Several state lawmakers are raising alarm about alterations to three bills after they were not given a day’s notice during last week’s House of Representatives debate.
Rep. Stefani Lord (R-Sandia Park) wrote in a tweet that people were not given the proper amount of time to know about the changes.
"Change of bills without 24-hour notice. The people didn't get fair warning about what's being debated on the floor right now," Lord wrote in a tweet.
She referred to HB 2 Appropriations, HB 9 Redistricting PEC and HB 11 Medical Malpractice.
Brett Kokinadis, 2nd Vice-Chair of Santa Fe Republicans, wrote in a tweet that HB11 wasn’t the proper fix that the state needed.
"@GovMLG will say she saved the day, but health care is @ risk because MLG signed HB75 in '21. Here's Reps who voted for it. #HB11 isn't a good fix; it's a one-hop, fall that will drive Docs out of #NM. Only option we got for now," Kokinadis said.
According to the New Mexico Legislature, HB 2 was authorized during the special session and took over $1 million that was left in COVID-19 relief funds and allocated them to various departments throughout the state.
“Some of those appropriations include: $26 million to broadband infrastructure statewide, $500,000 to the administrative office of courts for pretrial monitoring, $435,000 to local government division of the department of finance and administration for personal services and employee benefits, $5 million to the Department of Game and Fish, $15 million to the Tourism Department for marketing and advertising, $5 million to the Human Service Department to assist food banks,” the legislature wrote.
The New Mexico Legislature reported that HB 11 is linked to medical malpractice and adjusting the meaning of "independent provider" that is a "business entity that is not a hospital or outpatient health care facility that employs or consists of members who are licensed or certified as doctors of medicine, doctors of osteopathy, chiropractors, podiatrists, nurse anesthetists, physician's assistants, certified nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists or certified nurse-midwives and the business entity's employees," and people who sue on the grounds of medical malpractice cannot ask for more than $75,000 per claim.
