El Rito Media News Services

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Friday signed most of the legislation passed during this week’s special session of the New Mexico Legislature, according to a news release from her office.

She did not sign Senate Bill 3, which would expand the New Mexico Department of Health’s authority to purchase COVID-19 vaccines for children, as well as allow the department to use additional sources than a sole federal advisory committee to create guidelines for school and daycare vaccination policy amid federal upheaval. The bill drew hours of Republican opposition during hearings and failed on Thursday to receive the two-thirds majority vote required to include an emergency clause that would have made it effective immediately.

In a news release on Thursday, Lujan Grisham, in a statement, said she was “deeply disappointed in Republicans for voting to restrict vaccines,” and that “there is no good reason for Republicans to make New Mexicans wait 90 days for vaccines they need to protect their health.” The governor’s Deputy Communications Director Jodi McGinnis Porter on Friday responded to Source’s query about the unsigned bill via text message to say that the governor “is still deliberating on it and we will have something on it next week.”

The governor signed the other four bills passed —most of which respond to federal funding cuts — and said in a statement: “When federal support falls short, New Mexico steps up — that’s our commitment to families who depend on these services. This funding protects the basics: food security, affordable health care, and access to care.”

House Bill 1 includes $162 million in emergency funding, including $66 million for the state Health Care Authority; $16.6 million to maintain federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; and $8 million for food banks and pantries, among other food-related expenses. The bill also includes $17 million to reduce health insurance costs on the state BeWell marketplace. HB1 transfers $30 million into the state’s emergency contingency fund and $50 million into the rural healthcare fund.

House Bill 2 addresses the expiring Affordable Care Act premium health insurance tax credits, which have become a line in the sand in federal budget negotiations. The bill allows New Mexicans above 400% of the federal poverty level to receive assistance through the state’s Health Care Affordability Fund if they meet other eligibility requirements. The $17.3 million to do this for the current fiscal year is included in HB1.

Senate Bill 1 transfers $50 million from the general fund to the Rural Health Care Delivery Fund to “stabilize existing health care services at risk of reduction or closure in rural and underserved areas across New Mexico, and “broadens eligibility beyond counties with populations under 100,000 to include providers in federally designated high-needs health professional shortage areas and tribally operated facilities.”

Senate Bill 2 takes effect immediately as an emergency measure and allows metropolitan court judges to preside over criminal competency proceedings, reversing a prior change earlier in 2025 that required all such cases to go to district court.

Sarah Rubinstein and Adrian Hedden
Carlsbad Current-Argus

New Mexico’s lawmakers moved quickly in the opening days of a special session convened in Santa Fe, passing a $125 million budget bill intended to overcome federal spending cuts backed by Republicans in Congress and appropriating state funds to make up the difference should Congress allow the Affordable Care Act to expire at the end of the year.

The special session, the first of 2025, was called by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to address a sweeping list of topics including the state’s efforts to account for federal funding cuts enacted July 4 when President Donald Trump signed a spending bill known by supporters as the “One Big Beautiful Bill.”

The top priority for the governor and Democratic lawmakers was House Bill 1, the funding bill, which was passed by the House after a 43-24 vote on the session’s opening day, Oct. 1, and later by the Senate, 25-13. The bill will next go to Lujan Grisham to be signed into law.

HB 1 creates a $30 million food assistance program, making up for cuts to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which came under fire in the federal spending bill. Also included: $17 million in health care subsidies and $50 million for the state’s Rural Health Delivery Fund used to supplement health care facilities in small towns and remote communities.

The House and Senate also passed House Bill 2, which would allow the state’s Healthcare Affordability Fund to be used to maintain health care coverage for New Mexicans should the federal government allow the Affordable Care Act to expire, meaning tax credits offered to U.S. policyholders would be eliminated.

Republicans in Congress signaled they intended to do so, with the ACA scheduled to expire at the end of 2025. That was a sticking point for Democrats in Congress who refused to agree to a federal budget or an extension of current spending policies by the Oct. 1 start of the 2026 fiscal year, leading to a government shutdown that continued as the state’s special session began.

HB 2 passed the House 49-13 on Oct. 1, and was approved by the Senate on a 34-3 vote Oct. 2.

Other bills still being considered as of Thursday afternoon were measures to expand criminal competency requirements, address behavioral health, widen eligibility for participation in New Mexico’s health insurance exchange program, and require schools to follow vaccine standards set by the New Mexico Department of Health.

“Over the last several months in meetings across our state, our Legislative Finance Committee has been closely reviewing the massive federal funding cuts and changes coming out of Washington, D.C., to understand how they will impact New Mexicans,” said Rep. Nathan Small (D-36), who chairs the Legislative Finance Committee and was a lead sponsor of HB 1. “The investments we are making today are about responding in a responsible way to protect the things families across our state need most: health care and food.”

