March 12, 2025

Paid Family Medical Leave Advances
Despite being watered down along the way the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act HB11 continued to advance on Saturday with now just one more committee, Senate Finance to navigate before it is heard by the full Senate. The measure passed along party lines by a 6-4 margin Saturday in the Senate Tax, Business and Transportation Committee. Essentially the payroll tax increases in the bill have been reduced in half and the leave is down to six weeks as opposed to the nine weeks it started the session at and 12 weeks last session. The leave provided for parents with newborns or newly adopted children has been stripped out and the bill now extends families $3,000 a month for three months to compensate for lost wages. With just 11 days left in the session it could be close if Democrats are able to get it through the system but still very possible.

Medicare Permanent Fund Moving Fast, Medical GRT Abolishment Languishes
Two bills are being watched closely by healthcare officials, one is moving the other not so much. A proposal to form a Medicare permanent fund to provide for the chronically underfunded program has made its way through Senate committees and was passed unanimously by the Senate with no debate this week. It’s believed the bill will likely make fast tracks through the House as well. A bill to do away with gross receipts tax on medical charges, however is still awaiting its first hearing in the Senate.

Juvenile Offender/Fentanyl Sentencing Bills Stall, “Homicide Scholarship” Advances

The House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee put a stop to two important crime bills Saturday on a 4-2, party-line vote. HB134, a bill sponsored by Rep. Andrea Reeb, R. Clovis, would have provided for tougher sentencing for juveniles convicted of serious offenses, such as murder and rape. HB274 would have provided for a life sentence to persons convicted of trafficking in fentanyl. “All they’re doing is kicking the can down the road, Reeb said. “And I’m frustrated, I’m angry about it.” While those bills were stopped a bill aimed at rehabilitation efforts of juvenile defenders was advanced by the Democrat controlled House. The bill would provide  juvenile offenders who qualify for the program a stipend to continue rehabilitation. “We now have what we’re calling the ‘homicide scholarship,’ “ Reeb said during a news conference Monday. “We’re actually rewarding delinquent offenders, violent delinquent offenders, by giving them $2,000 a month for utilities and housing and free school,” Reeb said. “It’s ridiculous. I mean, we are encouraging, actually, people to be delinquent offenders and serious violent offenders.”

Effort Seeks To Codify Court Rejection of 180-Day School Year
A very bipartisan effort is seeking to codify a state court’s rejection of a 180-day mandatory school year put into place by the Public Education Department last year. The bill passed the House unanimously with no debate on Tuesday and is expected to receive similar treatment in the Senate. “I’m codifying it in law,” said House Minority Leader Rep. Gail Armstrong, R. Magdalena. “If she (Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham) wants to veto it, that just gives us one more reason to elect a Republican Governor.” The move sparked backlash across the state where many rural school districts had been utilizing 4-day weeks and would have been prohibited from that under the new rule.

Budget Bill Should Get Vote This Week
HB2, the budget bill sits in the Senate Finance Committee, where it has taken testimony over the last few weeks from multiple state departments and agencies. Word is that it should be passed on to the Senate floor this week, where it would then go back to the House for concurrence. Time is getting shorter.