$330M relief package passes
Funds for small businesses, housing assistance, onetime disbursement
New Mexico lawmakers took less than eight hours Tuesday to pass a nearly $330 million economic relief package designed to help residents and small-business owners who have been squeezed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Senate voted 33-5 and the House of Representatives voted 59-11 to approve the bill during a special session Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham called before Thanksgiving to provide aid to the unemployed and others amid a surge in coronavirus infections, hospitalizations and deaths.
After the session ended, Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, said during an online news conference that the bill “will help New Mexicans who have real issues about putting food on the table, a roof over their head and give them some economic stability.”
The bill, which the governor said she expects to sign as soon as Wednesday (Dec. 2), will mostly tap into existing federal CARES Act funding to provide grants for struggling small businesses, $1,200 in extra unemployment benefits for jobless workers, housing assistance and allocations for food banks.
The legislation appropriates $194 million for one-time unemployment compensation to bolster unemployment checks by $300 a week for four weeks.
Also included in the package is $100 million for grants of up to $50,000 for small businesses and nonprofits, with a prioritization of the hospitality and restaurant industry. Fraternal organizations would be allowed to apply under an amendment approved by lawmakers.
A smaller pot of $15 million would provide emergency housing assistance, while another $5 million will go to shoring up the state’s many food banks with emergency funds.
Another $5 million is earmarked to help low-income residents in
the form of a one-time disbursement of $750 per household for those who did not get a federal economic impact stipend.
The bill also calls for a $10 million draw from the state’s general fund to the state Department of Health to pay for COVID-19 testing, contact tracing and to help implement a vaccine for the respiratory illness as soon as one is approved by the federal government.
Both chambers considered an amendment to cut the unemployment benefit in half and give “essential workers” who earn less than $15 an hour a one-time payment of $600, sparking heated debate in both chambers.
“We can’t forget our essential workers,” Sen. Gabriel Ramos (D-Silver City) said. “Our essential workers are the ones making our state click and keeping us moving forward.”
The amendment failed, mostly along party lines.
Workforce Solutions Secretary Bill McCamley told senators it would be “impossible” to set up a system to hand out the payments before the end of the calendar
year, which is when the federal coronavirus relief funds must be spent.
McCamley said the reason the bill called for additional unemployment benefits is because it will benefit people who need help immediately.
“They literally are in desperate situations,” he said, adding he’s heard stories about people who are worried about rent payments, losing their vehicles or paying for groceries.
“This will allow us to get the most money in people’s pockets the fastest way possible so they can get through this situation right now,” he said.
Debbie Romero, acting secretary of the state Department of Finance and Administration, also said it was “pretty clear that these types of payments are not eligible expenses” under the CARES Act, drawing sharp criticism from Sen. Jacob Candelaria (D-Albuquerque).
“I think this argument of compliance with CARES Act regulations is one that is used kind of strategically and conveniently,” Candelaria said. “The executive
seems willing to push the envelope on federal law and compliance when it suits their agenda.”
Earlier in the day, Candelaria questioned why the governor even called a special session and encouraged his colleagues to read and review her veto message from the special session in June.
“It’s a fundamental question of this body,” he said. “If the executive is going to maintain we have no authority to appropriate federal money and the executive could have simply done all of this without us being called back here, then this is a really expensive PR move.”
Romero, however, said the governor’s position hadn’t changed. After lawmakers appropriated $750 million in federal CARES Act funding in June, she said “it tied up those funds.” She said lawmakers had to reappropriate the funds through legislative action and that the governor couldn’t move the money on her own.
Other lawmakers described the special session as rushed, and some maintain it was by design.
“There have been some really good ideas here today, and I think there’s probably a lot of people in this room with lots of other good ideas, but we’re not going to consider them,” said Sen. Joseph Cervantes (D-Las Cruces).
“We were brought here to ensure that we didn’t consider them. We were brought here to assure that this [bill] is not amended, not changed and that the priorities and policies are not debated but that we rubber stamp them.”
Meanwhile, House Republicans, while voicing general support for the bill, questioned the lack of controls regarding the business grant portion and asked whether the funds would be evenly spread among urban and rural districts. The answer, according to Rep. Patricia Lundstrom (D-Gallup) and chairwoman of the House Appropriations and Finance Committee, was yes.
As with their colleagues in the Senate, House Republicans unsuccessfully tried to add an amendment giving $600 to “essential” workers on the front line of the war against COVID-19.
That proposed amendment, from Rep. Rebecca Dow (R-Truth or Consequences), led to some last-minute fireworks on the House floor after House Speaker Brian Egolf (D-Santa Fe) accepted a motion to close debate on the relief bill without calling for a vote on the amendment, which was still on the floor.
Some House Republicans took umbrage with the move, with one – Jason Harper (R-Río Rancho) – calling Egolf “a bully” who uses the legislative rule book for his own purposes.
Members then voted 56-14 to approve the economic relief bill.
But then, after some back-andforth debate among members and phone calls between Egolf and Legislative Council Service personnel, Egolf said, “No one is perfect,” and reversed course, allowing members to first vote on Dow’s amendment.
Along party lines, Democrats voted to table it.
Then Egolf called for a second vote of the relief bill. This time it passed 59-11, with many Republicans joining Democrats in supporting it even as they continued to voice concerns. publication of the