Five takeaways from the 2020 legislative session

Fourth floor diplomacy Before the session, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said her strategy for the session — and governance in general — was to employ diplomacy and compromise with legislators to win support for her initiatives. It sounded like a fuzzy talking point at the time. It turned out to be largely true. A number […]

Five takeaways from the 2020 legislative session

Fourth floor diplomacy

Before the session, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said her strategy for the session — and governance in general — was to employ diplomacy and compromise with legislators to win support for her initiatives. It sounded like a fuzzy talking point at the time. It turned out to be largely true.

A number of the bills Lujan Grisham prioritized during the session did indeed pass, but important ones didn’t, such as recreational cannabis. And her marquee Opportunity Scholarship proposal, announced with much fanfare last year, was scaled down in a big way.

In the end, she appeared to accept a middle ground. The governor said she could work with legislators’ plans to provide lower financing for the scholarship program, adding Cabinet secretaries involved would have to “leverage” the funds to make it work.

Lujan Grisham said she’ll move forward with the same strategy in the future, working toward getting more funding for the scholarship between now and next year — similar to how she struck a deal to create an early childhood trust fund.

On cannabis, she praised the debate this year for “building a foundation” and said she expected to push for legalization again in the future.

“I don’t see any of that as a failure,” she said of the bill’s inability to get passed in 2020.

Internal warfare

Anyone who assumed legislators of the same party play nice when crafting a budget was wrong. For proof, witness the unexpected tension between House and Senate Democrats over House Bill 2, the budget bill.

Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, and Rep. Patricia Lundstrom, D-Gallup, had worked together to lead the Legislative Finance Committee during the interim period. Yet there was no love lost between the two during the session. 

Ultimately, they hammered out a budget in time. Asked about the tension as the session’s conclusion, Lundstrom said she expected relations to smooth. But she issued a bit of a warning: “HAFC will not be the little sister to Senate Finance,” she said, referring to her committee. 

Senate Democrats still hold the keys to the kingdom

Though the governor set the tone and the agenda for the 30-day session, and the House of Representatives pushed through many of those bills, it’s still the moderate Senate Democrats who hold the keys to the kingdom. Controversial bills, especially those with progressive tinges, still have a tough time getting to the Lujan Grisham’s desk without their support.

It’s a pretty simple equation: The governor and Majority Leader Peter Wirth were able to persuade enough moderate Democrats to support the “red flag” gun bill, and it passed. But they couldn’t get Sen. Joseph Cervantes to support legalizing recreational cannabis, nor could they persuade Sens Clemente Sanchez and  Mary Kay Papen to back a bill restructuring the Public Regulation Commission. Those bids failed.

Progressive Democrats in power can continue to pray — likely in vain — for an ideological shift among their more conservative colleagues. Or they can hope voters shift the ideology of the Senate at the ballot box in November. That may be their best chance at winning approval for the pending items they most care about.

Swimming in the pork barrel

For years, the Legislature’s capital outlay process has been debated and criticized. Some lawmakers say it’s not a good system and should be reformed, and this session highlighted the inefficiency of the current system.

Legislators and the governor already had hundreds of millions of dollars available for one-time spending on infrastructure from general obligation severance tax bonds. Yet an extra $137 million in general fund money was also quietly tacked onto the capital outlay bill.

Around the same time, the Senate Finance Committee began to complain the budget was below the reserves target by a similar amount, precisely because of extra capital outlay requests. And so, the Senate said it had to pare back the budget, cutting money from items such as teacher pay raises.

It’s unlikely most people will ever know how it happened, because negotiations take place behind closed doors. It’s plausible that if those talks were held openly and in less rushed fashion, the budget hole the Senate patched could have been avoided.

The process was anything but open. Information on capital outlay was notoriously difficult for the media to obtain during the session — until two bills magically popped out in the final week and were unanimously passed with practically no debate. Neither the Governor’s Office nor legislative leaders made a serious effort to pass proposed legislation to reform the process.

The GOP’s alternative methods

The tactics employed by Republicans to derail Democratic bills during the session included rambling Senate filibusters or three-hour House debates into the wee hours of the morning. They drew Democrats’ ire, but the strategy did have an impact.

A tactical “call of the Senate” and then an 11th-hour filibuster by Senate Republicans Thursday morning prevented a vote on an election laws cleanup bill, which incurred the wrath of the bill’s proponents in the Legislature as well as New Mexico’s Secretary of State and the Santa Fe County Clerk.

And while the House did get to its big-ticket bills, the delay tactics did disrupt the leadership’s plans.

“That was a break in the norm,” said House Speaker Brian Egolf. “There was, at times, frustration that we weren’t able to get through the agenda.”

We're ad free

That means that we rely on support from readers like you. Help us keep reporting on the most important New Mexico Stories by donating today.

