Concealed carry, electoral votes among issues for legislative pre-filing

Legislators representing Curry and Roosevelt County are getting ready for pre-filing ahead of the January session.

Pre-filing began Thursday and runs through Jan. 13, with the session opening Jan. 17.

District 66 House Representative Bob Wooley said he will pre-file a right of first refusal bill for Southwestern Public Service Company.

“This legislation would give the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission regulation on the building of transmission lines,” said Wooley. “If the legislation passes, the federal government will defer to the state. Federal government states if the right of first refusal is passed, they will allow the state to have authority over the building of transmission lines.”

District 64 House Representative Randal Crowder said he is likely to file a bill requiring the state to give residents with concealed-carry licenses a notice of expiration.

“I’ve just had numerous individuals express their frustration,” said Crowder. “I know there’s a seven-year license with Florida and I get notices on those. It’s a kindness to the regulated community to have those notices.”

District 63 House Representative George Dodge Jr. said he is not working on specific legislation on the moment, but said his two biggest concerns are agriculture and veteran services.

“I am working on a couple of services as of right now. There’s nothing concrete,” said Dodge. “Everything is still in a state of flux as far as the House of Representatives is concerned.”

District 67 House Representative Dennis Roch could not be reached for comment regarding his own planned legislation.

The budget is certainly a concern for both District 7 Senator Pat Woods and District 27 Senator Stuart Ingle.

“Right now, I’m worried about the budget,” said Ingle. “We need to look at (new revenue estimates) in February.”

“We set priorities or we take the shotgun approach to cut everybody again,” said Woods. “We need to have the different departments justify their budgets, and they do that. What kind of budget do you want? Where can you economize? Where can you save some money? Where do you see that we can save some money? Where can we help with regulations?”

Woods said cuts would happen either way, so it is better to prioritize.

Ingle said he is also working to possibly change aspects of the state’s guardianship system, which allows the courts to appoint guardians for incapacitated adults.

Woods said he has three items he is hoping to pre-file. One item is allowing auctioneers to auction off real-estate without spending a couple thousand dollars on a real-estate license.

The second item is making sure eastern New Mexico is better represented in the state’s five electoral votes and three congressional districts. Electoral votes are awarded in New Mexico on a winner-take-all basis.

“A constituent is very upset the electoral college vote didn’t reflect eastern New Mexico,” said Woods. “What he would like to do is have that re-written so that the three congressional districts in New Mexico better represent the conservative eastern New Mexico.”

The third item is better defining livestock and if domesticated and feral horses fall under that category, Woods said, so feral horses that potentially destroy vegetation can be properly cared for.

“There is a recent court opinion in that all horses aren’t livestock and some are wildlife,” said Woods. “It’s really just a matter of changing the definition of livestock. It’s defined two different ways in the statute.”