Did you know that New Mexico is still under public health ’emergency orders’ after more than three years?
While numerous published benchmarks (goalposts some call them) have been met long ago, the edict of an emergency still remains. This points out that the governor has unlimited power on this important issue. That’s not good for the state.
Two bills, detailed below, were introduced that would have added much needed balance between the executive and legislative branch when it comes to emergency orders.
- HJR3: Termination of States, CA, sponsored by Greg Nibert, Randall Pettigrew, and Stefani Lord. The bill would have allowed voters to decide on amending the NM constitution so that an emergency order would be limited to 90 days without legislature approval.
- SB65: Emergency Powers Code Changes, sponsored by Gregory Baca and David Gallegos. This bill would have required legislative approval for extending an emergency order that closed down public places or limited gatherings.
Both HJR 3 and SB 65 were killed last Wednesday afternoon by Reps Christine Chandler, Andrea Romero, Eliseo Alcon, Gail Chasey, Javier Martinez, Matthew McQueen, and Reena Szczepanski.
NMBC wants to thank Reps Bill Rehm, Ryan Lane, Andrea Reeb, and Greg Nibert for supporting these bills. Kudos also to 1,000’s of grassroots advocates who participated in our Calls to Action sending emails and making calls to legislators.