Republican state officials hear capitol outlay and public requests

Republican State House Reps. Jason Harper, Alan Martinez, Josh Hernandez and Sen. Craig Brandt heard capitol outlay requests and public comment at the Rio Rancho Public Schools district office boardroom Jan. 9.

Various city, county and school officials requested funds for their projects from the officials in a forum. Each official is allocated a certain amount to disburse to different requests in their district. The money comes from severance tax, which is the difference when minerals are severed from the earth on public land.

The officials have a few of their own priorities for the 30-day session coming up, but the forum gives them ideas on what their constituents might need.

Officials focuses

Brandt: “I’ve kind of gone off the rails this year. Usually I am working on a lot of education bills, but this time I’ve really gotten concerned about the crime that has been happening, specifically around organized crime and human trafficking.”

Hernandez: “I am a huge proponent of economic development.”

Martinez: “I’m spending a lot of the interim looking at some of the different crime issues, supporting our corrections interim committee, and I am curious to see which crime bills our floor can introduce and how much support we’re going to get from the other side. As I did in my last session, I will take a hard look and vote my conscience.”

Harper: “I think you all know my love language is tax policy.”

Capitol outlay requests

The first requests came from the Rio Rancho City Manager Matt Geisel.

“We have three categories: quality of life, public safety and infrastructure and a range of requests what I call from kind of extra small to aspirational,” Geisel said.

For quality of life, Geisel requested funds for youth sports complexes, repair of Haynes Pool, a pedestrian walkway between Loma Colorado Main Library and the aquatic center along with a library bookmobile.

“The bookmobile would go out and be deployed throughout the community, have pop-up hours at parks and things of that sort,” he said.

Public safety was also a large part of the request. Geisel said the police force needs vehicles and motorcycles replaced due to high mileage. Another request was funding for dual band radios. He also requested funds for a SWAT robot, a new fire station, improvements for Fire Station 3 and an ambulance.

The infrastructure requests included roads, parking lots and a water utility systems. Geisel also talked about the aquifer re-injection system, which re-injects water into the ground. He said it benefits the region, not just Rio Rancho. He asked for funding for a second well, which he says would expand the city’s capabilities of recharging the aquifer year round. The current system, he says, is “finicky” and causes the re-injection to be down for 10 days in a month.

“It reminds me of driving a hot rod from the ’60s, you know, always kind of just adjusting the motor,” he said.

Geisel called the project “shovel ready” and said it would benefit generations to come.

Lastly, Geisel talked about flashing lights for roadway safety equipment at intersections and schools.

Ask Academy was also there to voice its requests, asking mainly for funding for an additional facility to help with class size because the school is at capacity with close to 600 students. The facility would function as a multi-use room for cafeteria use as well as large gatherings.

Sandoval County Manager Wayne Johnson was there as well asked for updated dual band radios, but he also asked for legislation that would change requirements for the subscriber fee that law enforcement agencies in the county often have to pay to use the radios. In the past, the county was able to work with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to get those fees waived, but he said legislation would help them remove the fee as a requirement.

Johnson also asked for funding to add space for a dispatch call center and funding for the district courts.

“Right now we’ve got district court judges whose offices are down the hall from pre-trial services, and it’s not a good security situation for our judges. We have cases being slowed down, not only criminal cases but civil cases,” he said.

The funding, he says, would allow the county to build a courthouse that would satisfy the county’s “growth needs” over the next decades.

“We will be building a courthouse next year. It’s just whether we’re building a courthouse for yesterday or a courthouse for tomorrow,” Johnson mused.

He also asked about funding for Paseo del Volcan extension, which has been in the works for several years now.

Also on his radar was funding for animal shelters run by the county.

The Sandoval Academy of Bilingual Education (SABE), one of the only charter schools of its kind in the Rio Rancho area, asked for funding that would help with a new facility on Quantum Road. It plans to occupy the building with students and teachers starting in July 2025.

They said having their own building would help with school function rather than using a lease agreement.

