Crooked Bough News Round-up

— State portal for missing Indigenous people needs work, families say

 

at 12/6/24 5:05pm

Signs for missing and murdered Indigenous people line the front of a room at the University of New Mexico School of Law during a state-run event on Oct. 24, 2024. (Photo by Bella Davis / New Mexico In Depth)There are 194 Indigenous people listed as missing from New Mexico and the Navajo Nation in an online portal run by the New Mexico Department of Justice. The portal provides “a comprehensive database for reporting and searching” cases, the homepage reads. But click on any of the individual names and, for the most part, all you’ll find is age, sex, and the law enforcement agency the person was reported missing to. There are no photos attached to any of the entries. “How are you going to help us look for them?” Darlene Gomez, an attorney who represents affected families, asked members of the department’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Task Force on Friday. “How can the community look for these people when they don’t have pictures? This is a shame.” The department has been working to gain access to federal information systems, communications director Lauren Rodriguez said in an email to New Mexico In Depth, a process that should be done early next year. That’ll allow for more complete entries, including photos. It’s been nearly nine months since the department launched the portal. The lack of photos is one of several frustrations advocates and families raised during a virtual, second meeting of the task force, the bulk of which was held in private. This story was originally published by New Mexico In Depth. It is republished here with permission. Lawmakers earlier this year called on Attorney General Raúl Torrez to create the group, following the disbanding of a prior task force in 2023 by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s administration. The new task force’s goals are to update a state response plan published in 2022 and provide recommendations to the Legislature. Task force chair Stephanie Padilla (Isleta Pueblo) asked community members to share their ideas. The state should fund billboards with photos of missing and murdered Indigenous people, said Vangie Randall-Shorty (Diné), the mother of Zachariah Juwaun Shorty, who was killed in 2020. Flyers get torn down and replacing them is costly, she said. Gomez, whose friend Melissa Ann Montoya (Jicarilla Apache) has been missing since 2001, called for legislation similar to California’s Feather Alert, which police are meant to use to notify the public of suspicious disappearances of Indigenous people. There’s also a need for more legal advocates, Gomez said, to help families navigate the criminal justice system. Two task force members addressed some of those concerns. Bernadine Beyale (Diné), founder of the nonprofit 4Corners K-9 Search and Rescue, spoke about helping search for Julius Largo (Diné), who was last seen walking near Morgan Lake outside of Farmington on Nov. 25, according to the Navajo Police Department. “His sister is so overwhelmed that she called me over the weekend at midnight, just stressed out, needed someone to talk to,” Beyale said. “Are there advocates for these families that’s willing to be available 24/7 to talk to them? Because I get phone calls in the middle of the night from families just not knowing what to do, where to go.” After public comment, Padilla said the rest of the meeting would be closed. The agenda includes a presentation on last month’s tribal consultation on violence against women and discussion of “interactions with public and media.” It’s unclear if the task force will continue to meet privately. Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples Task Force accepting nominations The group is accepting nominations for additional members until noon on Wednesday, Dec. 11, Padilla said. The open seats are: Indigenous survivors of violence or family members of an indigenous relative who has been a victim of violence; members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and two-spirit plus community; and indigenous youth People with experience working as a tribal prosecutor, a tribal criminal investigator, a tribal emergency dispatcher, a tribal police chief or a tribal social worker or program director Nominations can be submitted using the task force’s “contact us” form or to Assistant Attorney General Michael Kiehne at 505-627-3487.

[Category: Civil Rights & Immigration, Gov & Politics, Native America, Police & Prison]

— New Mexico is now allowing digital IDs, but don’t expect to use them right away

 

at 12/6/24 4:34pm

A photo of the New Mexico digital drivers license captured Friday, Dec. 6, 2024. New Mexico is one of several states now allowing for digital ID uses at airport security or for buying age-restricted products. (Danielle Prokop / Source NM)New Mexico now allows residents to carry and use virtual drivers licenses. But for now, theyre mostly just taking up memory on your phone. A digital version of your ID won’t let you swan through local airport security for weeks — or maybe even longer, and its unclear how many businesses will let you use it to prove you’re old enough to buy alcohol or cannabis. Earlier this year, lawmakers passed Senate Bill 88 to allow New Mexico to join a handful of other states in developing digital identification for smartphones. Arizona and Georgia first launched their efforts in 2021, and Colorado, Hawaii, Iowa, Maryland and Ohio followed, while California is still piloting their program. The process for getting a digital ID includes taking photos of the physical card –  front and back –  and then submitting images and video of the ID-holder’s face to the New Mexico Motor Vehicle Department. But while it only takes a few hours to get the digital ID, actually using it somewhere may take a few more months. New Mexico currently doesn’t have airport security checkpoints that allow for digital ID, it’s illegal to drive without a physical license in the state,  and restaurants, liquor stores and cannabis shops may take a while to adopt the technology to use it. Restaurants and other venues that sell liquor are going to need training, said Carol Wight, the chief executive officer at the New Mexico Restaurant Association. “Weve got to start educating folks, the general public and the people who are taking these IDs,” Wight said. “So it will probably take a couple of years before this becomes what everybodys using.” Wight said top officials at the Department of Taxation and Revenue alerted her to the program’s start in a call last week, and that the New Mexico Restaurant Association will plan a webinar on the program in coming weeks. State licensing officials sent emails to businesses on Thursday, notifying them that digital IDs can now be used for purchasing age-restricted items such as alcohol, cannabis and tobacco. The state released a verification app the state created called NM Verifier, which businesses can use to read the digital IDs in order to sell age-restricted items. A spokesperson at the New Mexico Motor Vehicle Department did not respond to emails or calls Friday asking how many digital IDs have been issued, and how many businesses have downloaded NM Verifier. The federal Transportation Security Administration allows digital IDs to pass through airport security checkpoints in places around the country, but hasn’t installed the technology yet in New Mexico airports. The state’s announcement said that digital IDs will be able to be used at Albuquerque’s Sunport and Hobbs-based Lea County Regional Airport “in coming weeks,” but no other details were available. A spokesperson for the Sunport deferred comment to the regional TSA office in Albuquerque, who did not respond to Source NM calls or emails for comment. Lea County officials said they were surprised by the announcement, and said they would seek additional information from TSA officials before making a comment.

[Category: Gov & Politics, acohol sales, airport security, cannabis, digital ID, driver's license, New Mexico Motor Vehicle Department, New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department, Sunport]

— USDA launches national testing of milk from dairy farms to track bird flu outbreak

 

at 12/6/24 3:26pm

Holstein milking cows at an Idaho dairy on July 20, 2012. (Photo by Kirsten Strough/USDA)WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Friday it will require dairy farms to share samples of unpasteurized milk when requested, in an effort to gather more information about the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza. Public health officials have tracked the spread of bird flu or H5N1 in domestic poultry flocks for years before the virus began showing up in the country’s dairy herds this March, raising concerns. While the risk to the general public remains low and there is no evidence to suggest bird flu can spread from person to person, nearly 60 people, mostly farmworkers, have contracted the virus this year. The new milk testing requirements from USDA will apply nationally but will begin first in California, Colorado, Michigan, Mississippi, Oregon and Pennsylvania, the week of Dec. 16.  “Among many outcomes, this will give farmers and farmworkers better confidence in the safety of their animals and ability to protect themselves, and it will put us on a path to quickly controlling and stopping the virus’ spread nationwide,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a written statement. Unpasteurized milk The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has repeatedly tested pasteurized milk on store shelves throughout the country to reaffirm it’s safe to drink. Other dairy products, like cheese and ice cream, have also been found safe. But the FDA continues to urge people against consuming unpasteurized milk, since it doesn’t go through the heating process that kills off viruses and bacteria. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a written statement the new milk “testing strategy is a critical part of our ongoing efforts to protect the health and safety of individuals and communities nationwide.” “Our primary responsibility at HHS is to protect public health and the safety of the food supply, and we continue to work closely with USDA and all stakeholders on continued testing for H5N1 in retail milk and dairy samples from across the country to ensure the safety of the commercial pasteurized milk supply,” Becerra said. “We will continue this work with USDA for as long and as far as necessary.” The USDA began a voluntary bulk tank testing program for milk this summer in an attempt to make it easier for farmers to move their cattle across state lines without having to test each cow. The department also began a year-long study in August to test for bird flu in dairy cattle moved into meat production, seeking to confirm prior studies that found it safe to eat. The bird flu outbreak has affected 720 dairy herds throughout 15 states so far this year, though California became the epicenter during the last month, according to data from the USDA. The Golden State holds nearly all of the 273 herds diagnosed, with just four found in Utah during the last 30 days. California also holds the bulk of bird flu infections in people, with 32 of the 58 diagnosed cases this year, according to information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Colorado accounts for another 10 human cases and Washington state confirmed 11 people infected with H5N1. Michigan has had two cases this year, while Missouri, Oregon and Texas have each had one positive human case. USDA order The USDA federal order announced Friday will require anyone responsible for a dairy farm — such as a bulk milk transporter, bulk milk transfer station, or dairy processing facility — to share unpasteurized or raw milk samples when requested. Any farm owners whose dairy herds test positive for H5N1 will be required to share epidemiological information that would allow public health officials to perform contact tracing and other types of disease surveillance.  Additionally, private laboratories and state veterinarians must alert USDA to positive samples that were collected as part of this National Milk Testing Strategy.

[Category: DC Bureau, Environment & Climate Change, Gov & Politics, Health, avian flu, H5N1, public health]

— Federal appeals court upholds rapidly approaching TikTok ban

 

at 12/6/24 12:52pm

A U.S. law that would force the Chinese parent company of social media giant TikTok to either sell the service or face a U.S. ban is constitutional, a panel of federal appeals judges ruled Friday. In this 2020 photo illustration, the TikTok app is displayed on an Apple iPhone.  (Photo Illustration by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)The law Congress passed this year to force the Chinese parent company of social media giant TikTok to either sell the service or face a U.S. ban is constitutional, a panel of federal appeals judges ruled Friday. The order from a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals preserves the bipartisan law President Joe Biden signed in April forcing ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, to cease operations in the United States over concerns the platform’s data gathering could be obtained and used by the Chinese Communist Party. TikTok, ByteDance and a handful of users sued the administration to block enforcement of the law, saying it violated the First Amendment right to free speech and other rights. The panel on Friday rejected that argument, saying that although the short-form videos produced on the service constitute speech and the shuttering of U.S. operations would limit that speech, that was the result of the Chinese government’s “hybrid commercial threat to U.S. national security,” not the U.S. government’s actions. “The First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States,” Senior Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg wrote for the panel. “Here the Government acted solely to protect that freedom from a foreign adversary nation and to limit that adversary’s ability to gather data on people in the United States.” Ginsburg, who was appointed to the court by Republican President Ronald Reagan, and Neomi Rao, a Donald Trump appointee, formed the court’s main opinion. Chief Judge Sri Srinavasan, whom Democrat Barack Obama appointed, wrote a concurring opinion. TikTok has the option to appeal Friday’s ruling to the full D.C. Circuit or the U.S. Supreme Court. The law is set to go into effect Jan. 19, the day before Trump — who has said he opposes the law even after trying his own TikTok ban during his first presidency — retakes office. Free speech concerns Those challenging the law are likely to appeal directly to the Supreme Court and to seek an emergency temporary stay, “given the urgency of the situation,” Jacob Huebert, who represents a plaintiff in the case, said in a Friday interview. Huebert is the president of Liberty Justice Center, a nonprofit that has litigated high-profile free-speech cases and is representing the libertarian news and commentary channel BASEDPolitics in the TikTok case, arguing that the law unconstitutionally restricts the channel’s reach to its intended audience of Gen Z users. The government’s national security argument should not have overridden the First Amendment concerns, Huebert said. “This national security justification that the court relied so heavily on isn’t enough,” he said. The law would set a dangerous precedent that could be applied in the future to other social media, he added. “It should trouble you regardless of what you think about TikTok or China in particular because it’s really a threat to Americans’ free speech rights online, across the board,” Huebert said. Bill sponsors from both parties praise ruling The bipartisan leaders of the U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, where the bill was introduced, cheered the decision Friday in a joint statement. “Today’s ruling is a victory for the American people and TikTok users, and a loss for the Chinese Communist Party, which will no longer be able to exploit ByteDance’s control over TikTok to undermine our sovereignty, surveil our citizens, and threaten our national security,” Chairman John Moolenaar, a Michigan Republican, wrote. “I am optimistic that President Trump will facilitate an American takeover of TikTok to allow its continued use in the United States and I look forward to welcoming the app in America under new ownership.” Ranking Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois said there is no solution other than a sale of TikTok. “With today’s opinion, all three branches of government have reached the same conclusion: ByteDance is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party, and TikTok’s ownership by ByteDance is a national security threat that cannot be mitigated through any other means than divestiture,” he said. “Every day that TikTok remains under the Chinese Communist Party’s control is a day that our security is at risk.” The bill was introduced in March by then-Chair Mike Gallagher, a Wisconsin Republican who has since left Congress, and Krishnamoorthi. It has dozens of co-sponsors from each party and passed the House 352-65. The Senate cleared the bill in April as part of a larger funding package.