Session opens with plea for peace

Before taking action on the legislative agenda at the start of the special session, members of both the House and Senate commented on last month’s assassination of conservative social media influencer Charlie Kirk, lamenting political violence and calling for civility in dealing with contentious issues.

Kirk was fatally shot Sept. 10 during a speaking event at Utah Valley University. Taylor Robinson, 22, was subsequently arrested for the shooting and faces trial for first-degree murder.

“Let’s rebuild a culture of dialogue where we listen as fiercely as we speak, where we argue with passion, but never lose sight of our shared humanity,” said Sen. William E. Sharer (R-1).

Lawmakers also cited the murder of Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman, a Democrat, who was shot to death June 14 at her home in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, along with husband Mark Hortman. Fifty-seven-year-old Luther Boelter was arrested and charged with two counts of second-degree murder.

Boelter was also charged with two counts of attempted second-degree murder after police said he shot and wounded Democratic State Sen. John Hoffman and wife Yvette Hoffman earlier that day at their home near Champlin, Minnesota.

“I know that it shouldn’t matter what party or ideology Melissa or Charlie had, we should feel the same pit in our stomachs about every act of political violence, no matter who was murdered,” said Sen. Mimi Stewart (D-17).

“The people of this state are demanding that we change course, to tone down the dangerous rhetoric that has seeped into our discourse,” said Rep. Gail Armstrong (R-49).

Adrian Hedden

Carlsbad Current-Argus

achedden@currentargus.com

An alleged scheme to steal crude oil out of pipelines in the Carlsbad area and sell the product in West Texas led to federal charges for five men arrested last month.

The investigation by the Bureau of Land Management began in June 2025, when special agents received a tip that the men were using a vacuum truck to pump oil out of the lines owned by Plains All American Pipeline, storing it at a facility in Carlsbad and driving it to Texas for sale.

For their alleged roles in the plot, Maxwell Jensen was arrested Aug. 21; Thomas Rees and Christopher Ortega were arrested Aug. 25; and German Ortiz-Santillano and Christian Jesus Contreras Varela were arrested on Aug. 27 and 28, respectively.

Each of the five men faces two charges: interstate transportation of stolen goods, and aiding and abetting. A Mexican national, Contreras Varela, also faced a charge of possession of a firearm by an undocumented person.

What follows is a compressed version of events leading to the arrests, according to the federal criminal complaints filed against each defendant.

The alleged conspiracy was uncovered when agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation received a tip June 18 that Jensen was looking to orchestrate the theft scheme, planning to pay off oilfield employees to steal the oil from pipelines.

Surveillance tools such as tracking devices and recorded conversations revealed more than 20 alleged thefts between July 22 and Aug. 18 with the thieves stealing about 600 barrels per day – which at current prices is valued at about $39,000.

The oil was collected and stored at a location Rees managed through his company Hound Dog Energy in Carlsbad and then moved into West Texas for sale.

Surveillance at the storage yard identified three 500-barrel storage tanks and a type of vacuum truck typically used to haul water but known to law enforcement as also used by thieves to steal oil. A barrel of oil is about 46 gallons.

The vacuum truck was observed leaving the location on July 22, and federal agents followed the vehicle to a Plains All American Pipeline site where it was hooked up to the pipeline.

Agents observed the vacuum truck as it was driven to another pipeline site owned by the same company where they saw a Plains All American vehicle appearing to assist the vacuum truck driver, suggesting an employee was in the on the theft.

Days later, on July 25, police witnessed two crude oil hauling trucks with the company name 9G Logistics at the yard hook up their hoses to the storage tanks, appearing to fill up the haulers. The oil was taken south on U.S. Highway 285.

Agents followed the haulers into West Texas where they offloaded the oil into storage tanks that read Gibson Energy.

A tracker warrant was submitted and approved on July 29, and it was placed on the hauler. Data collected from the tracker showed a total of 23 trips to Plains All American locations in New Mexico between July 22 and Aug. 18.

Investigators said they believe each trip involved the theft of crude oil.

Recorded conversations between Jensen and a confidential informant revealed Jensen was working with Rees to store the oil at the Hound Dog location, providing Rees 25% of the profit from the illicit sales.

In additional recorded conversations Jensen, Rees and Ortega, a former member of the Bandidos motorcycle gang, discussed accepting loads of stolen oil at the Hound Dog yard.

During an Aug. 21 conversation, the informant said Rees bragged about receiving up to 700 barrels per day, later stating he received 2,400 barrels the week before.

Ortiz-Santillano, a Plains All American employee, was linked to the alleged conspiracy when officers followed his company truck – identified as the one present at the thefts – to a gas station on North Canal Street in Carlsbad.

