Area legislators share stories of session

Area legislators addressed Wednesday’s Clovis-Portales legislative breakfast with stories aplenty on just how strange it was to be in a legislative session where only legislators and staff were on site and everybody else was participating via electronic means.

Sen. Stuart Ingle, R-Portales, said every arrival to a room feels like you’re the last person to find out the meeting was canceled.

“Inside the building, it’s like a ghost town,” Rep. Randal Crowder, R-Clovis, said. “I can walk all the way through the hallway, out to the Rotunda, and not see anybody. It’s a strange thing.”

With people participating from their homes and offices, Wednesday’s legislative breakfast wasn’t technically a breakfast. But it was well-attended with more than 100 people on the Zoom meeting at most points — easily exceeding average attendance when the event is held in a Santa Fe hotel ballroom.

The legislators who attended throughout the 90 minutes of discussion said the lack of in-person attendance has not reduced their distractions, because every person who isn’t in the building still finds ways to reach out.

“I’m getting hundreds of emails a day, I’m getting hundreds of texts a day,” Crowder said. “If I don’t return your calls, please be patient.”

Rep. Martin Zamora, R-Clovis, said a lawsuit is pending to restore the legislative session to a model closer than what currently exists, with constituent services forced online and the Capitol fenced in and guarded by state police officers.

“It’s a tough job to do, and it gets tougher as we go,” Zamora said. “Not only are we having to adapt to being computer programmers, but we’re being fenced in the Capitol. We’ve got state police watching us so closely it’s unreal.”

Sen. Pat Woods, R-Broadview, said he’s been busier this year thanks to his position on the Senate Finance Committee, which he likened to being fed information through a fire hose. Woods didn’t know entering the session he would be on the committee, and decided to carry nine bills.

Woods noted that election security was a concern, as he received hundreds of messages about rigged elections. He offered an election security bill that he assumed would be killed, but was encouraged the secretary of state’s office reached out with a willingness to hammer out disagreements. Sticking points, Woods said, included the ability to change registrations the day of the elections and whether registration changes should be allowed only at county clerk’s offices and not at polling places.

When asked if there was any evidence of a rigged election in New Mexico, Woods only offered a hypothetical scenario in which a person would acquire information about deceased residents and exploit that information to make multiple requests for absentee ballots delivered to one central address.

In a Legislature where Democrats hold healthy majorities in both houses, Crowder said he lives by a Calvin Coolidge quote that it’s more important to kill a bad bill than pass a good one.

Chamber members generally provided messages of support, with Clovis/Curry County Chamber President Laura Leal noting pleasure in advocating on the legislator’s behalf. Roosevelt County Chamber President Felicia Powell thanked legislators for listening, but noted there was a distinction between listening and hearing and hoped they would do both.

In other matters discussed at the virtual forum:

• Rep. Jack Chatfield, R-Mosquero, said he was hoping a bill of his could help pave the way for small in-state meat processing plants. Much of that work is handled by a handful of large multinational corporations, and if they simply decide not to work with New Mexico ranchers the price of cattle immediately dips and the price of beef in the stores immediately rises.

• Regarding a request by the governor’s office for legislators to devote half of their capital outlay to relief, Crowder doubted it had much momentum.

“I believe legislators are going to fight that tooth and nail,” Crowder said. “I don’t anticipate that being in House Bill 2 by the time it gets to the governor.”

• Legislators saw little chance of killing any bills regarding minimum wage increases, but they would try to find ways to reach across the aisle. “There’s always a chance,” Woods said. “If there wasn’t, we wouldn’t even bother to show up.”

• David Robinson, advocating on behalf of Cannon Air Force Base, said the base wanted to have input on where wind farms may go, not so much due to turbine heights but because necessary lighting could interfere with training missions.

Robinson also noted work was ongoing to strengthen legislation passed last year on license reciprocity for members of military families. This year’s legislation would add 13 more job professions, with many in the medical field.

• Legislators were against the idea of a state-owned bank, noting the push to create them is fueled by a push for legalizing recreational marijuana. Because the drugs are still narcotics under federal terms, federal banks can’t deal with profits resulting from their sales.

• Crowder noted than an executive order from President Joe Biden halting any new permits for oil and gas leases on federal lands for 60 days could stall activity for a full year and have impacts on New Mexico’s budget.

“Things always seem to work out somehow,” Crowder said. “There’s a fiscal cliff coming where we’re going to have to tighten our belts to make the budget.”

In closing, Clovis Mayor Mike Morris — who is a proponent of a bill that would allow larger municipalities to recruit retail with economic development dollars — gave thanks on behalf of the citizens.

“Part of the reason we can have hope in spite of some of the adversity you’re describing … is because we have full confidence that you represent our values and our interests completely,” Morris said. “You have our full support, and our thoughts and our prayers.”