SANTA FE, N.M. – There is less than 24 hours left in this 60-day legislative session. At this point, it’s a race to get bills across the finish line before the deadline at noon Saturday.

Lawmakers are not wasting these final few hours. House and Senate lawmakers spent most of the day just going down the list of bills left to debate, and getting what they can up to the governor’s desk. That includes a bill incentivizing local school districts to adopt phone free policies.

CELL PHONE-FREE POLICY INCENTIVES

The goal is to get students of all ages off their phones during class and hopefully turn their attention back to the lesson plan.

Lawmakers allocated $2 million to help districts pay for any new equipment.

“We know that in New Mexico, we are desperate to increase those proficiency rates. This is going to help. It’s also going to help with the mental crisis issue that we’re seeing among our teenagers,” said state Sen. Crystal Brantley. 

WILDFIRE PREPARED ACT

Lawmakers also sent the governor a bill Friday expanding the state’s wildfire mitigation efforts.

The Wildfire Prepared Act is working to coordinate efforts to prepare homes in wildfire zones, so they hopefully survive the next disaster.

SHIFT TO SEMI-OPEN PRIMARIES

The Legislature also approved a bill opening up New Mexico’s primary elections.

Right now, only voters registered in the major political parties can participate, and lawmakers know there are a lot of Independents out there who should get to choose who ends up on the ballot.

“It allows young people, people of color, majority who are declining to state, our veterans who don’t want to be labeled with a party to be able to continue to participate in the representative process,” said state Rep. Cristina Parajón.

OFFICE OF THE CHILD ADVOCATE

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is not wasting anytime, either. She signed House Bill 5 into law Friday, officially establishing a new Office of the Child Advocate inside the New Mexico Department of Justice.

This new, independent agency will be tasked with providing oversight over the Children, Youth & Families Department, and investigating complaints.

It’s a huge win for lawmakers working to reform the problematic state agency.

“We need to bring some much-needed change to CYFD. This is the time that we start making a difference, and it’s been for too long we have not done our job as a legislator, and I’m hopeful, as we move forward, that we will see some positive outcomes,” said state Sen. Crystal Brantley.  

But not everyone is feeling so good right now. The governor was originally backing a different CYFD oversight bill and called out the Legislature and Attorney General Raúl Torrez in her scathing executive message: 

“The legislature preferred the Office of the Child Advocate, which was initially weaponized for the Attorney General and the legislature to intimidate CYFD and its staff. 

It was a thinly-disguised vendetta by a legislature that is still upset at my continuing pursuits of meaningful criminal justice legislation and an Attorney General who has failed to demonstrate that public safety is a priority in any meaningful way.”

AG Torrez’s office responded, saying: “The focus of this bill should have remained squarely on the children who suffer from neglect, abuse, and systemic failures. Nowhere in the Governor’s statement is there acknowledgment of their struggles or the urgent need for reform. I believe leadership means prioritizing the people we serve, not engaging in personal grievances.” 

Clearly there are some strong emotions in these final few hours, and we’re expecting even more rifts between the governor and lawmakers over some other bills.