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With federal government shut down, New Mexico Democrats advance special session bills
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SANTA FE — The federal government might have been shut down Wednesday, but the halls of the Roundhouse buzzed with a level of activity that’s rarely seen in fall.
New Mexico lawmakers moved quickly to advance bills focused on food assistance, health care coverage and rural hospitals as a special session called by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham got underway.
The rapid movement on bills crafted in closed-door meetings during recent weeks put legislators on track to wrap up the special session by as soon as Thursday — or just in time for the start of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.
Majority Democrats described the special session proposals as necessary to protect state residents from the impacts of a federal budget bill signed this summer by President Donald Trump.
“New Mexico is ready for this fight,” said House Speaker Javier Martínez, D-Albuquerque, during a news conference before the start of the special session, citing the state’s ample budget reserves.
But he and other leading Democrats said the special session bills, even if approved, would only partially address the impact of the federal budget changes that are slated to be phased in over the next five years. U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., said last week those changes could lead to $4 billion in annual spending shortfalls for the state.
“The reality is we’re not going to be able to backfill all of that,” said Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe. “There are going to be some tough choices.”
In all, five bills were introduced Wednesday and sent to committees for debate. Other bills were filed by Republican legislators dealing with judicial crime, child welfare and the state’s medical malpractice laws, but those bills will not move forward since they do not fall under the governor’s special session proclamation.
While it often takes weeks for bills to get a hearing during New Mexico’s regular legislative sessions, the measures authorized for consideration by Lujan Grisham moved to the House and Senate floors in a matter of hours.
Some of the bills advanced with bipartisan support, including a measure expanding the uses of a rural health care fund that passed the Senate on a 39-0 vote. But other measures moved forward on party-line votes.
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Republican lawmakers, especially in the House, objected to some Democratic-backed bills and reiterated criticism that they had been largely shut out of the pre-special session negotiations, though House Speaker Martínez said they had not asked to be involved.
“We can do better when we do it together,” said Rep. Cathrynn Brown, R-Carlsbad, during a Wednesday committee hearing.
In addition, some GOP legislators expressed concern that proposed changes to New Mexico’s health insurance exchange — intended to lessen the impact of looming cost increases — could lead to a state health care affordability fund being depleted.
“It seems like we’re opening the floodgates here,” said House Minority Whip Alan Martinez, R-Bernalillo.
But Democrats described the health care coverage bill, House Bill 2, as urgently needed to ensure middle-income state residents don’t face hefty insurance cost hikes at the end of this year.
“It’s in everyone’s interest to have as many people as possible covered by health insurance,” said House Majority Leader Reena Szczepanski, D-Santa Fe, who is one of the measure’s sponsors.
A call for civility
The special session began with top-ranking Democrats and Republicans in both legislative chambers calling on members to dial back the political rhetoric.
“We’ve had victims and perpetrators on both sides, and the result is a country that is closer to mass violence than we’ve seen since the Civil War,” Senate President Pro Tem Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, said Wednesday morning.
The exhortations came after the recent assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and other instances of political violence, including bomb threats targeting top-ranking Democrats in the New Mexico Legislature.
State senators held moments of silence for Kirk and for Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman, who was killed in an act of political violence in June.
“We all commit to reject the language that has created such a divide and a dangerous environment for all of us,” said House GOP floor leader Gail Armstrong of Magdalena.
Most of the 112 legislators were present for the start of the special session on Wednesday, though four Republican lawmakers were absent.
Those legislators — Sens. James Townsend of Artesia, Larry Scott of Hobbs and Nicholas Paul of Alamogordo, along with Rep. Jimmy Mason of Artesia — were either dealing with scheduling conflicts or illness, according to GOP legislative staffers.
Meanwhile, protesters showed up at the Roundhouse for at least two different causes. One group built a mock prison cell to show its opposition to New Mexico’s three federal immigration detention facilities, while another group criticized Israel’s military actions in the Gaza war.
But no disruptions or incidents were reported inside the Roundhouse.
Bills could take effect in short order
If approved by lawmakers, at least some of the special session bills could take effect immediately upon the governor’s signature.
That includes a bill authorizing $144 million in new spending, House Bill 1, that would earmark funding for food banks, public radio and television programs and a state rural health care delivery fund.
But House Republicans expressed fierce opposition to a $3 million earmark in the bill for nonprofit health care providers. That funding could flow in part to Planned Parenthood, which performs abortion services and has seen its federal funding cut by the Trump administration.
“You can do what you want with your body, just don’t ask taxpayers to pay for it,” said Rep. Rebecca Dow, R-Truth or Consequences.
After a lengthy debate, the House voted 43-24 late Wednesday to approve the bill, sending it to the Senate.
The other special session bills filed at the Roundhouse require a two-thirds majority vote in order to take effect immediately upon the governor’s signature. If that vote threshold is not met, they would take effect in January.
One proposal that barely met the two-thirds vote requirement was Senate Bill 3, which passed the Senate on a 26-13 vote and now moves on to the House.
The bill would shift the standard for children’s immunization requirements, as well as recommendations for the statewide vaccine purchasing program and mandatory insurance coverage, away from federal bodies like the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, to state authorities like the New Mexico Department of Health, and physician groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics.
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — who made sweeping changes to federal vaccine policy this year — fired all 17 members of ACIP in June and replaced them with his own appointees.
The legislative measure faced opposition from some Republicans, including Sen. Jay Block, R-Rio Rancho, who told the Senate that conflicting data from multiple authorities would increase vaccine skepticism.
“This is going to leave parents not knowing who to trust,” Block said.
However, the bill ultimately won approval after Democrats like Sen. Cindy Nava of Bernalillo argued that it would not fully eliminate insight from federal vaccine authorities, but would instead give lawmakers the opportunity to consider additional opinions from physicians and from state authorities.
