Lawmakers called on each other and the governor to advance measures relating to health care, digital data privacy and ‘microgrid’ energy systems
Physicians, rural New Mexicans and behavioral health professionals joined a state lawmaker Tuesday morning in calling for the passage of legislation that could help the state shoulder coverage gaps created by the Trump administration’s health care cuts.
A small crowd gathered in a Roundhouse committee room to back House Bill 4, sponsored by Rep. Reena Szczepanski (D-Santa Fe), which would direct 100% of revenue from taxes on health insurance premiums to the state’s Health Care Affordability Fund, beginning in September. Currently, a combination of health insurance premium taxes and money from the state’s general fund contribute to the Health Care Affordability Fund.
The bill’s backers say that directing more tax revenue to the fund would lend stability to a situation currently marked by its instability — as threats of federal Medicaid cuts loom, health care advocates estimated as many as 100,000 New Mexicans could lose their health care coverage. New Mexico has the highest per-capita enrollment in Medicaid in the nation.
“New Mexico is heading toward a coverage crisis,” New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty Health Care Director Abuko Estrada said. The Legislature created the fund in 2021, but that alone is no longer adequate, he said. “Having this tool isn’t enough. What matters is if we fully leverage it in this moment.”
Taking back New Mexicans’ data privacy
As Estrada called on lawmakers to pass HB4, one lawmaker down the hall called on Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to authorize the Legislature to vote on a measure that would give New Mexicans greater digital privacy.
Sen. Angel Charley (D-Acoma) joined representatives from Equality NM and the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico and called on Lujan Grisham to put Senate Bill 53, known as the Community and Health Information Safety and Privacy Act, on her legislative agenda for the rest of the session. The governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment on whether Lujan Grisham would include it.
If passed, the legislation would place greater restrictions on how tech companies can use certain data — including faceprints and other biometric data — tracked on smartphone apps and websites.
“Safety is not just physical,” Charley said to a standing-room only crowd on the third floor of the Roundhouse. “Our health, our bodies, our children, our lives — they are not for sale.”
NM Oil and Gas Association president: Energy transition not likely in our lifetimeIn a New Mexico PBS interview with Capital & Main writer Jerry Redfern, New Mexico Oil and Gas Association President and CEO Missi Currier said New Mexico will one day transition away from the oil and gas industry, which for years has generated billions of dollars of revenue for the state.
“Is it going to happen in our lifetime?” she asked. “Probably not.”
In the interview, republished in Source NM, Currier outlined her hopes for the ongoing 30-day legislative session, statewide emissions and more.
We’re also watchingThe nonprofit NM Native Vote urged members in an email this week to call the governor’s office and seek Lujan Grisham’s approval for Senate Bill 39, which would increase utility regulators’ oversight for on-site power grids for proposed data centers and other projects.
“Tribal and rural communities often face the highest energy costs, least reliable service, and greatest exposure to pollution and climate impacts,” NM Native Vote said in its newsletter Tuesday. “SB39 ensures that microgrid development strengthens New Mexico by centering clean energy, accountability and community protections.”
Lujan Grisham’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Sponsor Sen. Jeff Steinborn (D-Las Cruces) told Source NM he has not heard about any message from the governor’s office allowing the legislation to be heard, and said recent developments in southern New Mexico — including the massive Project Jupiter data center complex in Santa Teresa and a Lea County data center with a planned microgrid — mean the Legislature should take on the bill to bolster oversight.
“Project Jupiter will emit the equivalent of three or four large coal-fired power plants or 2.6 million cars a year. It’s urgent that microgrids be addressed,” he said.
Tax exemption on affordable housing labor and materialsLawmakers on the Senate Tax, Business and Transportation Committee Tuesday heard arguments over whether to eliminate gross receipts taxes on supplies and labor used to build affordable housing.
Senate Bill 92, sponsored by Sens. Cindy Nava and Michael Padilla, both Albuquerque Democrats, would let contractors and construction material vendors deduct gross receipts taxes on multi-family housing projects for those earning 80% or less of the area’s median income.
Advocates said the bill would spur additional affordable housing investment in a state with an estimated affordable housing shortage of 32,000 units. But advocates for cities, including the New Mexico Municipal League and the city of Albuquerque’s lobbyist, opposed it. Local governments receive 40% of gross receipts tax revenue; the rest goes to the state.
A fiscal analysis estimates that local governments statewide would annually lose more than $4 million in gross receipts tax revenues if the deduction went into effect, assuming a baseline of 670 affordable units built each year with a “small uptick” the deduction prompts. However, analysts said lack of housing and material cost data statewide make accurate analyses difficult.
The committee didn’t vote on the bill and instead postponed action on it and a series of other tax proposals. But lawmakers are considering the housing and other proposals heard Tuesday for a potential comprehensive tax package.
Looking aheadThe Senate Conservation Committee bumped Senate Bill 18 from its agenda Tuesday and rescheduled its discussion on the Clear Horizons Act to Thursday morning. Sponsored by Senate Pro Tempore Sen. Mimi Stewart (D-Albuquerque), SB18 would enshrine New Mexico’s greenhouse gas emission reduction goals into law. Similar legislation failed last year.
The House Judiciary Committee is slated to hear House Bill 9 — the Immigrant Safety Act — Wednesday afternoon. If approved, HB9 would prohibit local and state government entities in New Mexico from participating in federal immigration detention contracts. The bill advanced through its first committee last week along party lines on a 4-2 vote.
The House Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee on Wednesday will discuss House Bill 93, which would increase the standard deduction on income tax. The Senate Education Committee will review Senate Bill 64, which would permanently establish the Office of Special Education, a priority of Lujan Grisham’s.
Day of solidarity with MinnesotaLawmakers from more than two dozen states are planning to participate in a “day of solidarity” for Minnesota on Thursday, where federal agents have so far killed two people this year. The organization State Futures, which organizes Democrat lawmakers across the nation, in a statement said a New Mexico lawmaker is among those who plan to participate virtually. Source NM asked organizers, who did not immediately respond to the request, who from the Roundhouse will attend.
AchooAs crowds fill the Roundhouse’s rotunda each day, the sounds of sniffles, wheezes and coughs abound. It’s still primetime for cold, flu and RSV infections. The New Mexico Department of Health will offer vaccinations to the public in the Roundhouse rotunda from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesday.
