, R-Farmington.

Most of the money to pay for projects included in the bill would come from general fund dollars. Of the $1.2 billion package, just $292 million would be paid by bonds backed by future state severance tax revenue.