After years of struggle, lawmakers have reached agreement on making New Mexico compliant under the federal REAL ID Act. The House of Representatives voting 65-1 on Monday to approve a Senate-amended bill. Republican Governor Susana Martinez has praised the legislation that would require undocumented immigrants in the state to submit fingerprints before getting new "driving authorization cards." Those fingerprints would be given to the FBI for background checks. Immigrants in the country illegally who currently have New Mexico driver's licenses can skip the fingerprinting requirement. All state residents could apply for REAL ID compliant licenses or just authorization cards. The REAL ID Act requires proof of legal U.S. residency for those who want to use state identification to access certain areas of federal facilities.
The New Mexico Senate overwhelmingly passed its version of the state’s six-point-two-billion dollar budget by a 39-to-one vote Monday. The vote tally coming after more debate on how to cover suddenly-huge shortfalls ahead the rest of this and the upcoming fiscal years.
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The New Mexico House has endorsed an overhaul of the state's bail system designed to keep dangerous defendants behind bars and make sure poor, nonviolent suspects don't languish in jail. The House approved the proposed constitutional amendment 69-0 on Monday. It would allow judges to deny bail to certain defendants, while granting pretrial release to those who aren't considered a danger but remain in jail because they can't afford bail. The bail bond industry dropped its opposition after a requirement was added that defendants who cannot afford bail must file a court motion requesting relief.
The Supreme Court on Thursday censured Santa Fe Judge Sarah Singleton of the First Judicial District while accepting a settlement between the judge and the Judicial Standards Commission. Singleton acknowledged she shouldn't have spoken on the phone with the lawyer for a man who had just won a 165 million dollar jury award from FedEx in a wrongful death case in Singleton's court. She disclosed the contact to all parties in the case and stepped down from the case. The jury verdict is now being appealed. Singleton agreed in the settlement agreement to have the Supreme Court's censure of her published in a New Mexico legal publication.
Santa Fe Weather: Sunny and warmer today and tomorrow…the high today topping-out at 60, rising to 64 on Wednesday. It’ll be mostly clear tonight with the low dropping to 33.