A proposal to curb problem drinking in New Mexico by increasing the state’s liquor tax rate is facing long odds for approval during this year’s 60-day legislative session.

But backers say they’re not giving up after a bill that would impose a new surtax on the sale of beer, wine and spirits stalled Monday in a House committee on a tie vote.

Rep. Cristina Parajón, D-Albuquerque, one of the bill’s sponsors, said after the vote she’s committed to working on the issue.

“We still have two weeks left in the session,” she told the Journal, citing several other alcohol-related bills that are still pending at the Roundhouse. “There are other options for us still.”

One of the state’s youngest legislators, Parajón also said younger New Mexicans are especially sensitive to pricing for products, saying higher alcohol prices would lead to a drop in drinking in that population.

However, the New Mexico Restaurant Association and numerous local eateries had expressed opposition to House Bill 417 , the proposed alcohol tax increase.

Given that opposition, Parajón and other backers of the measure had sought to rework the bill in the lead-up to Monday’s hearing in the House Taxation and Revenue Committee.

Specifically, the new-look legislation would impose a 3% surtax on all alcoholic drinks sold and consumed on site, such as at a restaurant or brewery, while a 6% surtax would be imposed on all other alcohol sales. That surtax would be imposed on top of existing state and local liquor taxes.

Critics of the approach said the revised bill could be difficult for retailers to implement and would contribute to rising consumer costs.

They also questioned the need for tax increases at a time when New Mexico has been riding an ongoing revenue wave prompted by increased oil production.

Two Democrats — Reps. Patricia Lundstrom of Gallup and Doreen Gallegos of Las Cruces — ultimately joined with the committee’s Republican members on Monday in voting to block the measure from advancing.

Lundstrom, the former chairwoman of the House budget committee, pointed out McKinley County already has a 5% local liquor excise tax and said it was unclear how much money the new proposal would generate.

“I don’t think a bill should be considered at this point if we don’t know how much money it is going to raise,” she said.

This year’s bill marks the latest attempt to raise New Mexico’s alcohol tax rate in a state with one of the nation’s highest drunken driving fatality rates.

Under the proposal, the tax dollars raised by the tax hike would be split between a local alcohol treatment fund and a new tribal prevention fund.

New Mexico’s total number of alcohol-related deaths recently declined for two consecutive years, falling from 2,274 such deaths in 2021 to 1,896 alcohol-related deaths in 2023, according to state Department of Health data.

However, New Mexico still had the nation’s highest per capita rate of alcohol-related deaths in 2022, with 42.7 deaths per 100,000 people, per Kaiser Family Foundation data.

University of New Mexico researchers this year projected a 25-cent per drink alcohol tax increase would reduce alcohol consumption by more than 1.7% and could generate $132 million in additional revenue.

“This is one of the most important policies that we can do for public health,” Parajón said, citing a similar tax enacted in Maryland in 2011 that has led to a decrease in alcohol consumption.

A second Albuquerque attorney has come under disciplinary scrutiny by the state Supreme Court for his alleged role in a long-running racketeering and bribery conspiracy in which New Mexico law enforcement officers accepted bribes to ensure drunken driving offenders they arrested were never convicted, and in some instances, never formally charged.

The state Supreme Court on Monday filed a notice requiring Albuquerque criminal defense attorney Rudolph B. Chavez to respond by March 17 to a petition asking that he be suspended from the practice of law until further notice of the court.

The petition was filed by Anne L. Taylor, the chief disciplinary counsel for the Office of Disciplinary Counsel of the New Mexico Supreme Court Disciplinary Board. The board oversees investigations of misconduct by attorneys and the unauthorized practice of law.

Chavez, whose website notes his more than 40 years of practicing law in New Mexico, didn’t return phone calls on Monday.

Chavez has not been criminally charged as part of the federal prosecution, which has so far resulted in guilty pleas from three former Albuquerque police officers and a former Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office deputy. Also pleading guilty were the two leaders of the conspiracy, longtime Albuquerque criminal defense attorney Thomas Clear III, and his investigator Ricardo “Rick” Mendez.

After Clear pleaded guilty to five federal charges, including conspiracy, racketeering, bribery and extortion on Feb. 12, the state Supreme Court began proceedings to formally disbar him from the practice of law. On Feb. 28, he agreed that the Supreme Court should disbar him.

The petition states that “upon information and belief,” Chavez is the party identified as a co-conspirator in both Mendez’s plea agreement filing, and that of former Albuquerque DWI officer Honorio Alba Jr.

Alba, who pleaded guilty to racketeering among other federal charges, stated in his plea agreement filed Feb. 7, that he worked “in concert” with Mendez, Clear and “another Albuquerque defense attorney” to ensure a man he arrested in April 2023 avoided criminal and administrative consequences related to his offense.

In that case, the suspect, identified as Z.W. said he knew nothing about any criminal conspiracy and told the Journal, “Rudy Chavez did nothing to make me question his integrity. He never told me anything that didn’t sit well with me.”

