Roundup of key bills set to cross governor's desk

SANTA FE — That's a wrap on the 2024 Legislature. Here are some key bills that are law or have a chance to become law as of Friday morning.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has signed three bills into law. At the end of the session at midday Thursday, nearly 70 bills sit on her desk awaiting her signature.

Any legislation Lujan Grisham doesn't sign by March 6 is pocket vetoed.

The effective date for signed legislation without an emergency clause or specified date is May 15.

Signed by the governor

HB1, Feed Bill — Annual administrative measure funds the Legislature.

HB141, Supreme Court Justice Salary Increase — Increases New Mexico Supreme Court justice salaries to $232,600, effective May 15.

HB171, School Graduation Requirements — Overhauls New Mexico's graduation requirements, balancing more student choice with retaining the total number of units required to graduate. It will take effect for students entering the ninth grade in the 2025-2026 school year.

Sitting on governor's desk

HB2&3, General Appropriations Act of 2024 — The state's proposed $10.2 billion budget. Lujan Grisham has the ability to line-item veto individual budget items.

HB33, Prescription Drug Price Transparency — Would require drug manufacturers selling certain high cost drugs — including drugs that cost $400 or more for a 30-day supply — to report certain data points to the Office of the Superintendent of Insurance. The reporting would be used to guide policy to reduce prescription drug prices in the future.

HB129, Firearm Sale Waiting Period Crimes — Would require a seven-day waiting period for gun purchases, with a few exceptions.

HB148, Water Project Fund Projects — Would allow the New Mexico Finance Authority to make loans or grants to qualifying water projects.

HB151, Post-Secondary Affirmative Consent Policy — Would require higher education institutions funded by state dollars to use trauma-informed policies and responses to sexual violence and train students on affirmative consent.

HB177, NM Match Fund — The bill, with an emergency clause, would establish a $75 million pot for more than 2,800 eligible entities in New Mexico, including towns, counties and tribal nations, from which to request dollars. The Department of Finance and Administration, the state agency in charge of administering the fund, could match state funding for federal grants.

HB182, Election Changes — This AI-focused bill would amend the Campaign Reporting Act to add a disclaimer requirement for the use of materially deceptive synthetic images, visuals and audio created by artificial intelligence.

HB193, Law Enforcement Retention Disbursements — Would change the Law Enforcement Retention Fund, aiming to better recruit and retain law enforcement officers. Lawmakers earlier in the session removed the $1 million appropriation originally included in the bill because it is part of the budget that passed on the floor Monday.

HB207, Public School Capital Outlay Grants — Would change language in the Public School Capital Outlay Fund, making assistance to charter schools from public school capital outlay mandatory.

HB236, Public Safety Retirees Returning to Work — Would allow certain public employees who have retired by Dec. 31, 2023 to return to work on a limited basis, according to bill sponsor Sen. Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque.

HB239, Cannabis as Prison Contraband — Would include cannabis among the list of prohibited contraband in places of imprisonment.

HB252, Adjust Income Brackets — There are a slew of tax credits and changes included in this year's proposed tax package, including clean energy credits and reduced personal income tax. Notably, there is no increase to the alcohol excise tax included. Legislation that would have increased the tax failed to move forward last week in the Roundhouse.

HB253, Capital Outlay Changes — Would make changes to the state's capital outlay program. A non-reverting fund — the capital development and reserve fund — would be created by the bill and managed by the State Investment Council. Money in the fund would be available to the Legislature to go toward capital projects costing less than $5 million and for the planning and design of more costly projects.

HB298, Service Members Suicide Prevention — The Veterans Services Department would be required to raise suicide awareness for service members and increase suicide prevention resources for veterans and active military and their families.

HB302, Department of Defense Military Recommendations — Child care programs certified by the U.S. Department of Defense would not be required to meet additional state licensing requirements.

HB308, General Bond Obligations — Authorizes the issuance of general obligation bond capacity of roughly $290 million.

SB5, Firearms Near Polling Places — Would prohibit guns within 100 feet of polling places. The Senate concurred on an amendment added last week in the House, which allows people with concealed carry licenses to bring their firearms when they vote.

