Driver’s license changes

Senate passes measure that would make changes in the state’s two-tiered driver’s license system

SANTA FE — New Mexico’s two legislative chambers remain at odds over whether the state should “spring forward” or “fall back.”

The Senate voted 25-17 Thursday in favor of a bill that would allow New Mexico to remain on daylight saving time all year, if a federal law is passed allowing the change.

Earlier this week, however, the House passed a proposal to keep the state on Mountain Standard time year-round. It isn’t contingent on changing federal law.

Each bill will now cross over to the other chamber. Neither proposal will reach Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham unless the House and Senate agree on the same legislation.

Opponents of both proposals have focused on the potential to complicate life in southern New Mexico, where it’s common for people to cross state lines on visits to El Paso or Lubbock, Texas, a state that participates in both standard and daylight saving time.

Sen. Cliff Pirtle, a Roswell Republican and sponsor of Senate Bill 226 to stick with daylight saving all year, said the time change twice a year already disrupts people’s lives and sleeping patterns.

“It may be a little different at first,” he said, “but we’re all intelligent people and will be able to make it work.”

TEACHING: A proposal to overhaul New Mexico’s teacher evaluation system won approval 37-0 in the state Senate on Thursday and now heads to the House.

The legislation, Senate Bill 247, would set broad parameters for evaluations and allow the state Public Education Department to fill in the details.

Teachers would be evaluated by trained observers, student learning growth and feedback from students.

Supporters said the proposal is intended to be less punitive and focus more on professional development than the current system. Under the proposal, teachers who didn’t get better would face increasingly intensive intervention.

“This bill is really focused on helping teachers improve,” said Senate Majority Whip Mimi Stewart, an Albuquerque Democrat and sponsor of the bill.

The bill had bipartisan support. “This is going to boost the morale of our teachers,” said Sen. Gay Kernan, R-Hobbs. “I think the big thing we need to do is appreciate our teachers, but at the same time hold them accountable.”