Legislative roundup.

Days left in session: 27 Helping kids read: The House Education Committee unanimously voted in favor of two initiatives designed to help children learn how to read.

House Bill 449 would appropriate over $4 million to the Northeast Regional Education Cooperative in Las Vegas, N.M., to create a five-year literacy initiative involving tutors, professional development opportunities for educators, community reading events and free books to ensure children from prekindergarten to 12th grade are reading at grade level.

HB 182 would expand the state’s current reading statute to include a reading, writing and spelling curriculum that is “culturally and linguistically” relevant, ensuring bilingual students have access to materials in both their native language and English.

The bill has no appropriation, but a fiscal impact report said the Public Education Department would need to hire two full-time employees to create materials for the measure. Based on scores from last year’s proficiency exams, less than 30 percent of New Mexico children were proficient in reading.

Almost there: The House Appropriations and Finance Committee is considering increasing the budget for the Governor’s Office by $1 million. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham had proposed a $1.2 million boost in the budget for her staff and operations, a 38 percent increase aides argued was necessary to implement an aggressive agenda in the wake of budget cuts under the previous administration. Ultimately, that level of funding would push the budget for the Governor’s Office toward prerecession levels. Republicans on the committee voted against the proposed budget increase. The committee is expected to roll out the entire budget next week. Quote of the day: “It’s a lonely life if you can’t read.” — Rep. Susan Herrera, D-Embudo, talking to members of the House Education Committee about the plight of New Mexico adults who are illiterate. According to data from the New Mexico Coalition for Literacy, 20 percent of New Mexicans age 16 or over have literacy skills at Level 1, the lowest of five tiers. Those Level 1 readers “have difficulty locating simple information in a news article or applying basic math to determine the total on a sales receipt,” according to the coalition’s website.