State solvency plan clears New Mexico House, trims raises

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The state House of Representatives on Friday approved a budget solvency plan that fills a gaping general fund deficit by harnessing federal recovery funds, tapping half the state’s financial reserves and pulling back spending increases.

General fund spending for the fiscal year that begins July 1 was revised downward to $7 billion from the previously approved $7.6 billion plan, while keeping overall spending increases for public education.

Pay increases for public employees at public schools and state agencies on July 1 are scaled back to 1% or less, from the original 4% hike. Only state employees earning less than $50,000 will receive a raise, and public school administrators are not eligible for the pay bump.

House legislators voted 46-24 along party lines on the bill that pulls back agency spending increases that were signed by Gov. Michell Lujan Grisham in March at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic in New Mexico. The plan cuts spending at state agencies, including the Legislature.

The cuts still leave legislators with another $1 billion future budget deficit to resolve when they meet again in 2021.

House finance committee Chairwoman Rep. Patricia Lundstrom of Gallup said further spending reductions are unwise until more is known about the economic effect of the national recession and New Mexico’s crucial oil sector.

“This is a very responsible budget in the face of some very unsure economic times,” she said “I believe we have a moral obligation to help people.”

The Senate is drafting its own budget plan. Any differences must be reconciled before the governor considers the legislation.

Republican lawmakers say the solvency plan doesn’t go far enough toward trimming annual spending obligations to offset a $2.4 billion decline in estimated state income for this fiscal year and next.

“To maintain this level of spending we’re going to have to raises taxes, and we don’t have rich (people) in New Mexico, so it’s going to hit families,” said GOP Rep. Jason Harper of Rio Rancho.

New Mexico legislators also pushed forward Friday with temporary election reforms and an initiative to require body cameras on all law enforcement officers.

On the second day of a special legislative session, the Democratic-led state Senate approved election changes aimed at making absentee balloting more reliable in November as residents flock to mail-in voting.

That bill also aims to ensure greater access to polling places in New Mexico’s Indigenous communities that have been hard-hit by the coronavirus. The Democrat-sponsored bill now moves to the House for consideration.

The election bill was approved 40-2 by the Senate. Sen. Democratic Sen. Bill Tallman voted against the bill because it was stripped of provisions to distribute absentee ballots directly to voters — even those who don’t request them. Absentee ballots are available only by request in New Mexico for any reason.

“Study after study has debunked the voter-fraud myth,” Tallman said.

A bill to require police body cameras won Senate approval on a 31-11 vote with bipartisan support and moved to the more politically progressive House for consideration.

“This bill should not be considered anti-law enforcement,” said Democratic Sen. Joseph Cervantes of Las Cruces, sponsor of the initiative.

Cervantes says chokeholds already are a crime in New Mexico if they lead to great bodily harm or death.

The Senate on Friday approved a bill that cancels up to $13 million in infrastructure projects that aren’t initiated by local governments within 90 says.

Democratic Sen. George Muñoz of Gallup said the bill puts local authorities on notice that they must move forward with job-creating construction projects quickly or risk losing state funding. The Legislature could recall more than $100 million when it meets again in January.

“You should move your projects along or you will lose them,” Muñoz said.

The Senate approved up to $500 million in low-interest loans from the state’s multibillion-dollar severance tax permanent fund to support local businesses, nonprofit groups, local governments and tribal businesses that have experienced a sharp decline in revenues. Eligibility is capped at businesses with $5 million in annual revenues.

Also on Friday, state representatives unanimously passed a proclamation celebrating Juneteenth. The holiday commemorates June 19, 1865, when enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, were informed of their freedom, two years after emancipation was put to paper.

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Attanasio is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.