Hello, fellow political junkies!

Interim legislative committees meetings are in full swing following the pre-special session lull.

Between legislation sessions, these interim committees discuss potential legislation. Last week, the Children’s Code Reform Task Force presented its recommendations to the Interim Legislative Health and Human Services Committee.

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These recommendations included updating the title of the Abuse and Neglect Act, updating the Bennie Hargrove Gun Safety Act definition and beginning a Guaranteed Basic Income, also known as Universal Basic Income, pilot program.

“The idea of disentangling poverty from abuse, from what is considered neglect under our law, a very high percentage of our cases are neglect cases not abuse,” Office of Family Representation and Advocacy Legal Services Division Director Leslie Jones said. “A very small percentage of the children who come into care come in for actual types of abuse. It’s mostly neglect, and much of that is connected to poverty. So we’re really looking at the statutory language, changing definitions and adding definitions to remove poverty alone as a reason for removal.”

Related: Gov announces expansion of program for those who have ‘aged out’ of foster care

The Bennie Hargrove Act update included an updated definition to add the word “negligent” to make the crime to “negligently make a firearm available to a minor.”

The Bennie Hargrove Act requires firearms to be stored safely and if a minor gets hold of a parent or guardian’s firearm and commits a crime with it, the parent or guardian can be found guilty in the crime.

The law is named after Bennie Hargrove, who was a 13-year-old boy who was killed at Washington Middle School in August 2021 by a 14-year-old-boy.

The task force was funded by the Administrative Office of the Courts in 2022 and 2023 with the goal of assessing the Children’s Code and recommending changes therein.

Also of note

New Mexico Public Education Department Secretary Arsenio Romero announced his resignation effective immediately Wednesday afternoon. 

He was one of five contenders for New Mexico State University president.

More on that in my story here.

New Mexico could have a new federal judge. 

President Joe Biden announced Assistant U.S. Attorney Sarah Morgan Davenport as his nominee for the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico.

Read more on that nomination here.

Election information

Will he or won’t he? That is the question on political junkies’ minds of late concerning whether former President Donald Trump will debate Vice President Kamala Harris on Sept. 10 on ABC citing the network’s alleged “hostility” toward Republicans.

As of Aug. 30, the debate is still on with parameters including both candidates will be behind lecterns, microphones muted when the other is speaking, no live audience and no notes.

The no live microphones situation dates back to when President Joe Biden was the presumptive Democratic nominee.

The Harris campaign is trying to negotiate live microphones following the Biden campaign insisting on muted microphones due to Trump’s behaviors at previous debates, according to the Public Broadcasting Service.

The debate comes a little less than a month before New Mexico early/absentee voting begins on Oct. 7.

For more information about elections contact your local county clerk’s office which can also help you check on or update your voter registration, a process that can also be done online at NMVote.org. 

To see who the candidates are please visit the New Mexico Secretary of State’s 2024 General Election Contest/Candidate List.

The Election Results 2024 will be posted to the New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office website after polls close at 7 p.m. on Nov. 5. It currently lists the 2024 primary results.

Upcoming interim committee meetings

Interim Military and Veterans Affairs Committee will meet Sept. 3 at David A. Flores Veterans Center 720 Lake Drive in Santa Rosa.

Interim Indian Affairs Committee will meet Sept. 4-6 in Akela Flats and Las Cruces.

Interim New Mexico Finance Authority Oversight Committee will meet Sept. 9-10 at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology Joseph A. Fidel Center, Ballrooms B and C 1 Olive Lane in Socorro. 

For more information about interim committee meetings, visit nmlegis.gov and click the Committee’s tab at the top of the screen.

Meanwhile on the Hill

U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich, a Democrat from New Mexico, and six others signed a letter urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture to immediately rectify mounting delays with the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations and address root causes of the situation. Tribal families have been experiencing extreme disruptions in food deliveries, including receiving partial deliveries, deliveries of expired products, or no deliveries at all over the past four months.

“We were made aware of this issue from Tribes across the country, who are now in a dire situation because of a failure to ensure food has been received by Tribes in a timely manner through the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR),” the letter states. “The program serves some of the most vulnerable people in our country, and recipients have reported bare shelves, having received expired food items, and inconsistent food deliveries for over four months. Tribes are deeply worried about when food will arrive and when USDA will resolve this situation.”

Also:

  • Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury, a Democrat who represents the state’s 1st Congressional District, hosted a roundtable in Albuquerque with labor unions and trade programs on Aug. 26 to discuss the future of the classroom to career pipeline for trades jobs in New Mexico. “Unions keep our workforce strong and ensure workers are protected,” Stansbury said in a press release about the roundtable.”I am proud to be union strong. The conversation proved the future is bright for union work and trades jobs in New Mexico.” 
  • Heinrich, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján, and U.S. Representatives Teresa Leger Fernández, Melanie Stansbury, and Gabe Vasquez, all Democrats, welcomed the announcement that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded $191,000 in funding for New Mexico to protect children from lead in drinking water at schools and childcare facilities. 

Poll Positions

The Aug. 28 Economist/YouGov poll showed Vice President Kamala Harris with a two percent lead nationally over former President Donald Trump in the presidential election.

Harris has a 46 percent approval rating to Trump’s 44 percent approval rating.

Harris’ running mate Gov. Tim Walz has a 40 percent approval rating to Trump’s running mate Sen. J.D. Vance’s 36 percent approval rating.

“Harris is about where she was before the Democratic convention — a lead of 2 percentage points among registered voters now and 3 points just before the conventions — suggesting no immediate post-convention bounce,” a press release from YouGov states.

Other findings in the Economist/YouGov poll include:

  • Among registered voters, there continues to be a wide gender gap: Harris has an 11-point lead among women, while Trump has an 8-point lead with men
  • Trump holds a small lead among Independents: 42 percent to 37 percent
  • 95 percent of Democrats favor Harris; 91 percent of Republicans support Trump
  • More registered voters expect Harris to win than they say Trump will (40 percent versus 34 percent)
  • A greater share of Harris supporters (76 percent) than Trump supporters (70 percent) think their preferred candidate will win
  • Americans who aren’t registered voters — who generally are less engaged with politics — have a different view of the election: Only 26 percent of them expect Harris will win, while 45 percent think Trump will
  • Overall, 36 percent of U.S. adult citizens expect Harris to win, and 37 percent expect Trump will

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-Nicole Maxwell