THE DISABILITY COALITION Advocating for People with Disabilities of All Types DISABILITY ISSUES IN THE 2021 LEGISLATURE STATUS REPORT #7 Jim Jackson, Coalition Chair March 7, 2021 (See page 9 for a list of abbreviations, including legislative committees, used in this report.) Committee hearings on Monday: SEC (8:30 a.m.) – HB 93 Limiting suspension/expulsion HJC (11:30 a.m.) – HB 223 MVD disability registry SFC (after floor session) – SB 289 Special education act; SB 299 Accessibility logo on specialty license plates SHPAC (after floor session) – SB 317 No co-pays for BH services; SB 342 Direct care worker wages; HB 20 Paid sick leave Senate logjam. Fifteen of the 32 House bills we’re following in this report have now passed that chamber and have been introduced into the Senate. None of the 30 Senate bills in this report have been voted on by the full Senate, so none of them have made it over to the House yet. The disparity isn’t quite as stark when looking at all bills in play this year, but it’s still significant. As of Sunday morning, March 7, the House had passed 129 House bills, plus 4 Senate bills. The Senate has passed 62 Senate bills plus 2 House bills. “Break on through to the other side…” Among the bills that have passed the House and are now being considered in the Senate: HB 222, sponsored by Rep. Liz Thomson, creates a special education ombud program to be located in the DD Planning Council. It passed the House 68–0 and has only one committee referral in the Senate: SJC. HB 47, sponsored by Rep. Debbie Armstrong, is the end-of-life options act. It’s passed its first Senate committee and has one more committee hearing – also in SJC – before it can be voted on by the full Senate. HB 214, sponsored by Rep. Joanne Ferrary, repeals an existing but unused provision in state law allowing the state to issue certificates permitting employers to pay employees less than the state minimum wage. It’s been assigned to SHPAC and STBTC. Bill to protect children in CYFD custody in limbo. HB 202 would have placed into state law a few of the provisions of a settlement agreement already accepted by the state of New Mexico that provide protections for these children. The bill was heard in HJC on Friday, but a motion to move the b ill on to its next committee failed by a vote of 5–6, leaving the bill in limbo in Judiciary. Advisory member Public input/viewing information. Committee agendas are available through the legislative website (nmlegis.gov) under the “What’s Happening” tab on the legislative homepage. These agendas include information about how the public can comment on bills being heard in the committee. Committee meetings are also being webcast for viewing by people who don’t wish to provide comment and therefore don’t need to be part of the Zoom meeting; find them under the “Webcast” tab. Reminder: Senate committees require you to alert the committee by email well in advance of the meeting if you want to provide public comment on a bill. House committees don’t ask you to sign up in advance but you have to have a Zoom account in order to join the meeting; sign up for free at https://zoom.us/freesignup/. Bills and Memorials Introduced in the 2021 Session This list is grouped by specific disability or subject matter and shows the bill number, sponsor, a description of the bill, the current committee assignments and action taken on the bill or memorial. Since the session is now half-way over, there are only two ways to introduce new bills: by request of the governor, or by conversion of one of the place-holder (“dummy”) bills assigned to party leaders and committee chairs. Memorials and resolutions can be introduced at any time. Note: Due to the pandemic, both the House and the Senate have been holding less frequent floor sessions than they do in normal times, when they meet almost daily. This means that there are delays in the information on the legislative website, including the daily bill locator, catching up with committee action on a bill, because committee “reports” reflecting those actions must be accepted by the full chamber before they become part of the official record. That in turn means that this status report may not capture all committee action on some bills. With the session now in its final two weeks, daily floor sessions are becoming the norm so reporting is speeding up. State Budget HB 2 General Appropriations Act. Rep. Patty Lundstrom. This is the state budget bill that provides funding for most state agencies and programs. It passed the House by a vote of 60–10 and is now under review by the Senate Finance Committee. A package of amendments is typically adopted by the Committee, with the revised Senate version of the bill then sent back to the House near the end of the legislative session. See last week’s report for details