Votes at a glance: committee advances multiple bills on courts, education, raffles and teacher pay

The Senate Finance Committee completed a series of votes on House bills, advancing several measures by unanimous or near‑unanimous margins during the session.

Votes and brief descriptions (committee action and recorded outcome):

- HB 352 — Magistrate court restructuring: sponsor testimony said the bill would close, relocate or modify operations for underutilized magistrate court facilities and improve security and efficiency. Committee: do‑pass; recorded vote 11–0 in the affirmative.

- HB 63 — Raffles for youth organizations: the bill would exempt certain youth‑serving, tax‑exempt organizations from raffle licensing under the state’s Gaming Control Act for specific fundraising activities. Committee: do‑pass; recorded vote 11–0 in the affirmative.

- HB 154 — High school equivalency testing and teacher preparation data / science of reading provisions (committee substitute and amendment adopted): the committee adopted an amendment to add a science‑of‑reading requirement to teacher preparation programs and to collect limited data on program graduates; sponsors and witnesses described the data collection as intended for program evaluation rather than immediate disciplinary action. Committee: do‑pass as amended; recorded outcome: passed (committee produced a majority yes vote; roll recorded by committee as passing by majority).

- HB 156 — Teacher minimum salary increases: the bill raises statutory minimums for teacher salary levels (for example, moving level thresholds cited in testimony from prior levels to $55,000/$65,000/$75,000 for levels 1–3). Committee: do‑pass; recorded vote 11–0 in the affirmative. Testimony from NEA New Mexico supported the measure.

- HB 199 — Tax data sharing with Legislative Finance Committee: the bill would allow the Taxation and Revenue Department to share certain tax data with the Legislative Finance Committee for use in fiscal analyses and tests. Committee: do‑pass; recorded vote 11–0 in the affirmative.

Other procedural notes from the hearing: committee members repeatedly asked for clarity on amendments and how budget language would be tracked into the appropriations and budget process. Several sponsors accepted friendly amendments during the hearing; where appropriations language was removed in House committee amendments, committee sponsors said the appropriation alignment would be handled through the budget process.

The committee advanced these bills to the next stages of the legislative process with do‑pass recommendations; committee roll calls are recorded in the hearing transcript and are summarized above.