The Senate Health and Public Affairs Committee on an afternoon hearing advanced a package of measures affecting state personnel policy, information-technology procurement, and regulation of massage establishments, and it voted to send proposed changes to the state's extreme-risk firearm protection-order law to the Judiciary Committee for further review.

The committee also deadlocked on a proposal to let children under the court's jurisdiction be required to receive court-ordered behavioral-health services and declined to advance the state auditor's broad audit-reform measure.

Why it matters: The bills taken up affect how state government hires and oversees staff (one bill would create a diversity officer and agency liaisons), how the state buys major IT systems, how massage businesses are regulated (including access for inspectors), and how law enforcement may seek and enforce extreme-risk firearm protection orders. Together they touch personnel and procurement practices, public safety procedures, and consumer protections that affect agencies across New Mexico.

Diversity, equity and inclusion officer (Senate Bill 356)
Senate Bill 356, described by the bill sponsor as the "diversity act," would create a diversity officer position in the State Personnel Office, authorize diversity and inclusion liaisons in state agencies, and establish a workforce diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) council charged with developing a statewide DEI strategic plan. Senator Pinto presented the measure; Senator Padilla Lopez cosponsored and said the bill "attempts to provide equity and inclusion within state government." Anna Hansen, the registered lobbyist for the Pueblo of Pojoaque, testified in support: "The Pueblo stands in support of the type of bill ... it is really important since we are a multicultural state that we have some kind of diversity," she said.

Opposition on the committee was brief and explicit: Senator Scott explained his vote against the bill by saying, "DEI ... has been discredited both in government service and the private sector now ... it's a bad idea." The committee approved a due-pass recommendation on SB356; the clerk recorded a 6-3 roll call in favor of the committee recommendation.

IT procurement and DoIT role (Senate Bill 217)
Senate Bill 217 would change the state's IT procurement roles by more clearly delineating responsibilities between the Department of Information Technology (DoIT), its Enterprise Project Management Office (EPMO), and the state's General Services Department (GSD). Sponsor Senator Michael Padilla told the committee the bill seeks to "centralize and streamline IT-related procurements to improve efficiency, oversight, and integration across state agencies." DoIT Secretary Benny Paredes testified that the change would shift contract redlining and procurement review to GSD and allow EPMO to focus on project oversight, training and analytics.

Padilla and the secretary cited recurring delays and large cost overruns on multiagency projects as the motivation. The sponsor said examples include long-running implementations that grew from initial $16 million estimates to about $134 million in later estimates. Committee members asked about rulemaking and training; Paredes said rulemaking would be required and that the department planned to expand project-management training across executive agencies.

The committee recorded a due-pass recommendation for SB217 by voice and roll call; the tally reported in the hearing was 9 to 1 in favor of a due pass recommendation.

Massage-therapy establishment licensing (Senate Bill 203)
Senate Bill 203 would require licensing of establishments where massage therapy is performed, not just licensing of individual practitioners. Sponsor Senator Trujillo said the change would allow the Regulation and Licensing Department (RLD) to inspect premises for hygiene, safety and privacy standards and to better identify facilities that mask illegal activity such as prostitution or human trafficking. The bill includes exemptions for medical facilities, certain mobile services, and home-based providers when no more than two licensed massage therapists operate from a residence.

Supporters included the League of Women Voters and the American Association of University Women (Meredith Machin), who told the panel the bill would help identify abuses and said a photo on the license would make verification easier. Major Manny Gutierrez of the New Mexico State Police testified law enforcement supports the bill because licensing establishments would "provide crucial insights allowing officers to better prepare and safeguard their efforts when addressing criminal activity." RLD general counsel Kevin Graham explained the department has digitized licensing and would implement an electronic license-and-establishment database.

Opponents on the committee raised concerns about home-based exemptions and local enforcement capacity; some members worried bad actors would move operations to private homes. After debate, the committee issued a due-pass recommendation on SB203; the hearing record shows a 6-4 roll call in favor of the committee recommendation.

Extreme-risk firearm protection orders (House Bill 12; IRPO/IRPA changes)
Representatives and law-enforcement witnesses urged changes to New Mexico's Extreme Risk Firearm Protection Order law (IRPO/IRPA) to clarify that law-enforcement officers may file petitions based on credible information they gather in the course of their duties and to require the immediate relinquishment of firearms when an order is served rather than allowing a 48-hour window. Representative Garrett explained the proposed changes are based on implementation experience; a Department of Public Safety representative said the change would align New Mexico with other jurisdictions that already allow officer-initiated petitions.

Dozens of advocates and victims'supporters, including New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence, Moms Demand Action and victims'family members, testified in favor. Law-enforcement witnesses described that the 48-hour window had, in some instances, been used by threatening actors to commit violence, and several witnesses said immediate relinquishment would reduce risk. Medical and mental-health witnesses who testified noted the change could increase the number of petitions and cited a national comparison showing New Mexico's 48-hour allowance is longer than in most states with ERPO laws.

The committee voted to give House Bill 12 a due-pass recommendation to the Judiciary Committee for further consideration; committee members moved the measure forward so judges and legal staff in Judiciary can consider the statutory changes and procedural details before floor action.

Behavioral-health orders for children under court jurisdiction (Senate Bill 489)
Senate Bill 489 would explicitly permit the children's court to compel a child adjudicated as abused or neglected to participate in court-ordered behavioral-health services. Sponsor Senator Ramos (presented by Senator Gallegos in the sponsor's absence) said the bill responds to concerns raised by the Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD). Disability Rights New Mexico and other advocates testified in opposition, saying the bill would remove treatment-consent rights for a subset of children and that existing children's-code mechanisms may already provide needed tools.

After debate and questions, the committee vote on SB489 was a 5-5 tie and the measure did not receive a committee recommendation to advance.

State audit reform (Senate Bill 511)
Senate Bill 511, sponsored by the state auditor, would restructure audit requirements, consolidate certain federal single-audit work into a statewide federal single audit, and change tiers for small local public bodies. The auditor and deputy described the proposal as an effort to improve timeliness of the statewide annual comprehensive financial report (ACFR) and to respond to a shrinking audit market for small-audit engagements. Opponents'including local CPAs and representatives of the public accountancy board and small accounting firms'testified that a statewide federal single audit could reduce coverage of many federal programs, increase fraud risk in small programs, eliminate private-sector audit jobs and remove independent external oversight from many entities.

After testimony and discussion, the committee did not advance SB511; the roll call recorded in this hearing was 8 to 3 against passage of the measure as presented.

Other action and carryovers
The committee considered several other bills and procedural items. Legislative staff and the committee chair carried several matters forward for the next hearing day to allow sponsors to supply committee substitutes or clarifying amendments (for example, bills listed as carryover included school data-timing changes and a corporate-practice-of-medicine proposal). The committee chair said items with late-submitted substitute language would be heard at the next scheduled meeting to allow full review.

What the committee directed staff and agencies to do
Committee members pressed for more detail on training and rulemaking for DoIT (SB217), and asked RLD to clarify inspection capacity and digital-licensing timelines for massage-establishment oversight (SB203). Law-enforcement witnesses and advocates were asked to provide implementation data and to coordinate with Judiciary staff on the IRPO changes. The state auditor was asked for an implementation plan and further economic analysis related to the proposed statewide federal single audit.

Ending note
The committee completed the day's docket earlier than scheduled. Several bills carried over will appear on the committee calendar for the next meeting so sponsors can deliver substitute language and additional fiscal or legal information requested by members.