With the governor in Asia, Lt. Gov. Howie Morales issues slew of executive orders

SANTA FE — Howie Morales is not going rogue.

After issuing more than 30 executive orders since Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham left the state this month to lead a two-week trade mission to Asia, New Mexico’s lieutenant governor said Tuesday the orders stemmed from discussions with the Governor’s Office.

“I never sign an executive order without being in collaboration with the Governor’s Office and understanding what I’m signing,” Morales said in an interview.

A Lujan Grisham spokesman also said the governor is aware of the orders issued by Morales, who serves as acting governor while the governor is traveling outside the state, per the state Constitution.

The 32 orders issued by Morales since April 12 authorize a total of up to $24 million in state funding to be spent. All but two of those orders are targeted at ongoing recovery efforts connected to damages from flooding and wildfires that occurred last year in the Ruidoso and Roswell areas.

Lujan Grisham spokesman Michael Coleman described the orders as necessary to “provide additional and ongoing funding to meet disaster recovery needs.”

For his part, Morales said the state stands to be reimbursed for its expenses by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

But the reimbursement process can take time, and he said the additional funding infusion is necessary now because the state has the authority to remove debris from private property, unlike local governments.

The other two orders issued by the lieutenant governor include a Monday order that frees up funding for Valencia County in response to a fire in Bosque Farms and an April 17 order focused on a New Mexico National Guard deployment to help the Albuquerque Police Department with certain duties.

The executive authority to issue orders authorizing appropriations of up to $750,000 per order comes from a state law that has been largely untouched over the last 60-plus years.

That funding limit has led to large amounts of such orders being issued in recent years, like the 139 orders Lujan Grisham issued for wildfire response efforts during the 2022 budget year.

Meanwhile, the recent slew of executive orders are not the first such orders issued by Morales while Lujan Grisham is traveling out of state. The former state senator, a Democrat, also issued similar orders in past years.

Though rare, there have been situations in other states of lieutenant governors issuing orders in defiance of a governor’s wishes. In 2011, Idaho’s former lieutenant governor attempted to deploy the National Guard to the U.S.-Mexico border and ban schools from requiring COVID-19 testing or vaccines. Both those orders were subsequently rescinded by the state’s governor.

Lujan Grisham is scheduled to return to the United States on April 29, according to the Governor’s Office. She will take part in meetings in Los Angeles with the New Mexico Amigos, a group of civic leaders, before returning to New Mexico.