New Mexico Legislature passes $330 million virus relief bill

SANTA FE, N. M. (AP) — New Mexico lawmakers on Tuesday passed a bipartisan coronavirus relief bill that will deliver a one-time $1,200 check to all types of unemployed workers and up to $50,000 for certain businesses.

The bill also provides smaller stimulus checks to immigrants without legal status in the country and dependents, as well as additional funds for food banks, virus testing and contact tracing efforts.

Most of the proposed spending will be made possible by federal relief funding previously assigned to New Mexico, including around $319 million in unspent funds that were expected to expire soon. An additional $10 million in state general funds were allocated for testing and tracing efforts.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham called for the one-day special session as the state faces steep infection and death rates.

The bill allocates $100 million to support businesses with 100 or fewer employees. The New Mexico Finance Authority is tasked with distributing the grants, which can be up to $50,000, and has wide discretion about whom to choose. It’s instructed to focus on the service industry.

Republican lawmakers welcomed language in the bill that instructs the Finance Authority to make sure recipients are spread out geographically, and not concentrated in the tourism and Democrat-heavy cities of northern New Mexico.

Republicans were unsuccessful in their efforts to provide aid for low-income essential workers. Democrats said federal guidelines would prevent such spending and they vowed to find ways during the upcoming session in January to address the issue.

Outside the state Capitol, two dozen people gathered in opposition to the relief bill, and the health orders from the governor that have closed many businesses and mandated mask wearing. One brought a sign that said “my body, my face, my choice.”

The building is normally open to the public and buzzing with lobbyists during a legislative session but has been closed since the onset of the pandemic.

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