Mendez, in his plea agreement, also mentioned the case of Z.W.

The disciplinary counsel petition states that Chavez represented client Zachary Williams in that case and noted that Alba was the arresting officer.

Alba also stated that he relied on “attorney co-conspirators” to handle “any aspect of the scheme and the enterprise that required an attorney present in court or at administrative hearings” such as those conducted by the state Motor Vehicle Department, which oversees driver’s license privileges.

“Given the length and nature of the enterprise and the allegations against (Chavez), as well as the hundreds of dismissed DWI criminal cases as a result of the enterprise, the continued practice of law by (Chavez) will result in the substantial probability of harm, loss or damage to the public,” the petition states.

Chavez, who served as an assistant county attorney from 1989 to 1993, started his own firm in 1993. He practices criminal and civil law. Most recently, Chavez appeared as the lawyer for a suspect arrested Feb. 22 for driving without a license. The suspect’s license was revoked due to a DWI, according to court records.

To date, more than 200 DWI cases have been dismissed because they were filed by the Albuquerque Police Department, State Police and BCSO officers under investigation as part of the FBI’s continuing investigation of the criminal scheme.

New Mexico could soon be cleaning up some of the hundreds of abandoned uranium mines and other contaminated sites around the state and paving the way for continued efforts — if $50 million for that purpose remains in the state budget.

There are at least 302 “ orphan sites ” in New Mexico, where “known or suspected contamination is causing a threat to human health or the environment,” according to the New Mexico Environment Department. These sites, in addition to about 50 old uranium mines, aren’t eligible for cleanup under any existing programs, and the state can’t identify any responsible parties.

The state would use the funding to begin cleaning up those roughly 350 sites.

In addition to those orphan sites and the 50 or so old uranium mines the state would be targeting, there are another 200 some odd former uranium mines in New Mexico, some in various stages of cleanup. Many of the old mines in the state are on or near tribal lands, and Indigenous communities have advocated for remediation for decades , citing ongoing health and environmental impacts.

Rep. Joseph Hernandez, D-Shiprock, and his family, along with many others in the state, have “gone through numerous doctors appointments, numerous times taking care of our elders who either worked in the industry or are family members of someone” who did, he said last month during a committee hearing. Hernandez recounted stories his mother would tell about his grandfather getting home after long shifts in a nearby mill with uranium dust coating his clothes.

“And this dust today continues to get blown through our communities, not just on Navajo,” Hernandez (Diné) told the House Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee. “This is communities throughout New Mexico. Many families feel left behind.”

Hernandez and Sen. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces, both sponsored bills this year to add in the state budget $50 million for cleaning up contaminated sites, including old uranium mines. That money is now in the $10.8 billion proposed budget the House passed last week.

The funding would be a “drop in the bucket,” Steinborn said in an interview on Friday. The state environment department already has plans for two sites to be remediated, one of which is a uranium mine estimated to cost between $4 and $8 million. The other is a site with chemically contaminated soil and groundwater estimated to cost $5 million to clean up, the agency reported in a bill analysis .

The money would allow the state to “begin to characterize more of the sites, do some cleanup work, and then lay the groundwork for a plan to do much broader efforts,” Steinborn said.

He wants more specifically for uranium cleanup. He’s sponsoring Senate Bill 276 , a proposal to put $75 million in the uranium mine reclamation revolving fund.

Since Steinborn was first elected to the Legislature nearly two decades ago, lawmakers have been talking about the need, he said, but weren’t making progress — until 2022. During that session, lawmakers mandated the state develop a strategic plan for cleanup and created the revolving fund.

But the fund has sat empty in the three years since then.

Money deposited in the fund would be used for “site assessments, safeguarding, closure designs, surface reclamation, groundwater remediation, and monitoring, where appropriate,” reads a November presentation state environment department staff gave lawmakers on the interim Radioactive and Hazardous Materials Committee.

For some of the abandoned mines, there are owners that the state, including the attorney general, could go after legally, Steinborn said. But some of the companies don’t exist anymore, and some of the mines aren’t eligible for cleanup under any federal programs.

That’s where the state should step in, he said.

With just a few weeks left in the session, Steinborn said he continues to advocate for $75 million for the revolving fund, but “we’re going to have to fight to ensure” $50 million for cleanup of contaminated sites more broadly — which would include abandoned uranium mines but wouldn’t be exclusive to cleanup of those sites — stays in the budget.

The Senate is “having to make budget adjustments and fill some budgetary holes, as it’s been explained, that weren’t addressed in the House,” said Steinborn, who sits on the Senate Finance Committee, tasked with reviewing the budget.

“If they’re having to come up with money to fill some holes, a $50 million pot of money sitting there, it could be attractive to some to say, ‘Hey, let’s make that number a little smaller and help fill a hole somewhere else.’ So, it’s going to require continued advocacy and education to preserve that, which I will be doing and others should as well,” he said.

