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Legislation to remove the protection of qualified immunity from public employees passed on a 39-29 vote following lengthy debate Tuesday, Feb. 16, in the New Mexico House of Representatives.
House Bill 4 will allow people to file civil lawsuits in state court when they believe their constitutional rights have been violated by a public employee. The employee would not be liable for damages, but the agency he or she worked for world be. Supporters said this would force agencies to beef up training and supervision to ensure rights were protected.
The bill was suggested by a civil rights commission formed last summer following protests in New Mexico and around the world in response to the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other African-Americans at the hands of police officers. While policing was the motivation for the bill, it would apply to all government employees.
The bill was amended during the committee process to cap judgements at $2 million. Bill cosponsor Sen. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, will likely take over management of the bill as it now moves to the Senate.
Dirty movies
Legislation introduced this week in the House would create a new government board to determine which movies were too risqué to receive the state’s film production tax credit.
House Bill 283 would prohibit the tax credit from being claimed for any movie that “contains sexually explicit conduct that most parents would consider patently too adult for their children aged 17 and under.”
The bill, sponsored by T. Ryan Lane, R-Aztec; Candie Sweetser, D-Deming; Gail Armstrong, R-Magdalena; and Stefani Lord, R-Sandia Park; will get its first hearing in the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee.
Virtual reality
More than 6,000 people, representing every county in the state but one, have participated in the Zoom legislative committee meetings being held during this year’s session in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a press release at the start of the week from House leadership.
They said 6,119 people made public comments in the two-week period from Feb. 1-13, compared to roughly 2,400 last year. Both numbers should be viewed a bit skeptically. The Zoom number undoubtedly is inflated by the same handful of lobbyists popping in and out of meetings all day from their home offices. And there are no attendance records from previous meetings.
Walter Rubel can be reached at waltrubel@gmail.com.
