SANTA FE – New Mexico lawmakers on Saturday were trying to address festering problems of police accountability and craft new civil rights protections for minorities, all within the span of a quick-fire special legislative session.
The state House began deliberating a Senate-approved bill to ensure state agencies assess policies for preventing racism in hiring, employee retention, pay equity, community engagement and workplace participation.
The bill from Democratic Sen. Linda Lopez, Rep. Javier Martinez and others also would track workforce racial and ethnic demographics in state government and require anti-institutional racism training.
Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has encouraged legislators to seize the momentum of demonstrations set off by George Floyd’s killing at the hands of Minneapolis police to enact policing reforms and an safeguard civil rights guarantees.
Other special legislative session bills would mandate police body cameras, track instances of excessive force by law enforcement and allow special prosecutors to investigate police misconduct.
And the House-approved bill would appoint a commission to consider changes to qualified immunity provisions that protect police officers from lawsuits, allowing them to be sued for misconduct.
Separately Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s already has convened a council on racial justice to prepare an anti-racism agenda for consideration by legislators in 2021.
Another bill focuses on improving the reliability of absentee balloting in elections and would bolster access to Election Day polls on Native American lands.
The Senate may provide final approval of a budget solvency plan that fills a gaping general fund deficit by harnessing federal recovery funds, half of the state’s financial reserves and borrowed money to sustain infrastructure spending.
State government finances are reeling from the economic fallout of the coronavirus epidemic and aggressive state emergency health restrictions.
State economists are forecasting a $2.4 billion decline in state government income through June 2021 as the crucial tourism and petroleum sectors struggle.
Under a House-approved budget rewrite, state general fund spending for the fiscal year that begins July 1 was revised downward to $7 billion from the previously approved $7.6 billion plan, while keeping overall spending increases for public education.
A Senate-approved bill would tap into a multibillion-dollar state trust to offer low-interest loans to small businesses and local governments that have lost significant income during the coronavirus pandemic.