of how the House version affects agencies and programs directly affecting persons with disabilities. SB 377 General Appropriations Act II. Sen. George Munoz. This bill, typically referred to as “HB 2 Junior”, provides one-time supplemental funding for a very wide range of state agencies and programs. Each legislator is given the opportunity to allocate a certain amount of funding to programs of their choice. Each senator, for example, could allocate up to $300,000 this year. So far, this bill contains only the allocations from senators, totaling about $12.5 million. House members will have $175,000 to allocate, and those will be added to the Senate bill once all their selections have been made. Items of interest to the disability community in the current version of the bill include additional funding for Special Olympics, civil legal services, deaf/blind support services, youth suicide prevention programs, support of disabled veterans, and mental health services for student athletes at UNM and NMSU. Behavioral Health HB 125 Behavioral health practice and oversight. Rep. Day Hochman-Vigil. Modifies some of the licensure requirements for psychologists and therapists, such as extending the period of temporary 2 New Mexico licensure for those licensed in another state and practicing here during a health care emergency. Passed the House 68–0; passed SHPAC, next goes to SJC. HB 151 BH consortium for planning. Rep. Karen Bash. Calls for the establishment of a large “Bridges Across New Mexico” consortium of politicians, architects, business people and social service agencies to consider the need for additional residential facilities for mental health and substance abuse treatment, and for transitional and longer term housing, It also would develop a drug prevention program for students and review DWI laws and penalties. Similar to SB 191, below. Passed HHHC, pending in HAFC. HB 178 Counseling and therapy practice extension. Rep. D. Wonda Johnson. Extends the board that oversees these practitioners for another six years (to 2027) and makes a few technical changes to the current authorizing statute. Unless extended, the board will terminate this July 1. Passed the House 67–0; passed SHPAC; next goes to STBTC. HB 202 Child welfare improvements. Rep. Meredith Dixon. In its amended version, this bill would have put into law a few of the provisions in the settlement agreement in the Kevin S. lawsuit relating to children in CYFD custody. For example, except in “extraordinary circumstances”, it prohibited placement of children in hotels or motels, state offices or out–of–state facilities. State agency leaders claimed it was premature to act now and promised to support legislation once all implementation details and outcomes are worked out. Passed HHHC; remains in HJC after a motion to move the bill on failed. Further action unlikely. HB 215 BH screening, intervention and referral. Rep. Day Hochman Vigil. Calls on HSD to provide Medicaid coverage for screening, brief intervention and referral for treatment (SBIRT) for persons who appear to have a substance abuse disorder or certain mental health conditions identified by HSD. Passed HHHC and HJC, awaiting House vote. SB 119 Interstate compact on psychology. Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino. Brings New Mexico into the interstate agreement (compact) that allows someone appropriately licensed in another state to practice temporarily in New Mexico, and the same opportunity for those licensed here to practice in other states. Passed SHPAC, pending in SJC. SB 128 Suicide prevention, response and treatment. Sen. Bill O’Neill. The substitute version of this comprehensive bill calls for a number of steps to be taken to assess whether a person admitted to an emergency room or mental health facility may be suicidal and to intervene when a person is believed to be suicidal. It establishes the BH Purchasing Collaborative as the lead agency to plan and coordinate these interventions. Passed SHPAC, pending in SJC. SB 191 BH consortium for planning. Sen. Linda Lopez. The amended version of this bill is similar to but no longer identical to HB 151, above. Passed SHPAC, pending in SFC. SB 285 Emergency transport for MH evaluation. Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto. Under current law, police officers have the authority to detain and transport persons with a mental disability to an evaluation facility if they are suicidal or presenting a danger to themselves or others due to their disability. This bill would allow a police officer in such circumstances to have an EMT or other emergency medical responder transport the individual for the evaluation. A proposed amendment to ensure the individual would not have to pay for the cost of the ambulance transport was narrowly rejected in SJC.