Dear Editor,

Welcome to week seven of nine of the 2023 Legislative Session. As we mentioned last week, many bills are “making the jump” from one chamber to another – such as HB 151, which cleared the NM House of Representatives Feb. 24. (HB 151 would extend unemployment benefits to non-tenure track faculty when class schedules are abruptly changed.)

We are still advocating around our AFT New Mexico-supported bills, and we are pleased to report two of those bills (HB 126/a and HB 181) advanced, while another HB 150 was tabled in the House Appropriations and Finance Committee.

While we want to see all our supported bills be enacted into law, there are always some worthy bills that...

Dear Editor,

At the close of the sixth week of the legislative session, we are pleased to report that many of our union’s priority legislation continues to move forward. There are still three weeks to go, and many things can change, but we continue to make progress every day by advocating, educating, and agitating for the positive policies than help our students, profession, and communities.

Part of why we continue to make progress has been the efforts of our AFT NM locals who have taken the time to lobby their representatives on the issues that matter to their constituency and community.

Our latest local to lobby were the AFT NM Retirees, who were in the Roundhouse advocating for...

At New Mexico in Depth and ProPublica, we practice “no surprises” journalism: No one should read anything about themselves in our articles without first having had a chance to respond.

So journalists in our newsrooms were surprised to read in the Sun that the superintendent of Gallup-McKinley County Schools had criticized our story about his school district. We had given him ample opportunity to respond to our reporting, but the Sun did not give us that opportunity in turn.

Superintendent Mike Hyatt told the Sun and school board members that he ignored our requests to talk to him because he believed we had a predetermined narrative.

That’s not the case. ProPublica, a national...

Dear Editor,

We are now in the sixth week of the Legislative session and bills are beginning to make their way out of the N.M. House or N.M. Senate to the other legislative chamber. What does this look like in real life?

Generally, a bill will receive 1-3 committee hearings in the legislative chamber where the bill is introduced.

Once a bill passes those committees, it will be heard by the full chamber where it was introduced. If that chamber’s majority votes “yes” on the legislation, it will then be sent to the other legislative chamber for consideration in committees and then by the full chamber before heading to the governor for her signature or veto.

House Bill 126 passed...