2024 NM Legislative Session
This category will include items sent to the Beat from the 2024 NM Legislative session.
Governor signs bill modernizing graduation requirements
- Category: 2024 NM Legislative Session 2024 NM Legislative Session
- Published: 10 February 2024 10 February 2024
Requirements not updated since 2009
SANTA FE – Today, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed HB 171 into law, a bill that updates high school graduation requirements in New Mexico for the first time in over a decade.
“High school should be about preparing students for the real world while providing more opportunities to pursue their unique interests and future careers,” said Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham. “These changes will lead to more young New Mexicans staying engaged in school, graduating, and continuing that success in their adult lives.”
Senator Steven Neville Announces Retirement from the Legislature
- Category: 2024 NM Legislative Session 2024 NM Legislative Session
- Published: 09 February 2024 09 February 2024
SANTA FE—Today, Senator Steven Neville (R-Aztec) announced he will not be seeking reelection to the Legislature in 2024.
First elected in 2004, Senator Neville has served in several leadership roles including national chair of the Energy Council, ranking member on the Senate Education Committee, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, and Senate Republican Caucus Chair.
“It is with deep gratitude to my community and the State of New Mexico that I announce my time in the Legislature is drawing to a close. I am eager to spend more time with my family and pass the torch to the next generation of leadership,” said Senator Neville.
Senator Siah Correa Hemphill Secures Funding
- Category: 2024 NM Legislative Session 2024 NM Legislative Session
- Published: 09 February 2024 09 February 2024
Senator Siah Correa Hemphill Secures Funding for Local Highway Project and Community Hospital
(Santa Fe) - Today in the New Mexico Senate, two bills that would have lasting, positive impact on southwest New Mexico advanced through the legislature: one to help jumpstart the next phases of the highway 180 expansion project and a second supporting the Gila Regional Medical Center.
House Passes Bill to Stabilize Healthcare Affordability Fund
- Category: 2024 NM Legislative Session 2024 NM Legislative Session
- Published: 09 February 2024 09 February 2024
Ensures New Mexicans can continue to access affordable health insurance plans
Santa Fe, N.M. - Today, the House of Representatives approved important legislation to ensure affordable health insurance plans remain available for tens of thousands of New Mexicans by a bipartisan vote of 51-14. House Bill 7 would allow for ongoing, stable distributions to the Healthcare Affordability Fund, so the important programs it funds can continue.
The Affordability Fund, which was created in 2021, has helped tens of thousands of New Mexicans afford quality health insurance coverage on the Exchange and created an avenue for thousands of small businesses to offer coverage to their employees.
Senator Cliff Pirtle Secures HW 380 Funding
- Category: 2024 NM Legislative Session 2024 NM Legislative Session
- Published: 09 February 2024 09 February 2024
Senate Bill 300 contains $45 million for improvements
SANTA FE—Today, the Senate unanimously advanced Senate Bill 300, a bill to improve infrastructure around the state of New Mexico. Among the funding is $45 million for improvements of Highway 380 from Roswell to the Texas state line. That highway is notorious for traffic deaths due to high levels of traffic and lack of passing areas.
Senator Cliff Pirtle (R-Roswell) issued the following statement regarding the passage of the bill:
Tribal Education Trust Fund Unanimously Passes House
- Category: 2024 NM Legislative Session 2024 NM Legislative Session
- Published: 08 February 2024 08 February 2024
Increases funding and allows greater tribal sovereignty in education
across New Mexico’s tribes, nations, and pueblos
Santa Fe, N.M. - House Bill 134, which would create a Tribal Education Trust Fund and recognize the right of New Mexico’s tribes, nations, and pueblos to have greater authority over their children’s education, unanimously passed the House of Representatives today.
The Tribal Education Trust Fund would make an annual 5% distribution to the Public Education Department to then be disseminated to each of New Mexico’s 23 tribes, nations, and pueblos. Distributions would be based on the size and needs of each community, as determined by a specialized formula established by tribal leadership.
House Unanimously Passes Prescription Drug Transparency Act
- Category: 2024 NM Legislative Session 2024 NM Legislative Session
- Published: 08 February 2024 08 February 2024
Legislation would empower the state to monitor the affordability of necessary medications
Santa Fe, N.M. - Today, the House of Representatives voted unanimously to pass House Bill 33, the Prescription Drug Transparency Act, which would increase price transparency within the prescription drug supply chain.
HB 33 would require manufacturers, health insurers, pharmacy benefits managers, and pharmacy services administrative organizations to report prescription drug prices and trends to the New Mexico Office of Superintendent of Insurance (OSI) annually.
In Heated Debate, Republicans Introduced Historic Tax Cuts For NM While Democrats Defended Their Money Pit Problem
- Category: 2024 NM Legislative Session 2024 NM Legislative Session
- Published: 08 February 2024 08 February 2024
SANTA FE, NM—Today, Representative Jim Townsend (R-Artesia) introduced a substitute bill for House Democrats’ tax bracket changes, offering New Mexicans unprecedented and monumental tax cuts that would have put more money in the pockets of the taxpayer.
The substitute bill would have stopped House Democrats from taking away the capital gains deduction, which directly targets investors and retirees in New Mexico. It also created a 1% flat personal income tax rate for every New Mexican, providing tax relief of thousands of dollars a year for families across the state.