Legislative tidbits — Jan. 27

Days remaining in session: 22

Send it over

Bills that would toughen penalties against offenders who possess child pornography and offenders who abuse children passed the House with overwhelming support on Tuesday. The Republican-backed bills now head to a Democratic-controlled Senate.

Republican House members are fast-tracking their bill to make state driver’s licenses compliant with the federal Real ID Act and to issue driving privilege cards, rather than regular licenses, to undocumented immigrants. They should get their bill through their chamber as soon as Wednesday evening.

Democratic state senators say the Republican plan would force every citizen to present a birth certificate and Social Security card at a Motor Vehicle Division office to get an updated license. Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto, D-Albuquerque, says many of his constituents don’t want the Real ID-compliant license, so he has introduced an alternative bill that would give U.S. citizens the option of having a New Mexico license good only for driving. Those with a second-tier license would use a passport for flying. Undocumented immigrants also would receive the secondary license under Ivey-Soto’s bill.

Ivey-Soto said Tuesday that he looks forward to receiving the House Republicans’ bill as he prepares to present his own measure. “I appreciate that they’re sending it over quickly and early because that allows the Senate to be the deliberative body that we are,” he said.

Child porn

By a 60-2 margin the House of Representatives passed a bill that would give prosecutors the option of prosecuting those charged with possessing child pornography for each image or depiction of child pornography in their possession. Under current law, those possessing multiple images of child pornography can only be charged with a maximum of one count of possession, even if they have thousands of images.

“Every image of child pornography represents a child that has been abused, victimized and exploited,” said Rep. Sara Maestas Barnes, R-Albuquerque, one of House Bill 65’s sponsors, in a news release. “It’s unacceptable for us to continue to leave our children vulnerable to predators and this heinous industry.”

Rep. Antonio “Moe” Maestas, D-Albuquerque, who opposed the bill, argued that it would be more effective and easier to prosecute child porn offenders if the charge carried a heavier penalty rather than making each image a separate count.

The bill now goes to the Senate.

Another corruption bill

So far there has been little if any movement on several ethics bills. But on Tuesday House Republican Leader Nate Gentry of Albuquerque and Sen. George Muñoz, D-Gallup, filed legislation to increase penalties for public officials convicted of corruption.

House Bill 260, would increase by one year the basic sentence for elected or appointed officials convicted of public corruption offenses. The legislation would also bar the offender from lobbying or contracting with a state public entity.

“Corruption erodes the public’s confidence in our ability to govern,” Gentry said in a news release. “This bill sends a strong message that abuse of the public’s trust will result in severe penalties.”

The new bill lists the offenses eligible for increased penalties. These include embezzlement, soliciting an illegal kickback, and receiving a bribe. In addition, the bill would require all public entities to post notice of public corruption offenses and their penalties.

The proposal would allow district attorneys or the state attorney general to request that officials convicted of public corruption offenses forfeit a portion of their state pensions. A state law already allows judges to impose, after a hearing, fines equal to a convicted official’s state pension. But the one time it would have applied — former Secretary Dianna Duran’s conviction on two felony corruption charges last year — Attorney General Hector Balderas declined to pursue her pension.

Renewable energy

Three bills aimed at environmental conservation and remediation got a push forward Tuesday from the Senate Conservation Committee. The Solar Market Development Tax Credit SB 13, aimed at providing incentives for developing solar energy, was approved 8-1. Meanwhile, SB 104, a renewable tax credit eligibility bill, passed unanimously with strong support from senators and the public who attended the hearing.

SB 8, aimed at remediation work for brine wells in Carlsbad, passed 5-4.

“It’s evident that New Mexico should be leading the nation in terms of renewable energy,” said Sen. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces. “And solar is at the forefront of the recourse we have in the state that we are not capitalizing on.”

Cervantes said the current $5 million tax credit cap proposed in the bill is too low and doesn’t reach enough New Mexicans. He said the committee should have focused more Tuesday on why support for the bill has not been stronger, especially from the governor’s office.

Sen. William Sharer, R-Farmington, who cast the only vote against the solar tax credit, said he is against all tax credits.

“It’s nothing to do with solar,” he said. “If we could figure out how to put bunnies on a little treadmill and make them run I’m OK with that too, it doesn’t matter. But I do want the lights to come on when I flip the switch...I don’t care what powers it.”

The Solar Market Tax bill moves to the Senate Corporations and Transportation Committee on Wednesday and could be heard by the House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday.

Quote of the day

“But the fact of the matter is, in the state of New Mexico, and in this nation, this seems to be the trend of hate crimes. And I believe that, you know, if you’re going to do it, we’re looking at, you know, you say there’s not choices with some of these things. Well there is. We’ve got religion on there. There’s choices in religion. You can decide to be of any religion or not that you want. So there’s a choice there. And you’ve got some other things on here that I think are choices that other people may not, as far as your sexual orientations, your gender identity. Those are I believe in a lot of cases decisions that people make.”

— Rep. Rick Little, R-Chaparral, speaking to a House committee about the bill that would add police officers to the list of those protected against hate crimes.