The State Supreme Court ruled Wednesday morning that 10 bills vetoed by the governor during last year’s 60-day session will become law.
Top New Mexico legislators sued the governor claiming she didn’t veto the bills properly.
The State Supreme Court just ruled that the governor broke the rules when she vetoed those 10 bills without providing an explanation for why she was rejecting them.
Lawmakers sued the governor saying she did not specify why she objected to the bills like the constitution mandates.
They also said she missed the three-day deadline for some of the bills.
Attorneys on the side of legislators Wednesday morning argued that lawmakers were left confused when the bills came back vetoed but without the governor’s objections.
They say this interfered with legislators’ ability to act quickly to override the governor’s vetoes.
On the other side, attorneys for the governor claim she did provide objections to the vetoed bills but that they were simply not returned to lawmakers at the same time as the vetoes.
The bills in question involved things like hemp research, expanding broadband access and using computer science courses as high school graduation requirements.
Those vetoed bills are all laws now.
Here is a list of all ten bills:
- Financial Assistance for Medical Students HB 126
- Industrial Hemp Research Rules HB 144
- Industrial Hemp Research Rules SB 6
- Notification of Public Improvement Districts SB 356
- “Local Public Body” Exemption SB 222
- Notification of TIDD to County Treasurers SB 67
- Computer Science for School Graduation SB 134
- Local Government Broadband Infrastructure SB 24
- Horse Racing Licenses, Health and Testing SB 184
- Public School Capital Outlay Time Periods SB 64
