The New Mexico Legislature has failing grades on a report card of issues that I wrote about, or that I should have written about. I’ll start and end with the little good news I could find.
The Legislature finally approved an amendment to reform vetoes. I first wrote about this for an online magazine in 2017, long before this column. I suggested reforms, including those just proposed.
I’m happy to report that in November, we will vote on an amendment to eliminate pocket vetoes. According to this amendment, if the governor fails to sign a passed bill, it becomes law. This is obvious — just what you would expect. But currently, if a bill passes in the last three days, the governor can kill it without explanation by ignoring it. I hope others will join me in voting yes.
Alas, this was the only constitutional amendment approved. I wrote a whole column on why I support fundamental (not revolutionary) constitutional change. I correctly predicted I would be disappointed.
One of the inadequate proposals that I reluctantly supported was to have general-purpose sessions every year, rather than rotating 30-day budget sessions and 60-day general sessions. One proposal (my favorite) would have had 60-day sessions every year, and another 45-day session.
But I don’t really want sessions to be time-limited. The people’s business should not be a game where you can run out the clock. If I had my way, legislators would be locked in the Roundhouse until they vote up or down on every bill that passes committees.
Well, no reform happened. The 2026 session will be 30 days, limited to budgets. What little business happens will probably be delayed to the last three days, as much of it was this year. We saw a perfect example this year with House Bill 65, which would have allowed school boards to decide whether to have four-day school weeks as long as they have enough instructional hours. The governor and the Public Education Department want five-day school weeks.
This bill passed the House 64-0 and the Senate 38-0, but the governor vetoed it. The House overrode her veto, and the Senate probably would have done so if time hadn’t run out.
Does that mean that Cobre and Cliff schools will have to change to five-day weeks? Maybe not. A district court ruled in February that the PED could not enforce five-day weeks. We’re waiting for the state Supreme Court to weigh in.
Another failed amendment would have created a salaries commission and paid legislators. So next year, and perhaps for eternity, voters will continue to get exactly what we paid for — and less.
Likewise, the proposed amendment to make the independent redistricting commission truly independent failed again. If Republicans gain control after the 2030 census, Democrats will get the gerrymandering they deserve. There were other amendments, but it’s too discouraging to discuss them here.
Senate Bill 16 would enable open primary elections, so that independent voters like me could choose which primary to vote in. I’m one of the few independents who uses the current hack of changing to a major party on primary election day and changing back afterward. SB 16 passed — barely — and is waiting for the governor’s signature. If instead of signing or vetoing, she ignores it, this might be the last pocket veto in New Mexico history.
I wrote a column weighing former WNMU President Joseph Shepard’s accomplishments and mistakes, but criticized the regents’ decision to rewrite his contract. The attorney general and others were outraged by the controversy and proposed various reforms to the regent system, including establishing fiduciary duties. The only successful reform was to require regent training, although no one thinks the controversy was based on ignorance.
Other things failed to happen at the Legislature, but there’s no space to get into juvenile crime or medical malpractice. On the other hand, my recent columns about hemp and cannabis seemed to be in line with sentiment in Santa Fe.
I argued that enforcement of cannabis regulation has been inadequate to discourage the black market. The Legislature passed HB 10 to create a cannabis enforcement authority and hire seven officers.
I argued that intoxicating hemp products should be regulated. The Legislature passed HB 346 which, although complicated and technical, appears to address a recent trend of creating intoxicating hemp products through a chemical process that increases hemp’s low amounts of THC. Regulation is hard and can have unexpected side effects, but I’m cautiously optimistic.
Every time I write about cannabis or hemp, the owner of the controversial Grateful Living store, Michael Mathieu, writes a guest column defending whatever they do there. I expect another such column, and then perhaps we’ll hear from the new cannabis enforcement officers.
