Committee gives due pass to Senate Joint Memorial 2 to form frontier-area task force, 4-2

A House committee voted to give a due pass recommendation to Senate Joint Memorial 2, a request that the governor appoint a task force to study needs of frontier areas and recommend ways to improve delivery of services and infrastructure in remote communities.

Senator Campos and Representative Joseph Sanchez introduced the memorial and deferred to Carol Miller, an expert witness who described a multi-year, grassroots effort that began after the pandemic and earlier legislative work. "We started talking about something that is nicknamed… community operated infrastructure networks to create a legal entity among ourselves that would help break down some of the silos in funding and administration," Miller said, describing a collection of water associations, acequias, land grants, community centers, libraries and volunteer emergency services that have struggled to coordinate and to hire paid staff.

Committee members expressed support and also reservations. Representative Garcia described significant needs in her district, including water, roads and health access. Representative Mason and others questioned why the governor would appoint the task force rather than existing regional councils of governments (COGs) or locally elected bodies; senators, the sponsor and Miller said the governor can draw on executive resources and that the memorial explicitly calls for community involvement.

Representative Collin provided an explanation for a no vote, saying regional COGs should handle such coordination and that studies sometimes do not lead to action. The committee recorded a due pass with a 4-2 tally.

The memorial sets an approximate timeline for study work to conclude by November, and speakers told the committee they had consulted with multiple state offices during development, including the governor’s office, the state auditor and relevant cabinet agencies, but had not produced legislative mandates; the memorial only requests the governor appoint a task force to study options and make recommendations. Supporters said the point is to gather practical, community-informed recommendations that could inform future legislation or program design, and to surface ways to fund paid local capacity in small frontier communities.

Ending: The committee’s due-pass recommendation does not create a task force; it asks the governor to appoint one. Committee members urged that any task force make sure appointments reflect the state’s geographic and cultural diversity and that recommendations be actionable rather than shelved.