Lawmakers express frustration over session

Two lawmakers who represent Quay County told about their few successes and numerous failures and frustrations from the recently completed New Mexico Legislature session.

State Rep. Jack Chatfield (R-Mosquero) of the 67th District and state Sen. Pat Woods (R-Broadview) of District 7 spoke during a legislative forum Thursday, sponsored by the Tucumcari Economic Development Corp., at the Tucumcari Convention Center's Liberty Room. About 20 people attended the event, many of them city or Quay County officials.

State Sen. Pete Campos (D-Las Vegas) was invited to the event but did not appear.

Chatfield and Woods talked repeatedly about bills they shepherded that appeared to have broad bipartisan support in the Democratic-controlled Legislature but didn't advance before the session ended.

Calling it a "rough session," Woods said: "Not many things went well for me."

He noted with Democrats holding a supermajority in both houses, lawmakers no longer use a "give-and-take" approach and measures instead are passed on a pure party line. The fact many debates were held remotely because of COVID-19 restrictions exacerbated that, he aid.

"This is the first session I can remember where sponsors refused to answer any questions," Woods said.

Chatfield agreed with Woods' assessment that conservatives have a lesser voice in the Legislature: "Anyone who doesn't toe the line of extreme progressive Democrats are out."

He said the power in the Roundhouse now is concentrated in the more Democratic-leaning Rio Grande Corridor.

When asked by an audience member how to change things, Chatfield suggested electing more blue-dog Democrats that generally are more conservative.

In other items brought up by the lawmakers:

• Woods touted his sponsorship of Senate Bill 49, which allows small municipalities the use of up to 25% of their gross receipt tax funds to attract retail businesses that were lost during the pandemic.

Though he was told the measure was the No. 1 priority in the House, it didn't come up for a vote until the last minute.

The bill, signed into law by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on April 9, takes effect July 1 and runs through midyear 2030.

• Both lawmakers criticized House Bill 4, the New Mexico Civil Rights Act, which removes qualified immunity to police officers and other municipal employees who violate constitutional rights. The bill arose after nationwide protests against police brutality.

The bill, which became law April 8, increases the award cap to $2 million per claimant. Woods said the bill will cause insurance premiums to rise, which would prompt municipalities or counties to cut their services or raise taxes.

"There's some things we aren't thinking through," he said of the bill. "We think there's any endless supply of this money.

Chatfield said he also "very, very, very strongly" opposed the bill, and its effects would shrink the number of people who go into law enforcement.

"It's going to be the Wild West, and it's not going to be good," he said.

• Chatfield said the state's red-to-green system for COVID-19 risk penalizes rural counties. In light of higher vaccination rates and lower testing numbers, he said he expressed his misgivings to Human Services Secretary David Scrase, who acknowledged the numbers may need to be adjusted.

Chatfield also expressed doubts about the value of using a caseload average per 100,000 with a sparsely populated county. "One case can put you in the dirt" in the red-to-green criteria, he said.

• Woods said he failed to advance a bill that would have allocated $3.5 million for more weather stations around the state.

He said more stations are needed for farmers and ranches who depend on accurate weather data for rainfall insurance payouts. He said one Santa Rosa rancher reported zero rainfall, but his data depended on a weather station in Ruidoso - about 150 miles away.

Though his bill failed, Woods said he and Chatfield pooled their discretionary money of about $1 million to build two more weather stations.