Senate blocks bill to limit governor’s powers

New Mexico Senate Minority Leader Greg Baca, R-Rio Rancho, was able to force a debate Wednesday, March 10, on his bill to limit the governor’s powers during an emergency, but nothing more.

Early in Wednesday’s session, while legislators were still on announcements, Baca moved that Senate Bill 74 be made the next order of business. After about an hour of debate, the motion was defeated 24-14 on a straight party-line vote, meaning the bill will likely continue to languish on the daily calendar until the end of the session.

“I’ve been assured that it won’t be heard,” Baca said.

Under Senate rules, once a bill clears the committee process it gets put onto the calendar for third reading, or final passage. There are always many more bills on the calendar than can be heard, and the majority leader has discretion over which ones get considered each day. SB 74 has been on the calendar since a 7-2 favorable vote in the Judiciary Committee Feb. 15.

The bill would establish a limit of 45 days on any emergency public health order issued when the Legislature is not in session. The Legislative Council Committee, which meets each month throughout the year, would have to give its approval for the order to be continued. The limit would be 14 days when the Legislature is in session.

Baca said the bill was not intended as a criticism of the current governor, but was meant to ensure that the Legislature is included in the process. Current law places no restrictions on how often an emergency order can be renewed.

Senators from both parties were receptive to that argument during the committee process. But Democrats objected Tuesday to the attempt to challenge the discretion of the majority leader, Sen. Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe.

Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque, who helped make amendments needed to get the bill through his Health and Human Services Committee early in the process, said debating it now is a waste of time, given that Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has said she would veto the bill if it reached her desk.

“The governor retains the right to veto whatever we pass,” he said. “Do you really think it’s worth taking the time of this body to debate at length a measure that we know is dead upon arrival?”

Baca and other Republicans said the issue was bigger than just the current emergency order. It was about the Legislature taking back power it had given away two decades ago following the 9/11 terrorist attacks and re-asserting itself as a co-equal branch of government.

“This motion is nothing about the current health orders. This is about the constitutional legislative process. After 911, this body decided, and debate, to cede power to the executive,” said Sen. Mark Moores, R-Albuquerque, in regard to emergency powers granted when Bill Richardson was governor. “Only one person voted against it and that was Michael Sanchez. He saw what was coming down the pike.”

Moores said a veto should not be considered the final word on any subject, noting that in 2017 the Senate voted 34-7 to override a veto by then Gov. Susana Martinez on the issue of teacher sick leave.

Sen. Ron Griggs, R-Alamogordo, said he was the mayor of Alamogordo in the winter of 2011 when a rare arctic cold front dropped temperatures to well below zero, so he understands that the executive branch needs to be able to move quickly in an emergency.

“I believe she’s done what she feels is right, but it’s important that our body looks at the law that’s in place. A law that gives any governor the opportunity to act in a manner that’s almost continuous,” Griggs said.

“Every single one of us have heard from -- more than one I would imagine -- members of our districts saying ‘When is this going to end? How can you deal with that?’ And the only way we have to deal with that is this bill, he said.”

While other states, including neighboring Texas, have either loosened or eliminated restrictions imposed to stop the spread of the virus, the public health order in New Mexico remains one of the strictest in the nation.

The order was last updated Feb. 24 to add a new level, turquoise, to the state’s red-yellow-green progression. Counties move up and down the scale based on meeting benchmarks measured every two weeks.

For counties still at the red level, stores are limited to 25 percent capacity, there is no indoor dining at restaurants, bars are closed and mass gatherings are limited to five people or 40 vehicles. And the state retains its mandatory facemask policy regardless of what status a county is in.

“We have to keep it up. We’ve seen what happens when we ease up too quickly or let our guard down all at once – our hospitals fill back up and more New Mexicans lose their lives,” Lujan Grisham said last month in announcing the changes.

Two similar bills similar to SB 74 have been introduced in the house, House Bill 139 and HB 159, but neither has made it through the committee process.

Walter Rubel can be reached at waltrubel@gmail.com.