[Category: Civil Rights & Immigration, DC Bureau, Gov & Politics, foreign policy, free speech, social media, TikTok]

— Panel on Trump assassination attempts wraps up with Secret Service pledge of improvements

 

at 12/6/24 12:52pm

Acting U.S. Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. testifies before a joint hearing of the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committees in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on July 30, 2024 in Washington, D.C.  (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)WASHINGTON —  Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. touted multiple changes and improvements on Thursday to his agency in the wake of two assassination attempts against Donald Trump earlier this year. Rowe testified before the bipartisan congressional task force investigating the two separate attempts on the now president-elect’s life. The hearing wrapped up the task force’s months-long probe, and members voted unanimously to release the panel’s final report — although a screaming match that erupted between Rowe and a Texas congressman also showed some underlying tensions. The Secret Service, which is housed within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, has been under intense scrutiny after a gunman opened fire at a July rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, striking Trump’s ear, killing one person and wounding two others. The gunman was killed at the scene. Authorities then investigated a second apparent assassination attempt against Trump just two months later near Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. The suspect has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. The July shooting prompted a slew of federal investigations and the creation of the task force, which expanded its focus following the Florida incident.  Rowe — who quickly stepped into the temporary post in July after Kimberly Cheatle resigned as director — again acknowledged the agency’s “failure” to “adequately secure the Butler Farm Show site and protect President-elect Trump.” “That abject failure underscored critical gaps in Secret Service operations, and I recognize that we did not meet the expectations of the American public, Congress and our protectees, and they rightly have that idea based on how we performed,” he said. Agency improvements Rowe detailed several actions the agency is taking, such as expanding the use of “unmanned aerial systems for aerial observation at venues” and “counter-unmanned aerial systems technologies.” He also said applications to the agency are up and they have “really turned the tide” on their hiring.  In his written testimony, Rowe said they recently onboarded a “chief wellness officer” as part of efforts to prioritize mental health and wellness programs at the agency. He noted a need for a “paradigm shift” that centers on “elevating protection, prioritizing training, strengthening our workforce and increasing accountability.” He also wants to “reconstitute” the agency’s culture so that “training is routine and expected.” Hearing grows tense At one point, the hearing escalated into a screaming match between Rowe and Texas GOP Rep. Pat Fallon. The congressman brought in a large image of Rowe standing behind President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump, Ohio GOP Sen. J.D. Vance and other leaders during a 9/11 memorial ceremony in New York City. Fallon questioned why Rowe stood there when the person standing closest to the president is usually the special agent in charge, or SAC, of the detail. “Actually, congressman, what you’re not seeing is the SAC of the detail out of the picture’s view, and that is the day where we remember the more than 3,000 people that have died on 9/11,” Rowe said. “I actually responded to Ground Zero. I was there going through the ashes of the World Trade Center. I was there at Fresh Kills.” “I’m not asking you that,” Fallon shouted at Rowe, proceeding to press him again on whether Rowe was the special agent in charge. “Do not invoke 9/11 for political purposes!” Rowe yelled back, later adding that he was representing the Secret Service and his presence “did not affect protective operations.” Fallon accused Rowe of being at the event because he’s “auditioning for this job” that he’s “not gonna get.” Trump has yet to disclose whom he wants to run the agency. The director of the Secret Service is not subject to confirmation by the Senate, although some members of Congress want to change that. 

[Category: DC Bureau, Gov & Politics, Police & Prison, Secret service, Trump assassination attempt]

— U.S. Senate confirms Biden appointment for federal judge for New Mexico

 

at 12/6/24 12:45pm

Sarah Davenport at her nomination hearing before the U.S. Senate on Sept. 25, 2024. (Screenshot courtesy of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary)The U.S. Senate has confirmed a federal prosecutor from Las Cruces as the latest federal trial judge for New Mexico. Newly appointed Judge Sarah Davenport will join the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico following her confirmation Thursday. The seat is one of two federal judgeships based in Las Cruces, the state’s second-largest city. At Davenport’s nomination hearing in September before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich, a Democrat, said Davenport helped prosecute more than 3,800 criminal cases as an assistant U.S. attorney, including drug and human trafficking cases. President Joe Biden nominated Davenport for the position in August. She will replace Judge William Johnson, who will retire next month and was nominated by former President George W. Bush, a Republican. She got letters of support from Johnson, U.S. Magistrate Judge Gregory Fouratt, other members of the federal bench and local police. “It is a very short list of federal prosecutors who enjoy unanimous approval from the bench, the federal law enforcement community and the criminal defense bar,” Firrat, a former New Mexico Department of Public Safety secretary, wrote to the committee. Sen. Ben Ray Luján said Davenport has consistently demonstrated a profound commitment to justice and upholding the rule of law over a nearly 18-year legal career. “I am confident she’ll bring the same level of commitment to the federal bench,” Luján said. Davenport got her law degree from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque and before that a bachelor’s degree in music at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. She said she went to college thinking she would become a high school choir director. “During undergrad, I worked at a church and taught children and youth music, and learned that the administrative part of music took all the joy and fun out of it for me,” she said during her nomination hearing. “I did not want, nor could I survive, without music providing joy in my life, and so I found a different path, and that led me to the law.” In a news release announcing Davenport’s confirmation, Heinrich and Luján said they’ve worked together during the Biden administration to confirm three of the currently sitting federal judges: Margaret Strickland, David Herrera Urias, and Matthew Garcia.

[Category: Gov & Politics, Police & Prison, Federal court, judiciary, U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico, U.S. Senate]

— 9 states poised to end coverage for millions if Trump cuts Medicaid funding

 

at 12/5/24 4:41pm

The New Mexico Human Services Department runs the state's Medicaid program. (Photo by Austin Fisher / Source NM)With Donald Trump’s return to the White House and Republicans taking full control of Congress in 2025, the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion is back on the chopping block. This story first appeared on KFF Health News. It is republished here with permission. More than 3 million adults in nine states would be at immediate risk of losing their health coverage should the GOP reduce the extra federal Medicaid funding that’s enabled states to widen eligibility, according to KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News, and the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families. That’s because the states have trigger laws that would swiftly end their Medicaid expansions if federal funding falls. The states are Arizona, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Utah and Virginia. .contentHolder .fullwidth iframe { float: none !important; width: 100% !important; border: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; } The 2010 Affordable Care Act encouraged states to expand Medicaid programs to cover more low-income Americans who didn’t get health insurance through their jobs. Forty states and the District of Columbia agreed, extending health insurance since 2014 to an estimated 21 million people and helping drive the U.S. uninsured rate to record lows. In exchange, the federal government pays 90% of the cost to cover the expanded population. That’s far higher than the federal match for other Medicaid beneficiaries, which averages about 57% nationwide. Conservative policy groups, which generally have opposed the ACA, say the program costs too much and covers too many people. Democrats say the Medicaid expansion has saved lives and helped communities by widening coverage to people who could not afford private insurance. If Congress cuts federal funding, Medicaid expansion would be at risk in all states that have opted into it — even those without trigger laws — because state legislatures would be forced to make up the difference, said Renuka Tipirneni, an associate professor at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health. Decisions to keep or roll back the expansion “would depend on the politics at the state level,” Tipirneni said. For instance, Michigan approved a trigger as part of its Medicaid expansion in 2013, when it was controlled by a Republican governor and legislature. Last year, with the government controlled by Democrats, the state eliminated its funding trigger. Six of the nine states with trigger laws — Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Montana, North Carolina and Utah — went for Trump in the 2024 election. Most of the nine states’ triggers kick in if federal funding falls below the 90% threshold. Arizona’s trigger would eliminate its expansion if funding falls below 80%. Montana’s law rolls back expansion below 90% funding but allows it to continue if lawmakers identify additional funding. Under state law, Montana lawmakers must reauthorize its Medicaid expansion in 2025 or the expansion will end. Under Trump, many states might pursue Medicaid work requirements Across the states with triggers, between 3.1 million and 3.7 million people would swiftly lose their coverage, researchers at KFF and the Georgetown center estimate. The difference depends on how states treat people who were added to Medicaid before the ACA expansion; they may continue to qualify even if the expansion ends. Three other states — Iowa, Idaho and New Mexico — have laws that require their governments to mitigate the financial impact of losing federal Medicaid expansion funding but would not automatically end expansions. With those three states included, about 4.3 million Medicaid expansion enrollees would be at risk of losing coverage, according to KFF. The ACA allowed Medicaid expansions to adults with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level, or about $20,783 for an individual in 2024. Nearly a quarter of the 81 million people enrolled in Medicaid nationally are in the program due to expansions. “With a reduction in the expansion match rate, it is likely that all states would need to evaluate whether to continue expansion coverage because it would require a significant increase in state spending,” said Robin Rudowitz, vice president and director of the Program on Medicaid and the Uninsured at KFF. “If states drop coverage, it is likely that there would be an increase in the number of uninsured, and that would limit access to care across red and blue states that have adopted expansion.” States rarely cut eligibility for social programs such as Medicaid once it’s been granted. The triggers make it politically easier for state lawmakers to end Medicaid expansion because they would not have to take any new action to cut coverage, said Edwin Park, a research professor at the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families. To see the impact of trigger laws, consider what happened after the Supreme Court in 2022 struck down Roe v. Wade and, with it, the constitutional right to an abortion. Conservative lawmakers in 13 states had crafted trigger laws that would automatically implement bans in the event a national right to abortion were struck down. Those state laws resulted in restrictions taking effect immediately after the court ruling, or shortly thereafter. States adopted triggers as part of Medicaid expansion to win over lawmakers skeptical of putting state dollars on the hook for a federal program unpopular with most Republicans. Election results could mean major changes in Medicaid It’s unclear what Trump and congressional Republicans will do with Medicaid after he takes office in January, but one indicator could be a recent recommendation from the Paragon Health Institute, a leading conservative policy organization led by former Trump health adviser Brian Blase. Paragon has proposed that starting in 2026 the federal government would phase down the 90% federal match for expansion until 2034, when it would reach parity with each state’s federal match for its traditional enrollees. Under that plan, states could still get ACA Medicaid expansion funding but restrict coverage to enrollees with incomes up to the federal poverty level. Currently, to receive expansion funding, states must offer coverage to everyone up to 138% of the poverty level. Daniel Derksen, director of the Center for Rural Health at the University of Arizona, said it’s unlikely Arizona would move to eliminate its trigger and make up for lost federal funds. “It would be a tough sell right now as it would put a big strain on the budget,” he said. Medicaid has been in the crosshairs of Republicans in Washington before. Republican congressional leaders in 2017 proposed legislation to cut federal expansion funding, a move that would have shifted billions in costs to states. That plan, part of a strategy to repeal Obamacare, ultimately failed. KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — an independent source of health policy research, polling and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

[Category: Gov & Politics, Health, health, health care, health insurance, Medicaid]

