SANTA FE – In a move critics are calling a calculated effort to dodge fiscal oversight, Senate Democrats on Thursday blocked an attempt to send a sweeping climate change bill to the state’s Senate Finance Committee, clearing a path for the legislation to bypass the very experts tasked with guarding New Mexico’s wallet.
Senate Bill 18, the “Clear Horizons” act, seeks to establish aggressive statewide greenhouse gas limits and expand the powers of the Environmental Improvement Board. But despite the massive implications for the state’s energy sector and long-term revenue, Democratic leadership fast-tracked the bill past the Senate Finance Committee, sparking a heated floor debate over transparency and the looming threat of “energy poverty” for New Mexican families.
Dodging the Fiscal Gatekeepers
The maneuver was aided by a striking “no” vote from Senate Finance Chair George Muñoz (D-Gallup). Despite his role as the primary gatekeeper of the state budget—and a public profile often bolstered by oil and gas industry contributions—Muñoz voted with party leadership to keep the bill out of his own committee. The move was seen by many as a surrender to Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s executive agenda at the expense of fiscal due diligence.
Senator Pat Woods (R-Broadview) led the charge to subject the bill to rigorous financial analysis, arguing that the true cost of the legislation isn’t in its administrative price tag, but in its potential to gut the state’s economy.
“I’m looking at the revenue side of that bill,” Woods argued on the Senate floor. “I’m not looking at the initial cost of operating the system. I’m looking at the revenue side—how it will change the future of the state. If we’re going to look at the revenues long term in the state, we need to take that through the Finance [Committee].”
The Cost of “Climate Politics”
Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth and the bill’s sponsor, Senator Mimi Stewart, defended the referral, claiming that because the New Mexico Department of Environment received three years of funding last year, the bill had no immediate fiscal impact.
However, Republicans were quick to point out the intellectual dishonesty of that argument. Senator William Sharer (R-Farmington) warned that the bill mandates technological shifts that the industry cannot currently achieve, threatening the very sector that provides 50% of the state’s revenue.
“Industry then stops paying 50% of our bills,” Sharer warned. “We owe it to the finance committee to really have a good look at it and see if it is going to have that negative impact. Not that the funding for doing what this bill calls for now isn’t there—it’s the long-term negative impact.”
A Party-Line Shield
The motion to refer the bill to Finance was defeated in a 24-11 roll call vote. By shielding the bill from the Senate Finance Committee, Democrats have ensured that the potential for skyrocketing energy costs and the resulting “energy poverty” for rural and low-income New Mexicans remains unexamined by the state’s chief economists.
The vote sends a clear signal: for the current majority, party loyalty and the Governor’s climate legacy take precedence over the long-term financial stability of the state.
“This is an issue that is very much on our radar,” Woods said following the vote. “It gives you some indication of how much we are not looking forward to seeing this bill.”
With the Senate Finance Committee bypassed, SB 18 now heads to the Senate Conservation and Senate Tax, Business and Transportation committees, where the path has been carefully cleared of any major fiscal hurdles.
