The special session Feed Bill passed the House Appropriations and Finance Committee shortly after the special legislative session came to order.

After a 40-minute meeting the bill passed committee on a 15-1 margin with Rep. Randall Pettigrew, R-Lovington, as the sole vote against.

Pettigrew objected to the bill including appropriations for outpatient treatment and criminal competency programs.

Pettigrew said that those should be separate from the bill that pays for the special session.

“We just made a decision to do this. This bill stands on its own and we have the capability to push it both, all three of them… without doing this, this is wrong,” Pettigrew said.

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The bill also includes appropriations for wildfire and flooding relief.

The bill appropriates $211,900 for the special session including $83,800 for the House of Representatives and $60,400 for the Senate.

The bill also appropriates $10 million to the Mescalero Apache Tribe for flooding assistance, $10 million to the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department “in consultation with the Homeland Security and Emergency Management Department, for expenditure in fiscal year 2025 for wildfire mitigation; watershed restoration, slope stabilization, erosion control and post-fire management made necessary by damages from flooding or a wildfire,” the bill states.

It also appropriates $10 million for people and businesses affected by the fires and flooding through an application process and $70 million for “zero interest reimbursable loans to political subdivisions of the state that have been approved for federal public assistance funding for projects to replace or repair public infrastructure damaged by the Salt and South Fork fires,” the bill states.

Pettigrew agreed with the fire and flooding assistance but was against the $3 million to the Administrative Office of the Courts for assisted outpatient treatment programs and competency diversion pilot programs.

The bill is expected to be heard in the House once they go back into session Thursday afternoon, after which it will head to the Senate.