New Mexico governor symptoms bill to fund legislature, safety
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has signed the first bill of the 2021 legislative session, which resources legislative functions in the point out capitol, including an unparalleled amount of protection expending in the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection in Washington D.C.
Property Invoice 1 presents around $32 million in funding for legislative staff, as nicely as foods and journey stipends for unsalaried legislators. That is a tiny portion of the $7 billion general fund the legislature will be allotted during this year’s 60-working day session.
It incorporated $2.1 million in added stability funding, which include $675,000 for overseeing the National Guard as part of an unparalleled lockdown of the capitol advanced.
All through 2020, the capitol served as a phase for peaceful protests, some from police violence next the dying of George Floyd, other people in opposition of the pandemic lockdowns of enterprises and the closure of condition properties to the general public.
But the Jan. 6 violence in D.C. and extra threats to statehouses identified by the FBI changed the tone this yr.
All through the opening day of the session on Tuesday, officers, soldiers and sheriff’s deputies guarded entrances together a one particular-block corridor on avenue bordering the capitol grounds.
Two levels of fencing ringed most of the location, and police deployed video clip surveillance towers. Legislators vacated the developing Wednesday in aspect to prevent occupying the building all through the inauguration of President Joe Biden.
The invoice also offers $200,000 to pay out for the governor’s authorized crew as it faces ongoing lawsuits linked to pandemic-linked community wellbeing orders.
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Attanasio is a corps member for the Affiliated Push/Report for America Statehouse Information Initiative. Report for The us is a nonprofit nationwide company method that sites journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-included challenges.
