Feb. 8—Days remaining in session: 6

Digital driver’s licenses: Eight states currently offer mobile drivers’ licenses — tied to a mobile device with the power to update them in real time — and some New Mexico lawmakers want New Mexico to be the ninth. It may, now that members of the House Transportation and Public Works Committee unanimously passed Senate Bill 88, which allows the state Taxation and Revenue Department to start issuing electronic credentials for licenses and identification cards, in addition to physical cards.

SB 88’s fiscal impact report notes the Transportation Security Administration already is accepting these mobile cards and is “expected to widely adopt scanning technology to allow use of the mobile driver’s licenses at airports in the coming years.” That report notes, however, law enforcement officers need scanning devices to accept the mobile licenses but says as those agencies adopt scanning devices “mobile driver’s licenses will become universally accepted.”

SB 88, which already cleared the Senate, now goes to the floor of the House of Representatives for consideration.

Panhandling crackdown stalls: A bill to ban some panhandling in streets and parking lots stalled in committee Thursday and appears to be going nowhere this year.

Senate Bill 248 would have banned asking for money within “nonpublic forums” within a roadway or parking lot, such as as the road itself, parking spaces and narrow medians. It would have also banned “aggressive solicitation.”

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham called for a crackdown on panhandling in her State of the State address last month, calling it a public safety risk.

“New Mexico has been the deadliest state in the nation in ’22 and ’21 for pedestrians,” Benjamin Baker, Lujan Grisham’s public safety adviser, told the Senate Health and Public Affairs Committee. “We are almost twice as likely to be killed as pedestrians in New Mexico than in some of our neighboring states.”

Monet Silva, executive director of the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness, argued the bill would “further criminalize those experiencing homelessness and in addition criminalize those in our community that choose to help.”

The committee voted unanimously to table the bill.

Clean fuel standards: A bill that would establish standards for clean transportation fuels in New Mexico survived its first committee hearing in the Senate.

While House Bill 41 passed the Senate Conservation Committee 6-3, the proposal may be in for a bumpy road ahead with less than a week left in this year’s legislative session.

Sen. Joe Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, said HB 41 has “deep deficiencies.” He questioned why it would go through the House Judiciary Committee but not the Senate Judiciary Committee, which he chairs.

“I support the principle, the policy, the goals — they’re all laudable — but the infirmities, if you will, of the drafting of the bill and the complexities of it really make it something that ultimately could never be enforced or interpreted,” he said. “I can give you countless examples.”

Cervantes said the bill lacked consequences for “non-attainment.”

The bill heads next to the Senate Finance Committee. If it makes it to the full Senate, Cervantes warned the sponsors to expect “significant” amendments on the floor.

“The bill is deficient,” he said. “It really deserves a lot more work.”

Sponsor Rep. Kristina Ortez, D-Taos, noted a version of the bill has previously passed in the Senate.

“But we’ve really worked on getting this bill to where it is today,” she said. “We’ve worked with lots of stakeholders to improve it.”

Unanimous vote for tribal trust fund: The House voted 68-0 Thursday to create a Tribal Education Trust Fund.

Rep. Derrick Lente, D-Sandia Pueblo, pushed a similar bill last year that failed to pass. Navajo Nation officials had originally opposed this year’s House Bill 134 but dropped their opposition when Lente agreed to an amendment he unveiled on the House floor to address some of their concerns about the oversight of the fund and how the money would be distributed.

The state budget bill currently contains $50 million to create the fund, which would make a 5% yearly distribution to be divided among the state’s Indian tribes, nations and pueblos to fund their schools based on a mix of need and population. The bill heads to the Senate.

“The Tribal Education Trust Fund will ensure that all of our tribes, nations, and pueblos can implement culturally relevant curriculum that incorporates their unique customs and traditions, keep Native languages alive, and improve student outcomes,” Lente said in a statement after the vote.

Advocates call for action on tobacco: Anti-smoking advocates gathered in the Rotunda on Thursday to decry the toll tobacco and e-cigarette use take on New Mexicans’ health.

“I think we’ve made a lot of progress in New Mexico but we still have a long way to go,” Rep. Liz Thomson, D-Albuquerque, said at a lunchtime news conference organized by the New Mexico Allied Council on Tobacco. She criticized the tobacco industry for targeting groups such as the poor, teenagers and the LGBTQ+ community.

“Every time we do something, they’re two steps ahead,” she said.

Thomson is sponsoring House Memorial 51, which would call on the state Department of Health’s Nicotine Use Prevention and Control Program to make recommendations to the Legislature to tackle tobacco use and study the effects of tobacco taxes. The memorial cleared the House Health and Human Services Committee unanimously earlier this week.

Deputy Attorney General Julie Meade talked about her office’s efforts to collect money New Mexico is owed from the tobacco settlement of the late 1990s and to hold companies accountable today, including a major lawsuit against e-cigarette maker Juul that was settled last year. She said Attorney General Raúl Torrez and his state Department of Justice are “committed to the people of New Mexico and continue to work to protect their health and well being, especially when it involves our kids.

Court denies challenge to line-item veto: The state Supreme Court denied a petition filed in September by retired state Sen. Jacob Candelaria on behalf of Democratic lawmaker Rep. Miguel Garcia, who challenged the governor’s line-item vetoes on an omnibus tax bill passed by the Legislature last year.

The petition had asked the court to declare vetoes of sections of House bill 457 unconstitutional.

Candelaria wrote in an email Thursday he respects the court’s judgment, but added the order does not explain the rationale behind the unanimous decision.

“I fully expect there will be more litigation on these issues in the future as the executive continues to push the bounds of its authority over the Legislative process and the power of the purse,” Candelaria wrote.

Quote of the day: “I’m not a Christmas person.” — Sen. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez, D-Albuquerque, while contemplating the type of chile to choose for her breakfast burrito during the morning Senate Conservation Committee meeting.

Follow Daniel J. Chacón on Twitter @danieljchacon.