On Wednesday in HGEIC, we tabled on a 7-1 vote a bill that would significantly change signature requirements for ballot access to equalize those of major parties and independent voters, despite independents not having primary elections. This was a good development.
I presented H.B. 258, the “New Mexico Heartbeat Act,” in the House Health and Human Services Committee Wednesday, but unfortunately, the bill died on a party-lines. I am thankful for all the people who came to support the bill and testify in favor of defending hte most important right to LIFE! Thank you to GOP Reps. Jenifer Jones (R-Deming) and Harlan Vincent for voting against tabling the extremist bill. Read an article about the hearing here.
On the House floor, I was one of the few representatives to vote against H.B. 126, which would weaken graduation requirements in New Mexico. Our state already ranks as the worst state for education after all others and the District of Columbia. We don’t need to make our failed education system any weaker than it already is.
During Thursday’s floor session, we passed H.M. 66 by Rep. Art De La Cruz (D-Bernalillo) for “Fentanyl Awareness Day” to bring awareness to the horrific drug that is infecting our state.
In HCPAC on Thursday, I voted for H.B. 445, which would create harsher penalties for pedophiles, traffickers, and sex offenders. I noted in committee how if I had my way, these disgusting people would not be able to see the light of day outside of a jail cell ever again. Read an article about the bill hearing here.
Also, in that committee, Democrats passed an extreme rewrite of the DWI code, H.B. 470, which would change the word “pregnant woman” to “pregnant person,” further propagating wokeism in our state statutes. I asked the bill sponsor why it was changed and spoke about how basic biology shows that only women can get pregnant. The bill sponsor is keeping this wording in the bill.
In Friday’s HGEIC meeting, I voted against a bill, H.B. 14, which will give sweeping discretion to district attorneys to prosecute what it deems “paramilitary organizations.” The extremely vague definition for this could put good Samaritans in jail for protecting government businesses or property while they wait for authorities to help.
We also passed in the committee an important memorial, H.M. 47, by Rep. Harlan Vincent (R-Glencoe), which I co-sponsored, honoring the 150th anniversary of the Mescalero Apache Tribe.
On the House floor Friday, we secured a massive win by forcing Rep. Liz Thomson (D-Bernalillo) to roll her bill, H.B. 177, after I began the debate showing how her bill could harm and kill patients by letting pharmacists swap out prescriptions with other drugs without notifying the physician.
I also voted for a bill, H.B. 184, which would take power away from the governor when appointing commissioners to the Game Commission.
Another bad Democrat bill, H.B. 151, was passed in the House that would give non-tenured higher education faculty tenure and access to public retirement benefits.
On Saturday in HGEIC, Democrats passed an extreme bill, S.B. 53, pushed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham that would create litigation between the state and the company Holtec, which is set for federal approval of its safe nuclear storage facility within the next month. Lujan Grisham and leftist enviro-Marxist groups came in full force to peddle anti-energy propaganda in the hopes of passing the bill. It advanced from the committee on a party-line 6-3 vote.