— Growth of sports betting may be linked to financial woes, new studies find

 

at 12/5/24 4:28pm

Fans walk past a BetMGM sign featuring Wayne Gretzky prior to an NHL hockey game at Madison Square Garden in November 2023 in New York City. As sports betting proliferates, researchers are beginning to calculate the costs on American households. (Photo by Bruce Bennett / Getty Images)While states have cheered the new tax revenue from sports gambling, some new studies have linked the burgeoning industry to lower consumer credit scores, higher credit card debt and less household savings. With access on their cellphones, gamblers can bet more often and easily than in traditional casinos, heightening concerns about problem gambling and the financial fallout for sports fans. The rate of gambling problems among sports bettors is at least twice as high as it is for other gamblers, according to the National Council on Problem Gambling. Legal sports gambling is more widespread than ever. Missouri voters in November became the latest to approve it, making it legal in 39 states and the District of Columbia. Last year, Americans bet more than $121 billion on sports, according to the American Gaming Association. While betting revenues are exploding, the industry is still relatively young — only blossoming after a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling opened the door for states to authorize sports gambling. So far, researchers have not reached a consensus about potential harms, though three papers released this year found poor financial results for consumers in states with legalized sports gambling. In a working paper released in August, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Southern California determined access to legal online sports betting led to lower credit scores and higher rates of bankruptcies. That study examined credit bureau data of more than 4 million American consumers. “Our results ultimately suggest that gambling legalization does harm consumer financial health,” the report said. A 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling opened the door for states to authorize sports gambling. That paper did not assess specific solutions but called on policymakers to find ways to protect residents at risk of becoming problem gamblers. “If no action is taken, it is highly likely that the large increase in sports betting will lead to a long-term increase in financial stress on many consumers and policymakers and financial regulators should be prepared for this.” A study led by a Southern Methodist University professor released in June found problem gambling increased in states that introduced online casino gambling alongside online sports gambling. Another working paper from researchers at several U.S. universities found legalized sports betting drained household finances more than other types of gambling and diverted money from saving and investing. The research comes as some state lawmakers have pursued new restrictions on sports gambling and federal lawmakers have eyed stricter regulations. Last month, New Jersey lawmakers introduced legislation to ban so-called prop bets — bets on a particular player’s performance that may not affect the outcome of a game — on college athletes. If approved, it would join 13 other states that ban those bets. The measure has advanced out of an Assembly committee. In September, congressional Democrats introduced legislation that would implement minimum national standards and authorize research on the public health implications of sports betting. Among other provisions, the bill would ban sports book advertising during live sporting events, prohibit more than five deposits from gamblers in a 24-hour period, and prohibit artificial intelligence tools that create specialized promotions by tracking individual gambler habits. But it is unlikely to progress in the GOP-controlled House. “State regulation is faint-hearted and half-baked,” Democratic U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said at a news conference announcing the legislation. “That’s why we need a national standard — not to ban gambling, but simply to take back control over an industry that is out of bounds.” Industry pushes back Joe Maloney, senior vice president of strategic communications at the American Gaming Association, said legal betting is among the most regulated industries in the country. Aside from providing new revenue streams for states, Maloney said, legal sports betting has brought many consumers out of the illegal betting markets, providing more transparency for consumers and money for problem gambling programs. “You can go to any state that has yet to have an opportunity to erect a regulatory market and see a predatory and even more pervasive offshore, digital, illegal market that’s targeting consumers in those states,” he said. More taxpayer money benefits pro sports owners amid ‘stadium construction wave’ Maloney pointed to long-standing research finding no correlation between financial hardship and proximity to casinos. But he acknowledged that it isn’t yet clear whether sports betting has a different effect. “I think that topic needs to be further explored, because the scale of legalized gambling online and in the digital space is still very much in its infancy,” he said. But Maloney is skeptical of the idea that sports gambling harms household finances. He noted that Americans last year had record 401(k) holdings and record mutual fund ownership. Maloney highlighted a separate piece of recent academic research that determined the rapid rise of sports betting hasn’t led to an increase in adverse mental health outcomes or financial difficulties. The paper examined self-reported data on mental and financial health from nearly 2 million survey responses across multiple states with legalized betting. The results were somewhat surprising to lead researcher Timothy Bersak, an associate professor of economics at Wofford College in South Carolina. He said the findings contradict a popular narrative that sports betting leads to widespread harms. “Our results suggest that there’s not like a really large population of latent problem gamblers that would have these large gambling problems but for the prohibition on sports betting,” he said. Bersak said his findings don’t negate other recent research: There is a segment of the population that is likely worse off because of sports betting, he said. But for now, a much larger share of the population said they are not being hurt and finding enjoyment from it. “We really can’t have any sense of the long-term impacts at this point,” he said. “Because at least in the U.S., it’s only been around for at most six years.” ‘That money’s gone’ Justin Balthrop, an assistant professor of finance at the University of Kansas, expected that legalized sports gambling would displace other forms of entertainment spending. Maybe someone would forgo a night out, for instance, and instead put a few bucks on Sunday’s game. But a paper he co-wrote — titled “Gambling Away Stability” — found that legalized betting led households to spend more on both entertainment and betting, while putting less in savings and investment accounts. Pretend that the hundred bucks ... is an entry fee, and maybe you get to leave with some of it. But you need to mentally know that money’s gone. – Justin Balthrop, an assistant professor of finance at the University of Kansas The paper examined financial transaction data from more than 230,000 households across 26 states with legal sports betting between 2018 and 2023. In households that placed bets, net investments dropped by 14% after legalization — a significant figure when factoring in the expected long-term gains of compound interest and rising stock prices. “What’s happening is they’re pulling money from what I think we would argue are more long-term productive uses of their funds to do this instead,” Balthrop said. Researchers found that sports betting disproportionately hurts lower-income households as they run up credit card debt and overdraft checking accounts. Balthrop said policymakers should do more to provide education and transparency to consumers, so they know the full extent of the odds against them. A gambler himself, Balthrop said bettors should go into every bet financially and mentally prepared to lose because most bettors don’t win. “I would say the same thing as someone who goes to a casino: Pretend that the hundred bucks you’re bringing to the casino is an entry fee, and maybe you get to leave with some of it,” he said. “But you need to mentally know that money’s gone.” West Virginia state Sen. Jason Barrett, a Republican, said he believes most people who have placed bets since the state legalized sports gambling in 2018 have done so for fun — not with the expectation of making money. “The way I look at it is, if somebody decides that they’d rather spend $50 on the outcome of an NFL game as opposed to going out to the movies, I think they should have the right to do that,” he said. “I’m not aware that there are a lot of people that are doing this for a real investment.” Show Me the Money: Sports Betting Off and Running Barrett, the treasurer of a national group of state lawmakers that works on gambling issues, noted that sports betting is still just a fraction of the overall spending on gambling in West Virginia. The American Gaming Association reported sports betting last year brought in about $48 million in revenue in West Virginia; total casino revenues in the state reached nearly $806 million. While problem betting is always a concern, he said he’s seen no evidence sports gambling has dramatically increased addiction. “I don’t think all of a sudden that we’ve offered one new product through sports betting, that all of a sudden we’re going to create a bunch of gambling addicts,” he said, “or that people have this illusion that they’re somehow going to regularly beat the book, and that this is going to somehow replace their retirement.” The American Gaming Association reported that commercial gambling revenues hit a record $66.66 billion last year — a 10.3% increase over 2022. While casino revenues continue to rise, sports gaming revenues are exploding: Last year, when sports betting became available in five new states, the group reported a total of $11 billion in sports betting revenue — a 46% increase from the previous year. That figure does not include sportsbooks operating at tribal casinos. Those figures will likely continue to rise as more states approve sports betting. Missouri regulators are currently crafting rules and a licensing framework for sports betting following the narrow approval of the ballot initiative last month. Jan Zimmerman, chair of the Missouri Gaming Commission, said the state hopes to launch sports betting by summer. While the agency has heard concerns from state residents about increased problem gambling associated with sports betting, Zimmerman said regulators in other states have not reported a significant uptick. As it does with casinos, the gaming commission will funnel a portion of sports betting revenues to mental health work to address problem gambling. But because the initiative was passed as an amendment to the state constitution, the gaming commission has limited latitude to create new regulations or safeguards on sports betting. “The constitutional language is that which was created by that initiative petition,” she said. “So, there’s no going back and maybe molding that to work better to fit our needs.” YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE. SUPPORT

[Category: Economy, Gov & Politics, Health, addiction, gambling, sports betting]

— New Mexico reports more than $2B in revenue for the third year in a row

 

at 12/5/24 12:41pm

The silhouette of a drill head, backlit by a vibrant sunset, is visible from Route 550 just outside Farmington, N.M., on Oct. 26, 2021. Oil and gas drove revenues on drilling on state land to more than $2.5 billion in 2024. (Photo by Isabel Koyama / Howard Center for Investigative Journalism)Oil and gas revenue earned New Mexico more than $2.5 billion last fiscal year, state officials announced Thursday. It was the third straight year the state broke the $2 billion threshold from its land, and its second-biggest windfall of that type ever. With record production, New Mexico has risen to become the second-highest producer of oil and gas in the U.S., just behind Texas. The state’s revenue from its 9 million acres of land and 13 million acres of below-ground holdings goes to its Land Grant Permanent Fund. The fund holds money in trust for public schools, universities and a handful of other beneficiaries. This year, it paid out more than $1 billion. Nonpartisan analysts from the Legislative Finance Committee warned lawmakers earlier this year that the state is becoming increasingly reliant on the money generated by unparalleled oil and gas production, but that it is unrealistic to expect it to continue. Projections are showing that revenues are still growing, but slowing. New Mexico land uses beyond oil and gas – think everything from grazing fees to leases for businesses like Netflix’s studios – made more than $214 million in revenues from the state, the highest amount ever, according to the State Land Office. That money flows into the separate Land Maintenance Fund, a catch-all fund which first pays for the State Land Office expenses, and then can generate revenue. In years past, it typically amounted to just over 2.5% of the revenue, this year, it was more than 8%. State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard credited the growth to seeking more diverse opportunities, such as leasing lands for renewable energy. But she predicted the state will need to address some budget gaps in the 2025 legislative session. “I will continue working to make as much money for our schools as possible, including pushing the Legislature to raise the state’s inadequate oil and gas royalty rate,” Garcia Richard said in a statement. Even as the oil boom is boosting New Mexico budgets – quadrupling revenues in five years – the state is also increasingly paying more for impacts of manmade climate change linked to fossil fuels such as damaging wildfires, increased flooding and continued drought. While it’s hard to always track how much disasters cost, the state approved loans of $46 million for the Hermit’s Peak-Calf Canyon Fires and more than $100 million in relief for fires and floods in Ruidoso earlier this year. Federal data tracking billion-dollar disaster events show New Mexico is suffering from hundreds of millions to billions in damages from storms, drought and fires. Both the executive branch and the legislative finance committee will release their budget requests in the coming weeks. GET THE MORNING HEADLINES. SUBSCRIBE

[Category: Environment & Climate Change, Gov & Politics, 2025 legislative session, budget, New Mexico Legislature, oil and gas, oil and gas revenues]

