State symbols vetoed by governor
The 60-day legislative session has come and gone, and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said she does not think lawmakers used their time wisely. More than a thousand bills were introduced during the session. Nearly 200 made it to the governor’s desk, and she signed about 80 percent of those into law.
The bills she vetoed Friday include making tortillas the state bread. If you’re surprised lawmakers spent their limited time debating a bill like that you’re not alone. Critics argue it could have been used to address more serious issues like juvenile crime. The governor agrees.
New Mexicans we spoke with said our symbols connect us to our culture, but there must be a balance.
“I learned the state song and all of the state symbols in the fourth grade and I’ve carried them with me throughout my life,” Albuquerque resident Ann Pennington said.
New Mexico has more than 30 state symbols including a state cookie, a state song, two state vegetables, a state necklace, a state aircraft, and a state amphibian. We tested New Mexicans on their state symbol trivia. Many of them knew the basics. One that stumped most was our state aircraft. No, it’s not a UFO, but a hot air balloon.
In the governor’s veto message she wrote the house had time to debate the state bread in the wake of a mass shooting in Las Cruces, and cited public safety bills that never made it to her desk.
“I think we need to have room for both,” Albuquerque resident Jennifer Benitez said. “There’s absolutely many more things that are important but at the same time everything heavy is draining and we need a little bit of lightness.”
She also vetoed another bill that would have created low-rider and New Mexico United license plates. The legislature did pass three separate license plate bills despite having 40 specialty plates on the books.
“One of those license plate bills even made it through the Senate Finance Committee, where lawmakers claimed they did not have time to hear a bill that would have helped build more housing for New Mexicans,” the governor wrote in her veto message.