June 20, 2020

I congratulate and thank all the New Mexico senators for conducting this very successful 2020 special session.  It is an accomplishment for the people and the communities of our state that we can be very proud of. 
What an unusual meeting of the Legislature it was. In the face of an extraordinary global health crisis, whose effects reached right into our own Roundhouse, we nonetheless balanced the State budget and kept us solvent – our first job.
We met the daunting challenge of an estimated $2 billion dollar shortfall in our revenues created by the double-whammy of plummeting oil prices and the COVID-19-caused shutdown of almost the entire state’s economy.  
We passed the means by which to get critical, timely financial help to small businesses and our local governments hit hard by Coronavirus-driven events.
We met the pressing human rights challenge of this raw moment in time in our society, by laying the foundation to transform outdated law enforcement policies in New Mexico. I am particularly proud of this important work.
With just a short period of time available to us, the Senate passed a highly-responsive set of solutions that put our communities and main street businesses, families and classrooms at the forefront of our economic recovery.  And for that, I thank all the senators.
I’d like to recognize all the hard-working public servants, those senators who will be leaving their positions in this chamber at the close of this session: Senator Papen, Senator Smith, Senator Martinez, Senator Payne, Senator Sapien, Senator Sanchez,  Senator White, Senator Fulfer, and Senator Ramos.
Their devotion to New Mexico will stand the test of time, and will not be forgotten. They did their best to improve the quality of life for regular New Mexicans.  While I often differed with them, sometimes deeply, I always knew that they were doing what they thought was right.  I always listened and learned from all of them, and respected their viewpoints.  We thank these senators for their dedicated service.

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