— ‘Critical race theory’ takes heat from GOP lawmakers on House education panel

 

at 12/4/24 5:30pm

K-12 curriculum has become a focal point of education culture wars. (Photo credit: Getty Images)WASHINGTON — Republican lawmakers railed against what they called “woke” curriculum in schools during a Wednesday hearing in a U.S. House education panel, the latest example of culture wars rocking public education policy. The hearing brought “critical race theory” to the forefront. The academic framework focuses on the social construction of race and has drawn strong Republican opposition in states across the country. Though critical race theory is used in college and graduate-level programs, GOP members on the U.S. House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education said the framework is also being taught in K-12 schools. The federal government has no role in K-12 curriculum, which is set by states and districts across the country, leaving the House panel without any authority to legislate the matter. Subcommittee Chairman Aaron Bean pointed to negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on educational outcomes and asked why schools “taught race-inspired ideology” instead of focusing on bouncing back from the pandemic-era setbacks. The Florida Republican added that critical race theory is “now reshaping how young people interpret their identity, and it’s changing how they see themselves, each other, in our country.” Rep. Jahana Hayes, who was a public school history teacher for 15 years, said there was never any reference to critical race theory during all of her training and studies in education. “I never had any professional development that separated me by race and taught this because it is just not taught or discussed at the K-12 level, so not really sure why it’s a part of this hearing today — it is a legal theory taught in law school,” the Connecticut Democrat said. Ian Rowe, a senior fellow at the conservative think tank the American Enterprise Institute, pointed to “specific practices undergirded by the ideology driving critical race theory.” Rowe, who is also a senior visiting fellow at the nonprofit Woodson Center,  offered examples, such as learning exercises where children are in a line and a teacher says: “Take two steps forward if you’re white, take three steps backward if you’re Black.” He did not specify where this occurred. Civics knowledge lacking Bean brought in panelists from organizations and initiatives he said were built to “emphasize the importance of civics, understanding America’s founding principles and promoting a free exchange of ideas.” Civics has become a hot-button issue within education culture wars, and the 2024 Republican Party platform called for promoting “love of country” through “authentic civics education.” Jed Atkins, who serves as dean and director of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Civic Life and Leadership, said civic knowledge “is lacking among our college students, the majority of whom lack elementary knowledge of our democratic institutions.” Atkins said the school “ensures that the serious work of educating citizens to live and thrive in our pluralistic democracy will get done.” Funding bigger concern, Dems say Ranking member Suzanne Bonamici, who echoed Hayes in saying critical race theory is not a K-12 issue, directed the focus of the hearing to school infrastructure. The Oregon Democrat touted legislation introduced last year by Virginia Rep. Bobby Scott, ranking Democrat of the full House education panel, and New Jersey Democratic Rep. Donald Norcross, that would spend billions of dollars on schools’ physical and digital infrastructure. Bonamici said school infrastructure “is not just about walls and ceilings of school buildings” but also “the entire environment in which our children learn.” “Right now, far too many of these environments are unsafe, outdated and desperately in need of repair,” she said. 

[Category: DC Bureau]

— U.S. House Republicans grill immigration agency chief over parole program

 

at 12/4/24 5:16pm

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Ur M. Jaddou speaks at a U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on Dec. 4, 2024. Republican members of the Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement sharply questioned Jaddou on her agency's handling of immigration benefits, applications and petitions. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)WASHINGTON — Republican members of a U.S. House Judiciary Committee panel scrutinized the head of the Department of Homeland Security agency tasked with processing legal pathways to immigration during a contentious hearing Wednesday about the Biden administration’s parole program that grants temporary protections for nationals from some countries. That program temporarily grants work permits and allows nationals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to remain in the country if they are sponsored by someone in the United States. Rep. Tom McClintock of California, the chair of the Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement, accused U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services of creating “unlawful” pathways to legal immigration through humanitarian parole programs – an authority presidents have used since the 1950s. The chair of the full Judiciary Committee, Jim Jordan of Ohio, also grilled USCIS Director Ur Jaddou about if parole programs “of this magnitude” had been used before. Since President Joe Biden launched the program in 2022, more than 500,000 people have been paroled through that authority. Jaddou said that historically, presidents have used some kind of parole authority. The top Democrat on the panel, Pramila Jayapal of Washington state, criticized Republicans for wanting to curtail legal pathways to immigration and argued that the U.S. workforce is reliant on immigrants. “The truth is that we benefit from the contributions of immigrants and their families in every single field of work,” she said. Funding structure blamed USCIS is a roughly $5 billion agency that is primarily funded by filing fees from immigrants – about 96% – not through congressional appropriations, which make up the remaining 4% of its budget. Jayapal defended the agency, arguing that Jaddou had to rebuild USCIS after the first Trump administration and a budget deficit from the COVID-19 pandemic that closed offices and led to fees plummeting. The agency handles applications for naturalization, green card applications, family visas, some work visas, humanitarian programs and adoptions of children from non-U.S. countries, among other things. Jaddou said one of the biggest challenges is that because USCIS operates on fees, if there is a funding crisis it can cause funding to freeze and puts limitations on hiring and overall efficiency.   “We do not have effective legal immigration systems to meet the needs of the nation,” she said. Jaddou said, for example, funding constraints limit the number of asylum officers hired. “It limits us in our humanitarian work,” she said. Questions about fraud Arizona Republican Rep. Andy Biggs questioned Jaddou about fraud in the parole program, which caused a temporary pause in applications over the summer to investigate some of the U.S-based sponsors. “The program was paused for five weeks because of fraud,” Biggs said. McClintock asked Jaddou if she knew how many parolees had changed in their immigration status and how many paroles have been renewed since the program began in 2022. Jaddou said she didn’t have those numbers, which frustrated McClintock. “This is outrageous.” he said. “You were asked these questions in September, you were told in advance of this hearing that they would be asked again, and you were advised to have answers for us. These are basic questions of data.” California Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren asked what improvements USCIS has made in light of the investigations into U.S.-based sponsors. Jaddou answered that the agency added biometric requirements such as fingerprints and photos and allowed for automated systems to cross-check Social Security numbers. She said that employees were also re-trained and given guidance to monitor for potential fraud. “We saw some issues, we took action,” Jaddou said. New Jersey Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew said he was frustrated with the agency’s backlogs and that it takes years to process green cards. “I think you’re doing a bad job,” he said to Jaddou. “You’ve hurt legal Americans and legal immigrants and helped some folks who shouldn’t be in this country.” Van Drew asked if USCIS has diverted its resources from processing other legal pathway applications by focusing on parole applicants.   Jaddou said the agency hasn’t. “Well I disagree with you,” he said.   

[Category: DC Bureau]

— New Mexico Supreme Court: Lawmakers should settle dispute with executive branch over leave policy

 

at 12/4/24 3:53pm

A panel of retired justices and judges formed to hear oral arguments in a case between the Administrative Office of the Courts and the Department of Finance and Administration, Wednesday, December 4, 2024. Retired Justice Judith Nakamura, left, and retired Justice Petra Maes question attorneys during the hearing. (Photo by Eddie Moore / Albuquerque Journal)The New Mexico Supreme Court on Wednesday set the stage for a fight between all three branches of state government early next year, as it chose not to intervene in a dispute over how much court workers can be paid for extra, unused leave. The decision was made not by the court’s sitting justices but by four retired justices and a retired appeals court judge designated to rule on their behalf. All five regular members of the bench recused themselves from the case over the past two months, highlighting the conflicts of interest in a case in which the court must settle a disagreement between itself and the executive branch. The substitute jurists were called in after the state’s executive branch — with support from the state Department of Justice — refused to keep cutting checks to court workers who had been getting paid out for unused time off they earned under a policy approved by the Supreme Court last year. The judiciary sued the executive after the two sides disagreed about whether the policy is legal. Mark Baker, an attorney for the judiciary, argued in court that the Department of Finance and Administration’s move was the executive branch sticking its nose where it doesn’t belong. “DFA should have come to court to challenge the order, and not made a unilateral decision,” Baker said. “Having the executive blocking court orders is bad practice.” But Edward Ricco, on behalf of the executive branch, argued the payments violate limits on how much sick leave workers can get paid out at the end of each year or at retirement. “There’s no separation of powers issue here,” he said. “As we see it, the Department secretary is doing what the executive branch is supposed to do: seeing to it that the laws are carried out.” The core issue, Ricco argued, was whether the limits on leave payouts imposed by the Legislature on all state agencies also apply to the judicial branch, “or whether the judiciary is so independent that it may adopt its own employee benefits plan that has no constraint from the Legislature” – other than the general pot of money it gets to spend each year. Instead of deciding the case on the merits, the justices said they would halt the proceedings until there is a legislative fix. They came to a unanimous decision after hearing out the two sides and deliberating behind closed doors for about an hour. “Why shouldn’t we wait for the Legislature to speak?” acting Chief Justice Richard Bosson asked. “They had an opportunity to speak last spring — they didn’t. They have a big opportunity now coming up.” If and when lawmakers act, it would be up to the state agency that runs the court system, called the Administrative Office of the Courts, to decide whether to return to the state’s highest court, Bosson said. Lawmakers could, for example, grant the judicial branch its annual budget while specifying none can be spent on paid time off, Bosson said. Ricco said the Legislature could avert any constitutional crisis here in many ways, including delegating power to the judiciary to address it as it sees fit, or to amend the state law that puts limits on the payouts, he said. “The way separation of powers problems should be worked out is through the political process, that’s the way they’re traditionally dealt with,” Ricco said. “And that’s the way government trundles along and manages to function with shared powers among the branches: cooperation, balance, common sense and reason.” In a footnote included in one of his written briefings, Ricco wrote that “legislative officials have since inquired about recouping these monies.” He told the justices on Wednesday that Sens. George Muñoz and Joseph Cervantes, both Democrats, sent letters asking for information about the payouts. Cervantes was one of at least 10 lawmakers who met behind closed doors with the parties and Chief Justice David Thomson about the case on Nov. 12. A panel of retired justices and judges formed to hear oral arguments in a case between the Administrative Office of the Courts and the Department of Finance and Administration, Wednesday, December 4, 2024. From left are retired Justice Judith Nakamura, retired Justice Petra Maes, retired Justice Richard Bosson, retired Justice Edward Chavez, and former Court of Appeals Judge Michael Bustamente. (Photo by Eddie Moore / Albuquerque Journal) The case stems from an order issued by the Supreme Court itself on March 10, 2023, which adopted a new paid time policy for employees of the state’s judicial branch. Under the old rules, paid time off was split into sick leave and vacation, which the judiciary argues forces workers to choose between losing leave annually or taking more time away from work. The new rules combined both leave types into a single PTO program. On April 24, 2023, Department of Finance and Administration Secretary Wayne Probst told the Administrative Office of the Courts that the paid time off system is unlawful and would be difficult to implement with the state’s existing computer system. Still, after the order went into effect on May 13, 2023, Probst’s agency complied with it and processed the payments for about 14 months, according to the petition. The Department of Finance and Administration was “administering the plan as best it could,” Ricco said, though there were difficulties. But in late June 2024, the department stopped processing the payments after asking the state Department of Justice to weigh in. That month, Chief Deputy Attorney General James Grayson had published a legal opinion which concluded the payouts were unlawful because they conflict with limits in state law on how much extra sick leave workers can be converted into pay at the end of each year or at retirement. YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE. SUPPORT

[Category: Gov & Politics, checks and balances, executive branch, judicial branch, legislative branch, separation of powers]

— New Mexico governor: Expect ‘laundry list’ of crime proposals in one bill in legislative session

 

at 12/4/24 3:12pm

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham listens during a town hall she hosted in Las Cruces about public safety in late July. Her town hall tour continued Tuesday in Gallup, where she gave a glimpse into how her public safety agenda will play out at the upcoming legislative session. (Photo by Danielle Prokop / Source NM)Gov. Michelle Lujan Grishams series of tough-on-crime bills failed in a special legislative session earlier this year, so in 2025 she and the Legislature are trying a different approach: Packing all the reforms into one big bill. At a lecture hall at the Gallup campus of the University of New Mexico on Tuesday, the governor gave a glimpse of what the public can expect when it comes to her renewed push to tackle crime and justice across the state: A robust debate over many different criminal justice reforms piled into a single bill, plus more money to address drug addiction and mental illness.  “Both chambers have committed to an omnibus. What does that mean? Weve got a laundry list of bills in one bill at the front end of the session,” she said. “There will also be a hefty investment in behavioral health, and we need it.” Throughout the year, the governor has held hours-long town hall meetings in communities big and small, rallying the public to ask their legislators to pass a slate of public safety bills. At the nearly five-hour meeting in Gallup, she heard from members of the public who described crime in their communities, along with proposed solutions from educators, social workers, teens and advocates. Sine die hard with a vengeance The governor said she intends to push for the same or similar proposals in January that crashed at a brief special session this summer.  The governor’s agenda would have made it easier for police and judges to involuntarily commit people with psychiatric diagnoses or for courts to hold them in jail. It would also ban loitering on certain medians across the state and raise penalties for having a gun if someone has a prior felony conviction.  The session ended the same day it opened, however. Because no Democrat agreed to carry the bills, the governor relied on Republicans to sponsor the legislation, which Democratic leaders prevented from coming up from a vote. Democratic legislative leaders said the governor was trying to rush through legislation regarding the complicated interplay of mental illness, drug use and crime. They said they needed more time to create and deliberate laws that represent real solutions, while the governor said the current crisis demanded immediate action.  The governor, also a Democrat, called the Legislature’s inaction “one of the most disappointing days of my career” and marked a rift with members of her own party. NM Gov’s latest stop on public safety tour is Española, where tensions rise about a homeless camp Sen. George Muñoz, a Gallup Democrat and chair of the Senate Finance Committee, sat in the audience Tuesday and had a brief exchange with the governor. He said the Legislature has repeatedly toughened criminal penalties, but the judiciary is a missing piece of the crime debate happening now between the executive and legislative branches. “We can toughen any law you want, but if the cops dont enforce it, and the judges dont enforce it, and the (district attorneys) dont prosecute it, then we’re in the same boat we are today,” he said.  Criminal competency will be the hardest reform for the Legislature, Muñoz said.  But the the governor said too many defendants are released back onto the streets after being deemed incompetent for trial, and she pointed to reforms in other states to show that New Mexico can also find a solution.  “It cant be that hard if 48 states have gotten there. Why is it hard here? Im just unclear. So Im going to need you to help me with that about why its such a heavy lift,” she told Muñoz. The 60-day legislative session begins January 21. 