SB6, Cannabis Regulation Changes — Would tweak several sections of the Cannabis Regulation Act with the goal of tightening regulations of the industry.

SB17, Health Care Delivery and Access Act — Would impose assessments on most hospitals based on non-Medicare utilization and leverage federal funding to reimburse facilities, increasing Medicaid reimbursement in hospitals up to the average commercial rate. The bipartisan bill aims to address the health care crisis in the state, particularly in rural communities.

SB37, Meat Inspection Act — Would allow for the New Mexico Livestock Board to conduct inspections of meat-producing and -processing plants in the state. Proponents said it would positively impact ranchers and allow for meat to be fully produced and processed within the state.

SB88, Electronic Driver's License Credentials — Would allow the New Mexico Department of Transportation to issue electronic driver's licenses.

SB96, Increase Attempted Murder Penalty — Would increase prison time for attempted murder in the second degree from three to a maximum nine years. It would also increase the penalty for second degree felony resulting in a death from 15 years to 18 years.

SB128, State Fire Retirement — Would add a definition for "state fire member" to the Public Employees Retirement Act, for non-volunteer firefighters.

SB129, Cybersecurity Act Changes — Would amend the Cybersecurity Act, including adopting more cybersecurity rules and standards.

SB135, Step Therapy Guidelines — Patients with cancer or autoimmune diseases would no longer need prior authorization from their insurance provider to be approved for treatment or prescription medications. Additionally, anyone who already had a medication approved by prior authorization or step therapy would no longer need to annually repeat the process to keep using that medication. That approval would now apply as long as it still had a therapeutic effect for the patient.

SB137, School Board Training — Would require new school board members to go through 10 hours of training in ethics and school personnel, public school finance, open meetings and public records, governance and supervision and student achievement and support services. It would also prohibit new school boards from terminating superintendents — or extending their contracts — shortly after the election or appointment of a new school board. All candidates for school boards would be required to report $1,000 or greater campaign contributions. Currently, only candidates in large school districts — 12,000 or more students — that have contributions and spending above $500 have to report those donations to the Secretary of State.

SB142, Behavioral Health Facility Notification — This legislation wouldn't allow residential behavioral health facilities to admit patients without trying to get family contact information for patients, so patients could notify their family of admission.

SB152, CYFD Investigations and Background Checks — Would require background checks for certain people working with the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department and Early Childhood Education and Care Department.

SB161, Acute Care Facilities Subsidies — Would create grants for a dozen rural hospitals in the state to help make up for lost revenue for certain services, including emergency medical services, child and maternal health, for which they may not be fully reimbursed.

SB165, Legislative Retirement Changes — Would increase pension payments for future retirees from the New Mexico State Legislature.

SB175, Law Enforcement Fund Distributions — Would appropriate funds to recruit and retain law enforcement officers.

SB176, Athletic Competition Act Changes — Would add fighter weight classes and increase, by an average $74, annual licensing fees for almost a dozen license types. It would also increase the required insurance coverage for licensed fighters, including pro boxers, kickboxers, martial artists and wrestlers from $1,000 to $2,500.

SB230, Disclosure of Certain Health Info — Would broaden the list of instances in which confidential information on children can be shared, according to the bill's fiscal impact report. Bill sponsor Sen. Greg Nibert, R-Roswell, has said the measure would allow for the collection of health data for research purposes.

SB239, Lottery and Opportunity Scholarship Changes — Would change some eligibility requirements for lottery and opportunity scholarships, including the allowance of coverage of summer semesters under the lottery scholarship and not counting high schoolers' dual credits toward credit-hour caps under the opportunity scholarship.

SB271, Repeat Felony Offender No Bond Hold — Would require felony offenders arrested for an additional felony while on release stay in custody until judges on prior felony cases have an opportunity to review their conditions of release.

SB275, Capital Outlay Projects — Would set aside about $1.4 billion, according to the Legislative Finance Committee, across brick-and-mortar projects throughout New Mexico.