First bills filed for session include early childhood funding.
For nearly a decade, proponents of early childhood education initiatives have watched in disappointment as legislative efforts to pull money from the state’s Land Grant Permanent Fund have failed.
But two House Democrats from Albuquerque aren’t giving up. On Tuesday, they again introduced House Joint Resolution 1, which would initiate a 1 percent draw from the roughly $20 billion fund for early childhood programs.
“This is a fund that belongs to the people of New Mexico and it is a modest investment in the most transformative place that it can be made — with children, starting out at birth and through pre-K,” said Rep. Javier Martinez, D-Albuquerque and co-sponsor of the resolution with Rep. Moe Maestas, D-Albuquerque.
Martinez said given the bill’s lengthy history making its way through the legislative process, it has earned a place as “the most vetted piece of legislation that we will see this year.”
The resolution, if approved by the House of Representatives and the Senate, ultimately leaves it up to voters to decide whether to approve a constitutional amendment allowing the state make further withdrawals from the investment fund. While the bill has generally passed through the House with ease, it has been repeatedly blocked by conservative Democrats and Republicans in the Senate. They say more distributions from the Land Grant Permanent Fund, which benefits public schools and other institutions, would threaten to erode it.
Martinez said given many incoming Senate Democrats are replacing some conservative who have opposed the bill, “I expect the votes to be there.”
He said the resolution, if approved, could result in another $180 million per year for those programs, which, advocates say, better prepare children for kindergarten and cut down on retention, remediation and dropout rates down the line.
House Joint Resolution 1 is not the only bill making a return this year. Last year, lawmakers tabled two bills that would have removed or reduced the amount of federal income tax Social Security recipients pay.
But at least two lawmakers who supported those bills — a Democrat in the Senate and a Republican in the House of Representatives — are trying again.
Sen. Michael Padilla, D-Albuquerque, and Rep. Cathrynn Brown, R-Carlsbad, have introduced separate bills to do away with income tax on social security recipients.
“This is one of the most important first steps in reforming our tax policy in New Mexico,” Padilla said of his Senate bill. “This may be the only income this particular group of New Mexicans have to look forward to, and they’ve done their part already.”
Brown said she filed her bill Tuesday, though it had not yet appeared on the New Mexico Legislature website as of 6 p.m.
“A lot of retirees and people who depend on that income are really suffering after all the problems they have had with the virus, and they need help now with all their income support,” she said.
These bills are just a few of the nearly 60 lawmakers filed Monday and Tuesday in advance of the 60-day legislative session, scheduled to begin Jan. 19. As of Tuesday, Senate bills had not yet been assigned numbers. Among the initial crop:
House Bill 32, introduced by Rep. Debra Sariñana, D-Albuquerque, would appropriate $5 million from the state’s general fund to pay for a nurse in every public school in New Mexico.
House Bill 29, introduced by Rep. Sheryl Williams Stapleton, D-Albuquerque, prohibits school disciplinary measures against students for having cultural hair styles or headdresses.
A Senate bill introduced by Sen. Nancy Rodriguez, D-Santa Fe, would appropriate $12 million from the general fund for the New Mexico Housing Trust Fund, which provides funds for affordable housing initiatives.
A Senate bill introduced by Sen. William Tallman, D-Albuquerque, creates an income tax credit between $2,500 and $5,000 for electric vehicle owners.