[Category: Gov & Politics]

— Will Trump and Republicans quash the FBI headquarters move to Maryland?

 

at 12/4/24 1:03pm

The J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building is seen on January 28, 2019 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Mark Wilson / Getty Images) WASHINGTON — The decade-long endeavor to move the Federal Bureau of Investigation out of its crumbling headquarters in downtown Washington, D.C., and into a new facility outside the city could face roadblocks next year. President-elect Donald Trump and some of his top allies in Congress have rebuked the federal agency that undertook the search for a new suburban location, ultimately deciding on Greenbelt, Maryland, over two other options. Once Trump is back in the Oval Office and the GOP controls both chambers of Congress, the funding stream for the General Services Administration to build the new facility could end. Republican lawmakers could also require the GSA to restart the search process, change the criteria the federal agency used to select the Greenbelt location, or simply tell the agency it must construct the new headquarters in a different location. Other options floated by GOP lawmakers include Alabama and somewhere inside the District of Columbia. Or they could require GSA to build the new FBI headquarters in either Springfield, Virginia, or Landover, Maryland — the other two locations considered for the new building. Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, the top Democrat on the spending panel that controls GSA’s budget, told States Newsroom he believes the issue is settled, in part, because some funding has already been allocated for the project. “Were going to work very hard to make sure we keep the program on track,” Van Hollen said. “I think theres a consensus that the FBIs current headquarters does not meet the security requirements, does not meet the other requirements. So, you know, from our perspective, a decision has been made and we will work hard to make sure its executed, implemented.” Construction funding Congress approved $200 million for the headquarters project this spring as part of a much larger government spending package. Beyond that, funding is less certain. The Senate Appropriations Committee, controlled by Democrats, has proposed $375 million for construction in this year’s GSA spending bill. That measure, which includes numerous other funding proposals, received bipartisan support during a committee vote. In January, control of the Senate will flip to the GOP. The House version of the bill, drafted by Republicans, doesn’t include any funding for a new FBI headquarters and would require the GSA to send Congress “a detailed plan and timeline to support the District of Columbia based personnel by keeping the current FBI headquarters operational or identifying another Federally owned location in the District of Columbia that can serve as the FBI headquarters building. The two chambers will likely negotiate a final, bicameral version of the bill during the first few months of next year, once the GOP holds unified control of Congress and the White House. Trump hotel Virginia Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine said during an interview he hadn’t really thought about whether his state could become the new site for the FBI headquarters. If you just go by history, Trump didnt want to put any money into a new FBI headquarters, Kaine said. He didnt want that block that the FBI is on to be cleared and opened for a hotel that might compete with his own hotel. So four years of the Trump administration was him basically doing everything he could to stop a move and to stop funds being used for the move. Now he may not have the same financial interest that he had back then so I bet its hard to say. Trump owned a hotel in the old Post Office building along Pennsylvania Avenue during his first term in office, but it was later sold and is now a Waldorf Astoria. The building is about one block away from the current FBI headquarters. Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer, the top Democrat on the House panel that funds the GSA, told States Newsroom there’s “no doubt” the Greenbelt location “is the best site, both in terms of security and in terms of finances.” Im going to continue to push that position, Hoyer said. We need to get this done for the FBI, for the American people. The building is literally falling down. And the fact that we have delayed this is testament that weve escalated cost, decreased security for the federal employees at FBI, and we ought to move on. And hopefully we will. The Maryland and Virginia governors’ offices declined to comment for this article. A GSA representative, speaking on background, said the agency has submitted a report to Congress that was required by the spending package lawmakers approved in March 2022. GSA, the person said, is trying to secure “resolutions” from congressional committees before it obligates funds to buy the site or begin design and construction activities. They said this is consistent with other large-scale development projects that require congressional approval. It was not clear what those resolutions would say. Evaluation of selection process continues The GSA has been under review by its inspector general for how it undertook the site selection process for more than a year, one factor that could potentially complicate things during unified Republican control of Washington. GSA acting Inspector General Robert Erickson launched an evaluation into the agency’s process in November 2023, a few weeks after GSA announced its decision to pick the Greenbelt, Maryland, location. That evaluation is ongoing, and the inspector general continues “to work thoroughly and expeditiously on the project,” according to a spokesperson. Virginia Democratic Sen. Mark Warner told States Newsroom in a brief interview he’s waiting to see the inspector general’s evaluation before deciding on a path forward. I know people thought that it might come out in the spring. It didnt,” Warner said. “The reports weve got is that theyre still doing the investigating, and lets see what that says first.” Hoyer said he doesn’t expect the results of that evaluation will affect moving the FBI headquarters to Greenbelt. “I think everything was done absolutely as it should have been,” Hoyer said. “An argument was made by both sides in public on the merits of their sites.” Debate over process FBI Director Christopher Wray also questioned the decision last year, writing in a letter to employees that he and others held “concerns about the fairness and transparency in the process,” though he wrote those “concerns are not with the decision itself but with the process.” Trump has announced he will name Kash Patel as head of the FBI, though Wray would have to be fired or quit first. Trump has not yet named someone to lead the GSA. The Greenbelt decision brought about some bipartisanship in Congress, with House Oversight & Accountability Committee Chair James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, and Rep. Gerry Connolly, a Virginia Democrat, urging GSA to conduct a full investigation into the site selection process. The two said the most disturbing aspect to them was that then-GSA Commissioner of the Public Building Service Nina Albert “overturned the unanimous site decision of an expert panel of civil servants representing GSA and its agency client, the FBI.” Albert left that role on Oct. 13, 2023, about a month before the final decision was announced. General Services Administrator Robin Carnahan had also said two years earlier Albert didn’t have a conflict of interest. “Congress created GSA in 1949 to increase the efficiency and economy of federal government operations — not least the procurement and use of property,” Comer and Connolly wrote in their letter. “To fulfill that mission, GSA must be fair and transparent in its operations. Its real estate dealings should consider only what is best for taxpayers and the Nation. It must set aside political or parochial interests.” Comer and Connolly added they were “deeply concerned that GSA’s choice of a new FBI headquarters site departed from those principles — and in doing so, failed to put taxpayers and the public interest first.”

[Category: DC Bureau, Gov & Politics, Christopher Wray, Donald Trump, FBI, Sen. Mark Warner]

— New Mexico governor, advocates call for increased funding on water in 2025 session

 

at 12/4/24 5:05am

A sandhill crane plucks its way through the shallow waters in the wetlands of the Bosque del Apache wildlife refuge. New Mexico's waters are under threat from climate change and increased demand, and the executive is asking lawmakers for significant investments into water in the 2025 legislative session. (Danielle Prokop / Source NM)New Mexico’s executive branch and water organizations are urging lawmakers to use the upcoming legislative session to pay hundreds of millions in new funding to adapt for a drier, hotter future, all adopting the message “water can’t wait.” New Mexico already has less water available than it did even 30 years ago, and the outlook is bleak. Scientists and experts estimate New Mexico’s water supplies will decline by another 25% in the next 50 years. Governor unveils 50-year water action plan Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office  is calling for at least $200 million in one-time spending to boost aquifer mapping, water planning and efforts to expand water supplies. More than one-third of New Mexico’s budget is fueled directly from extracting oil and gas – a massive driver of climate change that disrupts the cycles for replenishing rivers and pushes up water demand. As the state’s rivers shrink from less snow and thirstier soil, farmers and cities turn to underground aquifers to meet demands for parched gardens and crops. Interstate Stream Commissioner Hannah Risely-White said the moment is urgent, as the state has not always prioritized action, while the impacts of climate change are ratcheting up. “We are seeing critical impacts of prolonged drought in many parts of the state – forest fires, post-fire flooding impacts,” she told lawmakers last week during a meeting of the Water and Natural Resources committee. “So action now is critical.” A clarion call for 2025 Water nonprofits and interest groups, which have often lobbied to beef up pollution enforcement, staffing and basic water data the state was lacking, are supporting the executive branch’s requests for more investment. The Ogallala Aquifer – the largest in the country, stretching from South Dakota down to Texas and New Mexico –  has declined precipitously in recent years from over-pumping. Levels fell so low in Eastern New Mexico last year that the city of Portales’ wells ran dry. The challenges for Clovis, Portales and Texico portend the future of living with less water, said Ladona Clayton, the executive director for the Ogallala Land and Water Conservancy. “If the state does not step up and take aggressive, difficult actions immediately, we are not going to get in front of this,” she said. Agriculture built these High Plains towns. Now, it might run them dry. All 108,000 miles of river in New Mexico were deemed the nation’s most endangered earlier this year, as the impacts from a U.S. Supreme Court ruling changed overnight which wetlands federal law protects. Shrinking water supplies heighten the threat of pollution, said Tricia Snyder, the rivers and water director for nonprofit NM Wild. “It becomes even more important to ensure we avoid these pollution events in the first place, and ensure that we don’t have to spend years dealing with the fallout,” she said. A $200M investment as water dwindles Grisham’s office told lawmakers in an interim committee last week they’re seeking a mostly one-time investment of about $200 million dollars to address this drier future. Lujan Grisham’s $200 million request would include money to develop programs ranging from asking farmers to fallow fields for compensation to mapping the states aquifers over the next decade to finding and fixing leaks in drinking water systems. That number could change, said Rebecca Roose, the governor’s water and infrastructure advisor, as the executive’s budget request isn’t final, yet. The executive isn’t asking for additional money this year for developing a surface water regulatory program, saying that the $7.6 million added to the New Mexico Environment Department budget last year suffices. Much of the focus on water funding includes the Strategic Water Supply, a proposition to eventually treat – with unproven technology and non-existent standards – hard-to-access deep aquifer water and oil and gas wastewater for proposed end uses such as hydrogen fuel or manufacturing solar or wind components. It was first introduced last year as a half-billion dollar idea from Lujan Grisham in capital outlay, but died in committee in the last days of the session. Roose and agency heads of Energy Minerals and Natural Resources and New Mexico Environment Department are championing the idea for 2025, saying it would offer an alternative to using fresher water for economic development. However, both critics and members of the department have said the science to treat produced water at a large scale doesn’t exist. Lawmakers and others have asked if the plan fails to measure the risks of either deep water mining – such as the sinking of the land around it – or contamination from oil and gas wastewater. Of the $200 million request for water investment, Roose said $75 million would go towards the Strategic Water Supply. The new proposal asks for less money from the general fund than a previous version in September, which called for $250 million. A bill outlining the proposal, including a 5-cent fee on every oil and gas wastewater barrel to generate an estimated $68 million for the project, will be brought forward in 2025, Roose said. What do state agencies want? State agencies supervising New Mexico water, land and oil and gas operations are asking lawmakers for more money to clean up pollution, address consequences of climate change disasters and beef up the state’s infrastructure and data. The Office of the State Engineer is asking for $114 million in the 2025 session, including an additional $5 million to increase salaries and retain staff. State Engineer Elizabeth Anderson said the agency found that 80% of its positions needed an adjustment to better match comparable pay or retain people doing the highly technical jobs, according to a study from the State Personnel Office. “We get our staff and train them, they’re excellent, and then they leave,” Anderson said. “We do a lot of work to get people in the agency to be proficient and it takes years to get people that are qualified to administer water rights.” Additionally, $6 million would go to water measurement and administration, and another $8 million for interstate water management efforts, including ongoing negotiations in a Rio Grande dispute ongoing in the U.S. Supreme Court. The New Mexico Environment Department has a flat budget request for the next fiscal year – $33 million from the general fund. The total budget for the department, including federal funds, would be about $190 million to $200 million. Environment Secretary James Kenney, thanked lawmakers for increasing the budget in the 2024 session by $6 million for hiring and retention. Kenney noted that the agency’s vacancy rate is just over 5%, down significantly from prior years. The agency has 606 employees. The department is asking for $218 million in eight special, one-time appropriations. The largest special appropriation would be $150 million for cleaning up abandoned oil and gas sites along with uranium mining sites. Another $24 million would go to PFAS litigation New Mexico is facing with the U.S. Department of Defense over groundwater contamination by the so-caled “forever chemicals.” Another $20 million would go to rural infrastructure funds. GET THE MORNING HEADLINES. SUBSCRIBE

