I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
A bill that would bar illegal immigrants from obtaining New Mexico driver’s licenses passed the state House Friday evening after hours of debate.
The bill passed on a 42-28 vote.
The House debated for hours on floor substitutes to the bill just a day after the House used an unusual procedure to “blast” the legislation from committee to the House floor.
The House did not pass HB 78 as it was initially introduced but instead a floor substitute brought by Rep. Andy Nuñez, I-Hatch. The floor substitute was a source of consternation to some Democrats, who objected to bringing a floor amendment that had not been brought through committee.
Nuñez and Republicans said it was in the House rules and that they were well within their rights to do so.
A floor substitute brought by Majority Leader Ken Martinez, D-Grants, was tabled on a 36-34 vote. This was the same vote count as the procedural votes on Thursday that blasted the bill from House committees to the floor. Martinez’s bill would revoke licenses in some cases. It also had some compromises in other areas between Nuñez’s bill and what Democrats say is acceptable.
Rep. Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, proposed forming into a committee of the whole to allow public comment on the new version of the legislation, but the proposal did not gain any momentum.
Republicans objected to the fact that Speaker of the House Ben Lujan, D-Nambe, ruled that time spent discussing Martinez’s substitution did not count as time spent discussing the overall bill. After three hours of debate, members may end debate on a majority vote.
Rep. Donald Bratton, R-Hobbs, argued that this ruling was contrary to how the House had worked throughout his time in the House. Bratton argued that the time on the floor substitution should be considered part of the time on the bill as a whole.
The debate was full of impassioned testimony as well as tedious looks throughout each and every change between the original bill and Nuñez’s floor substitute, down to changes in the text from pronouns like “he” to more generic words like “a.”
The bill will now head to the Senate. A Senate committee tabled similar legislation on Thursday.
The legislation is one of Martinez’s priorities in her first legislative session. When the bill was tabled in a House committee, Martinez called for “an up and down vote” in the House.