The New Mexico Health Care Authority Monday began sending reminders out to SNAP recipients who are not meeting their work requirement for the food stamp benefits. The federal requirement went into effect for nearly 12,000 New Mexicans at the beginning of the year. With a grace period of three months, people out of compliance risk losing their benefits as soon as the beginning of next month.

The new requirement applies to adults under 54 who don’t have dependents, are physically able to work, and live in Bernalillo, Santa Fe, Eddy, or Los Alamos counties or the pueblos of San Ildefonso, Pojoaque, Santa Clara, or Laguna. According to the department , that’s because those areas did not qualify for a waiver due to their “steadily improving unemployment rates.”

The kind of work that meets the requirement varies, but must be done at least part time for an average of 80 hours a month. It can include paid or unpaid work, attending school, or participating in a work program like the SNAP Employment and Training (E&T) Program .

Exemptions exist for people who are veterans, pregnant, former foster kids under 24, experiencing homelessness, receiving unemployment benefits, or in treatment for substance use.

Either work or an exemption can be reported online through the YES New Mexico website , or by calling or going in person to an Income Support Division office .

SNAP recipients who must work can only miss a total of three months between January of this year and May of next year before losing their benefits. To get them back, a person must meet the work requirements for 30 days or become exempt.

A potent storm system is expected to pour heavy rain on western states later this week before rumbling into the central United States, where it could spawn tornadoes in the South and dump heavy snow across the parts of the Great Plains and Upper Midwest, creating blizzard conditions.

The ominous forecast comes as temperatures hit record highs in parts of the central U.S. after an active few days of weather across the nation. A possible tornado touched down in central Florida on Monday morning, tearing past a local television news station as its meteorologists were live on the air. No injuries were reported.

In Texas, thunderstorms on Saturday toppled semitrailers on Interstate 35 in Texas and flipped over a recreation vehicle at the Texas Motorplex drag racing strip south of Dallas, killing a man inside the RV.

Much of the Midwest got hit by heavy snow and blizzard conditions last week, but the region began this week with springtime temperatures. Readings reached the 60s in many parts of Minnesota on Monday and hit 76 in the western town of Granite Falls by mid-afternoon.

Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska both set records Monday with temperatures in the low 80s (20s Celsius).

Readings in the 60s and low 70s (teens to 20s Celius) were also common across South Dakota.

But dry conditions and high winds raised the wildfire risk over much of the Midwest, with red flag warnings out for most of Nebraska and South Dakota, and parts of Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Minnesota.

The system moving in later this week is expected to begin with an atmospheric river soaking Southern California with heavy rain on Thursday, the National Weather Service projects. Atmospheric rivers are plumes of water vapor that form over the ocean and can drop tremendous amounts of moisture over land.

"Snow and wind will spread across the Intermountain West and Rockies Thursday into Friday before rapid development occurs over the Plains," according to the federal Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.

As the system moves east, a regional outbreak of severe thunderstorms is expected over large parts of several southern states beginning Friday and continuing into Saturday, according to the latest forecasts from the federal Storm Prediction Center.

That means a variety of severe weather hazards, from thunderstorms to so-called supercells that can spawn destructive tornadoes.

The worst weather could strike parts of Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee on Friday, then move into Alabama by Saturday, though it was too early to say which areas could be hardest hit.

The threat of wildfires in parts of the Southwest is already high, with forecasts of critical wildfire conditions on Tuesday in the southeastern corner of Arizona and in southern New Mexico. Parts of west Texas also are at risk.

Strong winds that will likely accompany the incoming storm system are likely to add more concerns about wildfires later in the week, especially in the southern Plains, according to the National Weather Service.

A powerful thunderstorm touched down along Interstate 4 in Seminole County north of Orlando, Florida, downing fences and blowing shingles off roofs, officials said.

The storm passed over local television station Fox 35's studios in Lake Mary as its meteorologists were on the air.

"OK, take shelter. Everybody in the Fox 35 building, get to your safe space under your desk," said Fox 35 meteorologist Brooks Garner. "If you're not in a designated area, we're catching debris right now on the roof. Debris is on the roof right now."

In Texas, residents were cleaning up storm damage over the weekend.

Strong winds of up to 90 mph (145 kph) ripped the roof off a Days Inn along Interstate 45, and the high winds also damaged homes throughout Ellis County.

The 42-year-old man who died in the RV was identified as T.J. Bailey from Midlothian, Texas. His wife and two sons were inside the RV when it rolled over at the racetrack, Ellis County Justice of the Peace Chris Macon told The Dallas Morning News. Bailey's family members were treated at a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.

In northern Arizona, snowstorms late last week led to a more than 15-mile (24-kilometer) backup on Interstate 40, leaving some motorists stranded for hours.

Associated Press Writer Michael Schneider in Orlando, Florida, contributed.