[Category: Environment & Climate Change, Gov & Politics, 2025 legislative session, Strategic Water Supply, water]

— Gov, advocates call for increased funding on water in 2025 session

 

at 12/4/24 5:05am

A sandhill crane plucks its way through the shallow waters in the wetlands of the Bosque del Apache wildlife refuge. New Mexico's waters are under threat from climate change and increased demand, and the executive is asking lawmakers for significant investments into water in the 2025 legislative session. (Danielle Prokop / Source NM)New Mexico’s executive branch and water organizations are urging lawmakers to use the upcoming legislative session to pay hundreds of millions in new funding to adapt for a drier, hotter future, all adopting the message “water can’t wait.” New Mexico already has less water available than it did even 30 years ago, and the outlook is bleak. Scientists and experts estimate New Mexico’s water supplies will decline by another 25% in the next 50 years. Governor unveils 50-year water action plan Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s office  is calling for at least $200 million in one-time spending to boost aquifer mapping, water planning and efforts to expand water supplies. More than one-third of New Mexico’s budget is fueled directly from extracting oil and gas – a massive driver of climate change that disrupts the cycles for replenishing rivers and pushes up water demand. As the state’s rivers shrink from less snow and thirstier soil, farmers and cities turn to underground aquifers to meet demands for parched gardens and crops. Interstate Stream Commissioner Hannah Risely-White said the moment is urgent, as the state has not always prioritized action, while the impacts of climate change are ratcheting up. “We are seeing critical impacts of prolonged drought in many parts of the state – forest fires, post-fire flooding impacts,” she told lawmakers last week during a meeting of the Water and Natural Resources committee. “So action now is critical.” A clarion call for 2025 Water nonprofits and interest groups, which have often lobbied to beef up pollution enforcement, staffing and basic water data the state was lacking, are supporting the executive branch’s requests for more investment. The Ogallala Aquifer – the largest in the country, stretching from South Dakota down to Texas and New Mexico –  has declined precipitously in recent years from over-pumping. Levels fell so low in Eastern New Mexico last year that the city of Portales’ wells ran dry. The challenges for Clovis, Portales and Texico portend the future of living with less water, said Ladona Clayton, the executive director for the Ogallala Land and Water Conservancy. “If the state does not step up and take aggressive, difficult actions immediately, we are not going to get in front of this,” she said. Agriculture built these High Plains towns. Now, it might run them dry. All 108,000 miles of river in New Mexico were deemed the nation’s most endangered earlier this year, as the impacts from a U.S. Supreme Court ruling changed overnight which wetlands federal law protects. Shrinking water supplies heighten the threat of pollution, said Tricia Snyder, the rivers and water director for nonprofit NM Wild. “It becomes even more important to ensure we avoid these pollution events in the first place, and ensure that we don’t have to spend years dealing with the fallout,” she said. A $200M investment as water dwindles Grisham’s office told lawmakers in an interim committee last week they’re seeking a mostly one-time investment of about $200 million dollars to address this drier future. Lujan Grisham’s $200 million request would include money to develop programs ranging from asking farmers to fallow fields for compensation to mapping the states aquifers over the next decade to finding and fixing leaks in drinking water systems. That number could change, said Rebecca Roose, the governor’s water and infrastructure advisor, as the executive’s budget request isn’t final, yet. The executive isn’t asking for additional money this year for developing a surface water regulatory program, saying that the $7.6 million added to the New Mexico Environment Department budget last year suffices. Much of the focus on water funding includes the Strategic Water Supply, a proposition to eventually treat – with unproven technology and non-existent standards – hard-to-access deep aquifer water and oil and gas wastewater for proposed end uses such as hydrogen fuel or manufacturing solar or wind components. It was first introduced last year as a half-billion dollar idea from Lujan Grisham in capital outlay, but died in committee in the last days of the session. Roose and agency heads of Energy Minerals and Natural Resources and New Mexico Environment Department are championing the idea for 2025, saying it would offer an alternative to using fresher water for economic development. However, both critics and members of the department have said the science to treat produced water at a large scale doesn’t exist. Lawmakers and others have asked if the plan fails to measure the risks of either deep water mining – such as the sinking of the land around it – or contamination from oil and gas wastewater. Of the $200 million request for water investment, Roose said $75 million would go towards the Strategic Water Supply. The new proposal asks for less money from the general fund than a previous version in September, which called for $250 million. A bill outlining the proposal, including a 5-cent fee on every oil and gas wastewater barrel to generate an estimated $68 million for the project, will be brought forward in 2025, Roose said. What do state agencies want? State agencies supervising New Mexico water, land and oil and gas operations are asking lawmakers for more money to clean up pollution, address consequences of climate change disasters and beef up the state’s infrastructure and data. The Office of the State Engineer is asking for $114 million in the 2025 session, including an additional $5 million to increase salaries and retain staff. State Engineer Elizabeth Anderson said the agency found that 80% of its positions needed an adjustment to better match comparable pay or retain people doing the highly technical jobs, according to a study from the State Personnel Office. “We get our staff and train them, they’re excellent, and then they leave,” Anderson said. “We do a lot of work to get people in the agency to be proficient and it takes years to get people that are qualified to administer water rights.” Additionally, $6 million would go to water measurement and administration, and another $8 million for interstate water management efforts, including ongoing negotiations in a Rio Grande dispute ongoing in the U.S. Supreme Court. The New Mexico Environment Department has a flat budget request for the next fiscal year – $33 million from the general fund. The total budget for the department, including federal funds, would be about $190 million to $200 million. Environment Secretary James Kenney, thanked lawmakers for increasing the budget in the 2024 session by $6 million for hiring and retention. Kenney noted that the agency’s vacancy rate is just over 5%, down significantly from prior years. The agency has 606 employees. The department is asking for $218 million in eight special, one-time appropriations. The largest special appropriation would be $150 million for cleaning up abandoned oil and gas sites along with uranium mining sites. Another $24 million would go to PFAS litigation New Mexico is facing with the U.S. Department of Defense over groundwater contamination by the so-caled “forever chemicals.” Another $20 million would go to rural infrastructure funds. GET THE MORNING HEADLINES. SUBSCRIBE

[Category: Environment & Climate Change, Gov & Politics, 2025 legislative session, Strategic Water Supply, water]

— In New Mexico, Democrats strike an oil and gas gusher: ‘Money buys access’

 