Southern Sandoval County Arroyo Flood Control Authority (SSCAFCA) asked for funding to help areas stabilize and retain arroyos. Due to the current flooding that occurs on Rio Rancho roadways along Southern Blvd., SSCAFCA will have to divert the arroyo soil so the flooding won’t happen on public roads. The project won’t impact traffic for people in Rio Rancho.

SSCAFCA also talked about its intern program that started a few years ago.

Rio Rancho Public Schools asked for funding to help with traffic circulation around Vista Grande Elementary School. RRPS said the current circulation has become a safety problem with the school being near capacity.

“We are having school busses and parent pickup comingling in the same location,” an RRPS representative said.

RRPS also asked for funding to help with intercom systems, internet, updated kitchens and an updated fence for schools.

The last thing they talked about was a new floor for Cleveland High School’s gym. The current floor is close to 12 years old.

Public comment

There were two people signed up for the Public Comment section of the forum. The first was Alexis Jimenez of Moms Demand Action.

Jimenez only asked about gun safety and what the officials could do about it.

“I just want to let you know I support common-sense gun laws, and I encourage all of you to support them as well because they work,” she said.

Jimenez mentioned potential laws pertaining to background checks, purchase ages and mental health issues.

“I have also been told that we just need to enforce the laws we have, and I agree with that as well,” she said.

She also said she wanted to know how legislators could help law enforcement do just that.

“I believe we can pass laws that help keep our communities and especially our children safe. You know, gun violence is the number-one killer of children nowadays, and that’s just wrong,” Jimenez added.

Hernandez told Jimenez that he is co-sponsoring legislation for the upcoming session that would provide a tax credit to make gun safes more accessible to people in New Mexico.

“It’s the little bit I can do in a 30-day, but I am hoping it will make a tremendous difference,” he said.

Brandt responded to Jimenez saying he agreed with mostly everything she said.

“This was one of the main things that the governor and I talked about yesterday in her office, and we understand we have some differences when it comes to the specifics,” Brandt said. “I agree that the laws are not being enforced. We have an amazing number of juveniles getting handguns, though.”

He added that the priority is looking at who is supplying those guns. He said the guns are mostly coming from vehicle thefts.

“One of the things that happens because of some of our concealed carry laws, if I go to Walmart and I am wearing my concealed carry in a holster, I can’t take my firearm into Walmart. I have a gun safe in my truck, but most people don’t. So they take their firearm out and put it in the center console. While they’re in Walmart, their car gets broken into and their gun gets taken. That’s how a lot of those handguns are getting on the streets,” Brandt stressed.

He also said gun violence is largely due to gang activity. According to Brandt, 70% of gun violence in New Mexico is due to gangs.

However, according to New Mexico Department of Health, most gun violence is from suicides at 67% and around 40% were related to homicides. According to United States data, 346 school shootings were reported in 2023.

That being said, Department of Justice says New Mexico is home to more than 100 gangs, most of which are located in Albuquerque.

Brandt continued saying that organized crime groups and gangs should be held responsible for selling weapons to children. “We’ve got to get those guns off the streets,” he said.

Brandt added that prosecution of the gangs is handled at the federal level.

“We are trying to fix some of those things so we can go after the rout of the problem,” he said.

Harper said he remembers when a student brought a gun to Cleveland High School a few years ago when his kids were students there.

“I actually worked with the mother of the student’s girlfriend who, if you recall, was listed on the note that he had written to kill his girlfriend. She was very worried for her safety because he was found incompetent to stand trial. He had some challenges. And because of our laws and him being a juvenile, he was just released,” he said.

Harper added that he wants to pass legislation that would require a juvenile, if found incompetent, to receive treatment as an alternative. According to him, a bill that he worked on with this in mind died because some people argued against it.

“We are not going to sit here, by the way, and say you know we’re members of the NRA. We are working to try and help as well,” he said.

Glenn Walters also spoke in public comment, thanking the officials for their support of small businesses and asked that they continue that.