Related

Lujan Grisham pocket vetoes two bills

Lujan Grisham pocket vetoes two bills

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham pocket vetoed two bills the legislature passed this legislative session: one changing the Cybersecurity Act and the other concerning law…
Gov signs bills with some vetoes 

Gov signs bills with some vetoes 

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed 69 bills that the legislature passed during the 2024 legislative session. These included the General Appropriations Act which contains…
Guv signs state budget

Guv signs state budget

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed the budget bill for Fiscal Year 2025 and the Capital Outlay spending bill. The FY25 state budget bill passed…
Advocates travel to D.C. to push for additional protections for the Gila River

Advocates travel to D.C. to push for additional protections for the Gila River

New Mexico advocates seeking to have the Gila River designated as a Wild and Scenic River will travel to Washington D.C. this week to…

NM Supreme Court annuls $10,000 penalty in PNM/Avangrid merger case

The New Mexico Supreme Court ruled on Monday that a penalty the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission levied against the state’s largest utility was…
State fines oil company more than $2 million after spill

State fines oil company more than $2 million after spill

The Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department fined an oil and gas company operating in the Permian Basin more than $2 million over produced…
Amid new graduation requirements, what do high schoolers want to learn?

Amid new graduation requirements, what do high schoolers want to learn?

By Margaret O’Hara, The Santa Fe New Mexican The main things that bring Brayan Chavez to school every day: Seeing, talking to and engaging with…
Special ed teachers hope lawmakers OK pay raises, admin changes

Special ed teachers hope lawmakers OK pay raises, admin changes

By Margaret O’Hara, The Santa Fe New Mexican Brittany Behenna Griffith has a laundry list of adjectives to describe the ideal special education teacher:…
Lawmakers must find consensus on competing education spending plans

Lawmakers must find consensus on competing education spending plans

By Margaret O’Hara, The Santa Fe New Mexican A challenging task awaits New Mexico lawmakers in the next 30 days: Reconciling three very different…
Lujan Grisham, Biden admin announce $10 million in federal funds for tribes, pueblos

Lujan Grisham, Biden admin announce $10 million in federal funds for tribes, pueblos

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Friday $10 million in funding from the federal American Rescue Plan Act was awarded to six tribal nations and…
Proposal to curb executive powers moves to House Judiciary

Proposal to curb executive powers moves to House Judiciary

The House Government, Elections and Indian Affairs Committee discussed a potential constitutional amendment that seeks to limit the governor’s executive powers. The committee approved…
Supreme Court censures attorney over conduct in anti-COVID policy suits

Supreme Court censures attorney over conduct in anti-COVID policy suits

The New Mexico State Supreme Court censured a New Mexico attorney because of her “misconduct” in two unsuccessful cases pushing back on COVID-19 regulations…
Supreme Court to hear two abortion cases this spring

Supreme Court to hear two abortion cases this spring

Later this month, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the case against the abortion medication mifepristone. It will hear a second…
How Biden, others highlighted reproductive rights at the State of the Union

How Biden, others highlighted reproductive rights at the State of the Union

President Joe Biden highlighted reproductive rights issues as part of his State of the Union speech Thursday. Biden delivered his 2024 State of the…
Stansbury invites OB-GYN doctor as her state of the union guest 

Stansbury invites OB-GYN doctor as her state of the union guest 

U.S. House of Rep. Melanie Stansbury has invited an OB-GYN doctor from Roswell as her guest for President Joe Biden’s State of the Union…
Supreme Court to hear two abortion cases this spring

Supreme Court to hear two abortion cases this spring

Later this month, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on the case against the abortion medication mifepristone. It will hear a second…
How Biden, others highlighted reproductive rights at the State of the Union

How Biden, others highlighted reproductive rights at the State of the Union

President Joe Biden highlighted reproductive rights issues as part of his State of the Union speech Thursday. Biden delivered his 2024 State of the…
Stansbury invites OB-GYN doctor as her state of the union guest 

Stansbury invites OB-GYN doctor as her state of the union guest 

U.S. House of Rep. Melanie Stansbury has invited an OB-GYN doctor from Roswell as her guest for President Joe Biden’s State of the Union…
See who’s going to be on your primary ballot in June

See who’s going to be on your primary ballot in June

Tuesday marked the official beginning of the 2024 New Mexico primary season for the legislature, with candidates officially filing for candidacy. This is the…

Bill to require disclosure of use of AI in campaign materials goes to governor

The Senate approved a bill aiming to require the disclosure of the use of artificial intelligence or other changes made by computers to campaign…
House amends, passes bill banning firearms near polling places

House amends, passes bill banning firearms near polling places

The House narrowly approved a bill that would ban firearms near polling places. The House voted 35-34 to pass the bill following an extensive…
Advocates travel to D.C. to push for additional protections for the Gila River

Advocates travel to D.C. to push for additional protections for the Gila River

New Mexico advocates seeking to have the Gila River designated as a Wild and Scenic River will travel to Washington D.C. this week to…
U.S. Supreme Court lets ban on Couy Griffin from holding office stand

U.S. Supreme Court lets ban on Couy Griffin from holding office stand

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of a Republican official who was barred from holding office after being convicted for a…
Politics Newsletter: legislative leaders not running for reelection

Politics Newsletter: legislative leaders not running for reelection

Hello fellow political junkies! Candidate filing day has come and gone, and members of House and Senate leadership opted to either not seek reelection…

GET INVOLVED

© 2023 New Mexico Political Report