at 12/4/24 4:45am

(Photo via Getty Images)Chevron gave more. So did ConocoPhillips. Exxon Mobil gave twice as much. A review by Capital & Main of New Mexico state campaign donations for the 2024 election shows the country’s biggest oil and gas production companies gave more to Democratic candidates than to the industry’s traditional Republican allies. Records show the top 10 oil and gas industry contributors gave $1.2 million to Democratic state candidates while giving $1.1 million to Republicans, comprising roughly two-thirds of the entire industry’s donations to individual candidates in this year’s state elections. While contributions by major corporations to individuals lean left, total oil and gas donations in the state still favor Republicans, who received $2.1 million compared to $1.6 million for Democrats, for $3.7 million in all. Republicans made up the difference with hundreds more donations from smaller companies and individuals in the industry. This story was originally published by Capital & Main. It is republished here with permission. The review found 1,375 donations of $100 or more made by companies or industry personnel to individual candidates during the 2024 election cycle on or before Oct. 29, the last reporting deadline before the Nov. 5 election. The reporting deadline for donations made in the last week before the election is in the first week of January. The review included oil and gas production companies, industry support services such as dedicated trucking and pipeline companies, fossil-fuel-burning utilities, individuals who identified themselves as working at those companies and those who listed company addresses for their donations. Once again, donations from Chevron dwarfed all others. The company gave $724,000 directly to candidates in state races. The next closest was Marathon Oil at $243,500. Both companies’ donations favored Democrats — by a few thousand dollars in Chevron’s case, and by a more than 2:1 ratio in Marathon Oil’s case. Oil and gas interests gave another $1.75 million to political action committees, or PACs. Nearly a third of that — $497,000 — came from Chevron alone, bringing the company’s total donations to $1.22 million. And again, donations from the country’s largest producers tended to go to left-leaning groups. Even so, Republican-leaning groups raised about twice as much PAC money overall as did their Democratic counterparts. Dozens of smaller donations from smaller groups swung that balance, with donations from the Yates family — New Mexico’s homegrown oilpatch dynasty — and their related businesses leading the charge. .contentHolder .fullwidth iframe { float: none !important; width: 100% !important; border: 0px !important; margin: 0px !important; } These New Mexico trends bear little resemblance to national campaign spending by the same oil and gas companies. In federal elections, those multinational firms give overwhelmingly to Republicans: 85% of donations in the case of Chevron and 80% by Marathon Oil, according to federal campaign data collected by OpenSecrets. Overall, oil and gas companies gave 7.5 to 1 in favor of Republican candidates seeking federal office. “It is not surprising,” said Michael Rocca, political scientist and director of the public policy program at the University of New Mexico. “They are giving money to power.” Nationally, oil and gas companies and production are concentrated in Republican-leaning states such as Texas, Oklahoma and North Dakota. But in New Mexico, Democrats hold all the power, with comfortable leads in both legislative branches, as well as the governorship and every other major elected office. Rocca said individual voters, interest groups and even small companies tend to give based on ideology. By comparison, business groups behave strategically, he said. “Money buys access.” Rocca argues that huge campaign contributions do not generally change how politicians vote, as many believe. He said large companies give to candidates who already vote in their favor. “But what money does most importantly is it protects your allies,” after political access is forged. Those thoughts are echoed in the response of the largest overall donor. When asked why Chevron gave so much to Democratic candidates in New Mexico, Bill Turenne, manager of global media relations at Chevron, said, “We make political contributions to support candidates and organizations from both parties that believe, like we do, in the value of responsible energy production and good governance. Our contributions are made in accordance with the law and are posted on our website.” (Turenne’s answer is strikingly similar to one received in response to questions about $760,000 in campaign contributions the company doled out before the 2020 election: “We make political contributions to support the election of candidates who believe, like we do, in the value of responsible oil and gas development. Our contributions are made in accordance with the law.”) Rocca thinks there is a bit more to it than that. “[Big companies] see giving money to challengers as a waste of resources,” he said. “Money matters in elections, absolutely.” But it’s rarely spent to fight an incumbent, Rocca said. “[Money is] able to — first of all — scare off quality challengers.” That money is one reason why incumbents so often defeat challengers at both the state and federal levels, he said. In New Mexico, many of the biggest recipients of fossil fuel money, both Democrats and Republicans, ran unopposed this year, another major difference between state and national races. Eleven of the state’s top-20 Democratic recipients of oil and gas money were in uncontested general election races. But before that, four of the 11 received a total of $174,000, then lost their primaries to other Democrats who went on to win the uncontested seats in the general election. Three of the final victors received no oil and gas money at all. The fourth received just $1,000. The access and protection that Rocca describes take on a different hue in the face of a dramatically shifting oil and gas regulation landscape. President-elect Trump has vowed to reduce federal regulations once he takes office. He appointed Lee Zeldin, a former congressman from New York, to run the Environmental Protection Agency, the group at the forefront of protecting the environment from fossil fuel development. Trump said that Zeldin will “ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions” at the agency. “The incoming federal administration and their clear and voiced hostility to public health and safety are very, very scary,” said New Mexico state Rep. Nathan Small of Las Cruces. When not working in New Mexico’s part-time Legislature, he is an organizer with the environmental group New Mexico Wild. The impending federal shift will place a greater share of industry policing on the state’s shoulders, and the state has a mixed record there. While New Mexico has passed some of the nation’s toughest oil and gas regulations, James Kenney, secretary of the state’s Environment Department, said that his office still finds around 50% of gas and oil operations violating New Mexico emissions regulations when his inspectors go into the field. At the Oil Conservation Division, the state’s main industry regulator, the department hired a new lawyer in May just to deal with the thousands of oil and gas wells abandoned by their legal operators across New Mexico. Once the wells are abandoned, the state and federal government are on the hook to pay for plugging those wells so they no longer leak climate-warming gases or ground-fouling oil. One Democratic politician has raced up the ranks of those receiving oil and gas donations while sitting at the center of the fossil fuel and climate debates. Rep. Small received $16,100 from the industry in the 2022 election. For his 2024 election, that rose to $87,451 (of just over $385,000 in total donations), making him No. 3 in the state among Democratic recipients of such funds, after House Speaker Javier Martinez and Senate Finance Chairman George Muñoz. Between 2020 and 2024 he was promoted to chair the House Appropriations and Finance Committee, which also made him vice chair of the overarching Legislative Finance Committee, two of the most powerful positions in New Mexico’s Legislature. And he is one of the few top money recipients to have a contested race this year, which he won by 544 votes out of 14,244 cast in his race. Does the combination of conservation work and oil and gas money make him uncomfortable? “No,” he said. “I want to have an open door and a large table for folks who see challenges and want to propose and bring solutions to those challenges.” Does he solicit campaign donations from oil and gas companies? “I engage with stakeholders, and certainly will, in appropriate ways, during campaigns, ask for support from a wide range of stakeholders for campaign efforts,” he said. “At the state level, over the past five years, and particularly in the past three or four years, [we] have significantly increased enforcement of our common sense [oil and gas] rules,” Small said. “That’s resulted in significantly more fines for folks who are doing the wrong thing.” GET THE MORNING HEADLINES. SUBSCRIBE At the other end of the spectrum, Republican Kenneth Brennan ran for a House seat and lost. He received $350 from two people who work in the industry. “I’m surprised at what I was able to do with $21,000,” he said of his campaign total. “Almost $4,000 of that was out of my own pocket.” His opponent, incumbent Rep. Matthew McQueen — who is also the chair of the House Energy, Environment & Natural Resources Committee — received $3,500 from the New Mexico Gas Company. “That shocks me, because he is definitely anti-oil and gas,” Brennan said. In the last session, McQueen co-sponsored two major pieces of industry-related legislation: an update to the state’s decades-old Oil and Gas Act and an increase in royalty rates on state lands. The first died on House Speaker Martinez’s desk without being heard by the chamber. The second died in a committee chaired by Sen. Muñoz. Brennan said he definitely supports the oil and gas industry but didn’t directly solicit its donations. “If they want to give to me, it’s all welcomed. But if I have to go begging, then sometimes it’s just not worth it.” He added, “That’s politics, I guess.” “The New Mexico Gas Company is a service utility, not an ‘oil and gas’ producer. I don’t take money from oil and gas companies,” McQueen said. “I recognize that ‘gas’ is in their name, but they play a fundamentally different role.” He continued, “After 10 years in the Legislature, donors are familiar with my positions, and if they didn’t think that I was doing a good job, they wouldn’t donate. People didn’t give money to Ken Brennan because he wasn’t a strong candidate and they didn’t think he could win. They were right.” McQueen won by 4,532 votes out of nearly 20,000 cast in his race.

[Category: Election 2024, Environment & Climate Change, Gov & Politics, campaign finance, fossil fuels, Money in politics, oil and gas]

— State prisons turn to extended lockdowns amid staffing shortages, overcrowding

 

at 12/4/24 4:30am

Inmates exercise in the maximum security yard of the Lansing Correctional Facility in Lansing, Kan. When prisons enter lockdown, access to yard time and other activities, including rehabilitative programming and work, is often limited or completely suspended. (Photo by John Moore / Getty Images)Across the United States, state prison systems are grappling with chronic understaffing and overcrowding — dual crises that are keeping incarcerated people confined to their cells for far longer periods than in recent decades. Lockdowns are common in jails and prisons nationwide, but most usually last only a few hours or days. During lockdowns, access to rehabilitative classes, religious activities, work and visitation is limited or completely suspended. Incarcerated people on lockdown can lose their usual routines, which may include exercise, calls to loved ones and other structured activities. And meals are typically eaten inside the prisoner’s cell, further isolating them. Recently, lockdowns have been extended for weeks or even months at many facilities suffering staff shortages. “What’s unusual here is that you’ve got these more sustained lockdowns,” Michele Deitch, the director of the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab at the University of Texas at Austin, told Stateline. “People are not in that situation because of disciplinary reasons. They’re in there for the convenience and management of the institution.” Prisons in many states have implemented prolonged lockdowns. In some cases they have intensified tensions within prison walls, at times contributing to violence between incarcerated people and staff, increased drug use and deaths by suicide. ‘Transformative’: More college programs are slowly coming into prisons For example, the Green Bay Correctional Institution in Wisconsin resumed normal operations in July after being on lockdown for more than a year. As of Nov. 29, the facility housed 1,080 people, nearly 45% above its designed capacity of 749. Meanwhile, the Waupun Correctional Institution, also in Wisconsin, has been under some form of lockdown for more than a year. At least five incarcerated people have died since June 2023. Nine current and former staff members, including the facility’s previous warden, are facing felony charges in connection with two of the deaths. The facility has resumed normal operations “for the most part since this summer when in-person visitation resumed,” wrote Beth Hardtke, the Wisconsin Department of Correction’s director of communications, in an email to Stateline. As of mid-November, the vacancy rate for corrections officers and sergeants across the state’s adult correctional facilities was nearly 12%, down significantly from the peak of 35% in August of last year, according to the department’s staffing dashboard. In the state’s juvenile facilities, the vacancy rate stands at about 10%. “The past months of modified movement have allowed staff to examine our policies to enhance safety while offering persons in our care high-quality educational and therapeutic programming and services,” said Wisconsin Department of Corrections Secretary Jared Hoy in a June news release. The South Dakota Department of Corrections in October ended a 17-day lockdown of nearly 1,300 people at the state penitentiary in Sioux Falls. During the lockdown, corrections officers discovered contraband, including handmade weapons and unauthorized electronics. Tennessee has fined private prison operator CoreCivic $29.5 million for failing to meet staffing requirements in four facilities since 2022. In Texas, some facilities operate with a 70% corrections officer vacancy rate — meaning those prisons are trying to maintain security with fewer than half the officers they need, according to a September report from the Sunset Advisory Commission, a legislative agency tasked with evaluating state departments. The evaluation came in the wake of a statewide prison lockdown that lasted just over a month last year, prompted by a rise in contraband and drug-related homicides among inmates. Lockdowns are one of those things that just fly under the radar. – Michele Deitch, director of the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab The report highlighted that the state’s incarcerated population is projected to outgrow the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s bed capacity by the end of fiscal year 2025. And a federal investigation into Georgia’s state prison system found conditions that violate the U.S. Constitution, including rampant violence, sexual assault, drug smuggling and gang activity, according to a report released in October by the U.S. Department of Justice. The report also revealed that sexual violence remains prevalent in isolation areas, and that the Georgia Department of Corrections places some people in lockdown with others who sexually abuse them. An investigation by the nonprofit news outlet Truthout found that at least 33 state prison systems had placed incarcerated adults under non-disciplinary lockdowns at least once — and often repeatedly or for extended periods — between 2016 and 2023. Despite the many extended lockdowns and mounting pressure to fill vacancies and manage growing prison populations, most states neither report nor are legally required to disclose the frequency of lockdowns or what types of incidents occur during them, according to some prison policy experts. “Lockdowns are one of those things that just fly under the radar,” Deitch, of the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab, told Stateline. “We’re underestimating the number of people that are affected by these kinds of policies.” Rising tensions and dire consequences The long-standing issues of understaffing and overcrowding in U.S. prisons were brought into sharper focus during the COVID-19 pandemic, when widespread lockdown restrictions and severe staffing shortages further strained correctional facilities. These shortages extend beyond corrections officers, affecting prison health care staff and other essential personnel. Stifling prison heat used to be just a Southern problem. Not anymore. In 2021, one incarcerated Missouri man who was in severe pain pulled out his own teeth after he was unable to secure a dental appointment due to staffing shortages, according to the Jefferson City News Tribune. These extended lockdowns have become increasingly similar to restrictive housing, or solitary confinement, which is when incarcerated people are confined to their cells for up to 24 hours a day with minimal human contact or access to activities, according to Deitch. “You’re going to see a lot more tension rising among the population, which could lead to more assaults and other kinds of abuses. You’re more likely to see people using drugs or something to kind of escape from all of that,” Deitch said. In September, an incarcerated person attacked two prison staff members at the Iowa State Penitentiary. Union leaders said the staff assault was symptomatic of the agency’s understaffing; it was the 33rd such attack of the year at the prison. In Illinois, employees from more than 24 state correctional facilities rallied in October to protest unsafe working conditions. Officers reported a rise in violent assaults on staff and exposure to narcotics, synthetic drugs and other toxic substances. As of Dec. 2, at least four state correctional facilities, all of which experienced officer protests, are under either partial or full lockdown. The Illinois Department of Corrections’ operation and management reports show a major uptick in the number of lockdowns across facilities, with 635 in fiscal year 2019 and 1,814 in fiscal year 2024. The strain on workers Across the country, corrections staff are frequently required to work mandatory overtime because of severe staffing shortages. These extra hours leave little time for officers to rest, spend time with their families or manage personal responsibilities, making it difficult to maintain a healthy work-life balance, according to Andy Potter, a former corrections officer and the founder of One Voice United, a national advocacy group representing corrections staff. Prison Staff Shortages Take Toll on Guards, Incarcerated People The demanding schedules also can take a significant toll on staff’s physical and mental health, leading to burnout and further exacerbating the staffing crisis, as some officers leave the profession entirely. This cycle creates an even greater strain on the remaining staff, perpetuating a system stretched beyond its limits. State prison populations also grew by 2% between 2021 and 2022, according to the most recent data from the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, reversing a longtime downward trend. The growth could continue: Several states recently have enacted laws aimed at cracking down on violent crimes, drug-related crimes, retail theft and other crimes that could send more people to prison. The states include Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, Oregon and Tennessee. Yet prisons across the country have long struggled to recruit and retain staff. In 2023, the number of people working in state prisons fell to its lowest level this century, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Some states have tried to address prison understaffing by raising starting wages and offering comprehensive benefits packages. But the strategies that attract new hires won’t retain them if mandatory overtime and poor working conditions continue, say worker advocates. “There’s a real blind spot when it comes to how employees are treated, how they are trained, how they are looked at in this paramilitary structure,” said Potter, who worked as a Michigan state corrections officer for more than 20 years. “I don’t think you’ll ever see a level of success from locking down a prison,” he said, “other than you have to be able to maintain the security and the safety of those that are in your custody and those that are in your employment.” YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE. SUPPORT