Police approached Ortiz-Santillano and he told them he’d been working for Plains All American about two years and driving the truck for a year. He said he worked between Carlsbad and Highway 360 – the area where police believed the thefts were occurring.

He told police he was the only person who drove the truck.

On Aug. 27, investigators contacted Contreras who confessed to driving the vacuum truck to steal the oil. Contreras’ pickup truck was also searched, with officers finding a gold and black Glock handgun.

Contreras admitted to being in the U.S. without citizenship documentation and also to illegally possessing the gun.

Managing Editor Adrian Hedden can be reached at 575-628-5516, or @AdrianHedden on the social media platform X.

El Rito Media News Services

SANTA ROSA — If cattle could learn the limits of their grazing area with collars that would give warnings and shocks instead of requiring barbed-wire fences to stay in bounds, it might mean better cattle location and management, and less expense for ranchers.

That’s the idea behind “virtual fencing,” a concept that is being tested in Guadalupe County through the Guadalupe Soil and Water Conservation District (GSWCD) with a $99,992 grant from the New Mexico Department of Agriculture.

An audience of about 150 persons heard about this project and several others on Sept. 18 at the GSWCD’s annual meeting held at Santa Rosa’s Blue Hole Convention Center.

The district took no action at the Sept. 18 annual meeting. Cordova said the main purpose of the meeting was to inform district farmers and ranchers about progress on various projects.

There are 40 cows and 1,760 acres participating in the virtual fence program, GSWCD chair Vincent Cordova wrote in an email to The Communicator.

“Our goal is to have 1,000 cows and 30,000 acres in Guadalupe County under this program,” he added, and the state “has given the opportunity to the GSWCD (to) lead the state in the implementation of this technology.”

Rose Fernandez, district manager, on Sept. 23 invited more farmers and ranchers in the district to participate in the project.

Another grant-funded project for GSWCD involves a proposed aerial drone assault on invasive mesquite trees with an $81,125 Land of Enchantment Legacy Fund grant.

The purpose of the project is “to prove that drones and satellite technology can be effectively utilized to eradicate mesquite in small difficult access areas,” Cordova wrote. “We have already sprayed 1,300 acres and the results are incredibly positive.”

The drone effort is similar to a project aimed at eradicating water-robbing salt cedar and Russian olive growth in the district. This project is funded by a $250,000 Water Trust Board Grant, Cordova wrote, and is also designed to promote the growth of the Pecos sunflower.

Other projects discussed included:

Healthy Soils Seed Program – designed to improve soil conditions by providing cover crop seed to district farmers. Funded by a $100,000 state Department of Agriculture grant.

Capacity Building Grant – designed to improve organizational capabilities. Cordova said the district is hiring a field operations specialist for archaeological field work support, virtual fence program monitoring, drone operator capabilities and equipment operations. The grant is for $160,000.

Pintada Watershed Restoration Project – designed to restore the watershed of the Pintada Arroyo in Guadalupe County. The project’s total funding is less than $2.9 million, and sources include $219,010 from the state Department of Agriculture, $400,000 from the state Water Trust Board, $234,250 from the National Association of Conservation Districts, and $2 million from the federal Natural Resources Conservation Services.

New Agricultural Center – funding design of a new regional center which will house the GSWCD office, as well as the local federal offices of the Farm Service Agency and Natural Resources Conservation Services. It is funded by a $365,000 capital outlay appropriation though the New Mexico Legislature.

Cordova said the district has an operating budget of just over $4 million for the current year, compared to about $50,000 a decade ago. The district’s work, he said, was recently recognized at the annual meeting of the National Association of Conservation Districts in Salt Lake City.

Speakers at the district’s annual meeting included state Sen. Pete Campos, who delivered the keynote address, state Rep. Martin Zamora and state Rep. Rebecca Dow, who also serves as deputy executive director of the New Mexico Association of Conservation Districts.

All three “recognized the work of the Guadalupe Soil & Water Conservation District and pledged their continued support for the work that still needs to be done,” Cordova wrote. “All of these people have been key supporters of the agriculture in this community for the past several years.”

The district’s annual Rancher of the Year award was presented to the Carlos Armendariz family, Cordova wrote, “in recognition of their outstanding leadership, stewardship, and dedication to the land, livestock and legacy of ranching in New Mexico,” including their adoption of virtual fencing.

The family’s eldest son, Jovani Armendariz, served in Iraq, and later earned a degree in veterinary medicine from Texas Tech University. The younger son, Jim Armendariz, received an engineering degree from New Mexico State University and now works with the U.S. Department of Agriculture “helping shape the future of our district,” Cordova said.

Fernandez added a “thank you” to the Santa Rosa High School FFA members who helped serve dinner for the annual meeting.