Legislative roundup.
24Days remaining in session:
NMSU regent: The Senate on Wednesday voted 30-10 for a bill that would require governors to choose one regent of New Mexico State University who has a degree in agriculture or at least four years of experience in that field.
Republican Sens. Cliff Pirtle of Roswell and Pat Woods of Broadview sponsored the measure, Senate Bill 162. Pirtle is a farmer and Woods previously was one. They said NMSU, a land-grant institution with a college of agriculture, should have a regent from farming or ranching.
Sen. Bill Soules, D-Las Cruces, led opposition to their bill. Soules said requiring one of NMSU’s five regents to have a background in agriculture opens the way for quotas. For instance, Soules said, The University of New Mexico has medical and law schools, so some could argue that its board of regents should have mandatory representation from each of those fields.
At least one senator feigned disinterest in the issue. “I don’t have anything good to say about the Aggies. Go Lobos,” said Republican Sen. Mark Moores, who played football at UNM.
The bill next goes to the House of Representatives.
Memorials galore: House Speaker Brian Egolf is looking for ways to streamline debate on some 100 memorials. These proposals have no force of law but can eat up lots of legislative time.
Egolf, D-Santa Fe, said House floor leaders from both political parties may propose that memorials without opposition be approved by consent, eliminating floor debate.
Memorials introduced this year include one on the virtues of emotional intelligence and another asking the state Transportation Commission to designate a stretch of highway for the late state Rep. Max Coll.
Max Coll Corridor: The Senate on Wednesday approved its memorial requesting that part of U.S. 285 be named the Max Coll Corridor. The House of Representatives is considering an identical memorial.
Coll was a longtime state representative, first as a conservative Republican from Roswell and later as a socially liberal Democrat from Santa Fe. He died in 2014 at age 82. The U.S. 285 corridor in his honor would be between Exit 290 of Interstate 25 and the Lamy turnoff.
Health secretary: Ina 37-0 vote, the Senate on Wednesday confirmed Lynn Gallagher as Cabinet secretary of the state Department of Health. She has been running the department for 11 months, since the death of her predecessor, Retta Ward.
Gallagher was deputy health secretary from 2013 until succeeding Ward. Gallagher previously was general counsel of the state Aging and Long-Term Services Department. She is married to
Patrick Gallagher, chief of the Santa Fe Police Department.
Fee cap: A bill to limit the amount of money a homeowners association can charge for required documents to sell a property has passed its first House committee.
House Bill 374, sponsored by Rep. Monica Youngblood, R-Albuquerque, would change a 2013 law that allows homeowners’ associations or management companies to charge a “reasonable fee” for information that the state requires sellers provide to buyers.
Her bill would limit those fees to $200 for items such as association covenants and bylaws. Youngblood, a real estate agent, said many smaller associations produce the packet of documents for $90 or $100, but larger management companies see it as a way to increase profits, charging as much as $1,000.
The Realtors Association of New Mexico is supporting her bill. Management firms testified against the cap this week, saying it takes more than five hours to put together the information and sometimes escrow agents need to visit a property or do their own title research to ensure information is accurate.
The bill advanced on a 5-2 vote of the House local government committee and moves to House Judiciary.
Looking ahead: Sen. John Pinto, D-Gallup, and Sen. Benny Shendo Jr., D-Jemez Pueblo, plan to discuss their Senate memorial captioned “Support for Standing Rock Sioux Tribe” at a Senate Indian and Cultural Affairs Committee meeting set for 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Thursday in Room 303 of the Capitol.
Thursday is Military and Veterans Day at the Legislature. Informational tables will be staffed by veterans’ organizations, community groups and the New Mexico National Guard from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Capitol. A noon event in the Rotunda will focus on women in the military.
Quotes of the day: “To me, this feels a little bit like if Ford asked us to protect consumers from buying Teslas.” — Rep. Matthew McQueen, D-Galisteo, on a bill supported by the state’s largest electric utility, Public Service Company of New Mexico, that would create new regulations for the solar industry.
“A lot of people began calling us the odd couple. He demanded to be Felix. I had to be Oscar.” — Rep. Jim Smith, R-Sandia Park, of his Democratic colleague, Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto, D-Albuquerque, before the two presented a bill on charter school reforms to the House Education Committee.