[Category: COVID-19, Gov & Politics, Health, Police & Prison, health care, prison, state prison]

— New Mexico representatives call on House to move forward on 6 tribal water rights settlements

 

at 12/3/24 6:15pm

The Capitol is shown on Oct. 9, 2024. Six water rights settlements between tribal nation in New Mexico remain before Congress, as delegates push Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024 for leaders to pass the bills before the year's end. (Photo by Jane Norman/States Newsroom)New Mexico’s three congressional representatives urged leaders of both parties in the U.S. House of Representatives to act before the end of the year on six tribal water rights settlements that have stretched on in some cases for decades. The settlements propose $3.7 billion in federal money to develop drinking water systems, restore habitats and traditional farming practices and establish collaborative management of the water, as tribes give up valuable older water rights across four New Mexico river basins. “The settlements provide water infrastructure projects for Tribal communities in exchange for their agreement to forgo aspects of their priority water claims, which benefits non-Tribal communities dependent on scarce water resources during times of shortage,” Democratic Reps. Melanie Stansbury, Gabe Vasquez and Teresa Leger Fernández said in a letter dated Tuesday. The deals, which have required years and sometimes decades of costly negotiations, would settle tribal rights for the rios San José, Jemez, Chama and the Zuni River. Additional bills would correct technical errors in previous settlements and add time and money to the Navajo-Gallup water project. Details on the U.S. House proposals to resolve tribal water rights settlements in NM As part of the settlements, New Mexico agreed to pay between $190 million to $234 million in state funding for some of the local projects for neighboring acequias, water infrastructure for counties and cities. But some advocates are worried New Mexico lawmakers arent preparing enough to pay in full in the upcoming session. In 2024, the New Mexico Legislature allocated $20 million for the settlements, and the office of the state engineer is requesting another $40.5 million in the 2025 session. If granted, the state would still be tens of millions of dollars short of the full amount, said Nina Carranco, with the nonprofit Water Foundation. Tribes, Pueblos and Native American nations have some of the oldest priority rights in water administration, Carranco said, and understanding how much water is allocated allows for better decision-making. “Tribal water settlements are a key component to addressing the water crisis in New Mexico,” she said. “These settlements not only honor the seniority of tribal water rights, but also provide certainty for other water users in the system.” She said it was a possibility that one or more of the settlements could be ratified during the lame-duck period before January swearing in of a new Congress. If all the measures pass, the state will need to eventually pay, Carranco said. “We can keep waiting, but if we’re going to honor tribal water rights, if were going to actually get this money into our communities the way the state has negotiated for a long time with these partners, we’re going to need the $200 million,” she said in a press call Monday.

[Category: Environment & Climate Change, Native America, first in time first in right, Rio Chama, Rio Jemez, Rio San José, tribal nations, water rights, Zuni River]

— Republicans will control Congress. But a slim House majority may trim their ambitions.

 

at 12/3/24 5:26pm

U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., arrives for the Senate Republican leadership elections at the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 13, 2024, in Washington, D.C.  Thune was elected majority leader for the Congress that convenes in January. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans huddled behind closed doors Tuesday to plot the path forward for the unified control of government they won in the November elections, though GOP senators said afterward a very narrow House majority will likely determine how sweeping their policy proposals will be. Republicans are planning to use the complicated budget reconciliation process to address immigration and energy in one bill before turning their attention to taxes later next year in a separate bill. The specifics of those measures or how they might affect policy are not yet clear. That budget reconciliation process will allow the GOP to get around the 60-vote legislative filibuster in the Senate that typically forces bipartisanship on big-ticket items. Reconciliation is generally used when one party controls the House, Senate and the White House, since it requires a majority vote in each chamber. But with House Republicans likely to hold just 220 or 221 seats during the upcoming session of Congress, there will be very little room for GOP lawmakers in that chamber to vote against reconciliation bills, since Democrats are not likely to be included in negotiations or to vote for the final versions. The last time Republicans held unified control of Congress and the White House in 2017, when they passed their tax package via reconciliation, they held 241 House seats, a significantly wider margin than they’ll have next year. Thune says options presented South Dakota Sen. John Thune, who will become majority leader in January, said lawmakers are working through “how best to maximize the opportunity we have through reconciliation to achieve a lot of the president’s and our objectives and things that he campaigned on.” “And, you know, there obviously is the tax piece, but we’ve got until the end of the year to do that,” Thune said, referring to 2025. “So the question is how do we execute on using the opportunity of reconciliation. “So we presented some different options, all of which our members are considering. And so, you know, we’ll see in the end where it lands but we’ve got to work with the House of Representatives and with obviously incoming President Trump to get the best path forward.” North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis said Republicans still have a lot of work to do ironing out the details of the two packages, given the narrow margins for passage. “If you take a look at the priorities of one end of the spectrum for the House caucus and the other end on border, there’s some reconciliation, pun intended, that needs to be done before reconciliation,” Tillis said. House Republican leaders have struggled at times during this Congress to keep centrist GOP lawmakers and far-right members both supportive of large-scale policy bills. Adding in proposals or amendments from one side meant the GOP often lost votes from the other, forcing leaders to constantly walk a metaphorical tightrope when drafting legislation. Republicans could have a more narrow House majority during the next Congress, likely causing headaches for leadership as they hold “family discussions” on the reconciliation bills. Johnson stops by Senate GOP huddle Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., attended the Senate Republican meeting as the two chambers work to stay on the same page heading into January. “I think we’re pretty unified on where we want to go. It’s just getting there,” she said. “You know, the devil’s in the details.” Capito, who will become Republican Policy Committee chair next year, said election results sent a clear message to the GOP about what policy changes Americans expect to see during the next two years. “What the voters are telling us they want us to do is very clear in some ways,” Capito said. “And we can go through the clearest ones first.” Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who will become the first Republican woman to chair the Senate Appropriations Committee next year, cautioned the reconciliation process requires a lot of coordination and planning. “Reconciliation is extremely complex, as those of us who have been through it before know,” Collins said. “And I think we’re going to have a very busy beginning of the year, which is why I’d like to see the disaster supplemental pass before we leave here for Christmas. “And I would also still argue that it would be important to try to finish up the FY 25 appropriations bills. I realize that’s going to have to go into January at this point. But I’m still hoping we don’t go into March, because with reconciliation coming down the pike, the president’s new budget, which is due the first Monday of February, also coming at us, there’s going to be a ton of work to do.” Delayed spending bills Congress was supposed to complete work on the dozen annual government funding bills by Oct. 1, but instead relied on a stopgap spending bill to extend the deadline until Dec. 20. Since they haven’t made any real progress on the full-year bills, congressional leaders are now debating how long a second continuing resolution should last. That appropriations work will likely pile up at the beginning of next year, overlapping with Republican efforts to push through their first reconciliation package before turning their attention to the second one. Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley said he’s confident House GOP leaders will be able to whip the votes necessary amid another razor-thin majority to approve the two reconciliation packages next year. “We need to show that we’re recognizing the mandate of the last election, and have something smaller and hard-hitting before we take on the big issues,” Grassley said. House Republicans, he said, “know there’s a mandate to deliver on. And they know that they better deliver.” ‘We have a directive from the American people’ Alabama GOP Sen. Katie Britt said Johnson will be able to keep the centrist and far-right members of the House Republican Conference united as details emerge in the weeks and months ahead about how exactly the two reconciliation packages will change policies. “We know we have a slim majority in the House, but Speaker Johnson is aware of that,” Britt said. “And I think that they will work through issues over there, because we know that we have a directive from the American people to actually get things done. And I think that that’s what we’re unified to do.” Asked about the narrow margins Republicans will have, Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson said “hopefully, this will all be things that we can form consensus on.” “It’s what President Trump ran on and we’re going to try and, obviously, pass his agenda,” he said. Arkansas Sen. John Boozman, a Republican, said their timeline is “as soon as possible” but that they’ll have to wait. “It’s going to be a lot going on, but the budget is number one — we have to do that to start the process, and then just as quickly as possible,” Boozman said. Congress must adopt a budget resolution in order to unlock the reconciliation process. That tax and spending blueprint is not a bill and does not become law. Instead, it sets Congress’ goals for the 10-year budget window. In order to actually fund government departments and agencies, Congress must pass the dozen appropriations bills, which they’ve mostly ignored for the last several months. Ariana Figueroa contributed to this report.

[Category: Civil Rights & Immigration, DC Bureau, Election 2022, Environment & Climate Change, Gov & Politics, Congress, U.S. House, U.S. Senate]

— U.S. Senate Democrats pick Amy Klobuchar and Cory Booker for leadership posts

 

at 12/3/24 3:18pm

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., talks to reporters on Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024, after she was elected as chair of Senate Democrats' Steering and Policy Committee, the No. 3 leadership post. (Photo by Ariana Figueroa/States Newsroom)WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Democrats in closed-door elections Tuesday selected leaders for their caucus, and elevated Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar to the No. 3 spot and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker to No. 4. Klobuchar will replace retiring Michigan Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow as the chair of the influential Steering and Policy Committee. “I am someone that believes you need to stand your ground, but also find common ground and look for solutions,” Klobuchar said during a Tuesday press conference.  Booker joined the leadership ranks in a newly created position as the chair of the Strategic Communications Committee. “I look forward to serving not just this caucus, but really the larger mission of advancing our country and advancing an agenda that really is focused on Americans,” Booker said. Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin was elected again to serve as the party’s whip, the No. 2 Democrat. Chuck Schumer of New York was unanimously elected as Democrats’ leader, according to a Senate Democratic leadership aide. Schumer has been the Democratic leader since 2017, after the late Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada retired. “Our caucus has led the way in passing historic legislation that has improved the lives of millions of Americans and we remain laser focused on addressing the most pressing challenges facing our country,” Schumer said in a statement after the elections.  “We have a lot of work ahead — in the Senate and as a country — and in this upcoming Congress, our caucus will continue to fight for what’s best for America’s working class. Senate Democrats are ready to get to work for you, the American people,” he continued. Shift in control The party leadership elections came as Democrats lost their slim majority in the Senate, and Republicans picked up four seats in Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia last month. Republicans will be in the majority, 53-47. Despite losing control of the upper chamber when the new Congress convenes in January, Schumer said Democrats will aim to work in a bipartisan manner. “As I have long said, our preference is to secure bipartisan solutions wherever possible and look for ways to collaborate with our Republican colleagues to help working families,” Schumer said. “However, our Republican colleagues should make no mistake about it, we will always stand up for our values.” ‘We defied gravity’ Klobuchar said she will miss her Senate colleagues like Ohio’s Sherrod Brown and Montana’s Jon Tester, both defeated in their reelection bids. But she said Democrats still won tough races in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin, which she credited to Schumer’s efforts. “And in many ways when you look at this election,” Klobuchar said, drawing out a purposeful pause before she continued, “we defied gravity.” She then looked around the room and asked reporters what she was referencing, until one grumbled: “Wicked.” “That’s right, we defied gravity,” Klobuchar said, proud of her pop culture reference to a song in the newly released movie “Wicked.” “And that is what we will continue to do in terms of reaching out to these people in our country, to the voters who maybe didn’t hear us as well as they should have, and so that’s one of the reasons I’m so excited to be working with Cory (Booker) on this,” Klobuchar said. Among other leadership positions, Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Mark Warner of Virginia were elected as co-vice chairs of the conference. Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin was elected as the Senate Democratic Conference secretary and Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto as the vice chair of Outreach. The chair of Outreach is Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.   

[Category: DC Bureau, Election 2024, Gov & Politics, Democratic Party, U.S. Senate]

As of 12/7/24 2:04pm. Last new 12/6/24 5:50pm.