In addition to other duties prescribed by law, representatives enact “reasonable and appropriate laws,” represent the constituents of their district, and serve on standing or interim committees. The legislature meets each year beginning in January. In odd-numbered years, it meets for 60 days; in even-numbered years, it meets for 30 days. The Governor may call special sessions. Candidates must be at least 21 years old and must be a resident of the district from which elected. They serve a two-year term. Representatives do not receive a salary, but they do receive a pre-set per diem and mileage; there is also a pension program for legislators serving a minimum period.Cámara de Representantes de Nuevo MéxicoAdemás de otras obligaciones prescritas por la ley, los representantes promulgan leyes razonables y apropiadas , representan a los electores de su distrito y sirven en comités permanentes o interinos. La legislatura se reúne cada año a partir de enero. En los años impares, se reúne durante 60 días; en los años pares, se reúne durante 30 días. El gobernador puede convocar sesiones especiales. Los candidatos deben tener al menos 21 años de edad y deben ser residentes del distrito donde fueron elegidos. Tienen mandatos de dos años. Los representantes no reciben un salario, pero sí reciben un pago preestablecido por viáticos; también existe un programa de pensión para legisladores que cumplen con un periodo mínimo de servicio.
Campaign Phone
575-574-7951
Occupation
1st Grade Teacher
I am a 1st grade teacher at Jose Barrios Elementary and I serve as the President of the Cobre School Board. Iwas born and raised in Silver City and Arenas Valley and I come from a family of service. My mom is from Silver City and is a middle school principal at Cobre Consolidated Public Schools. My dad was raised in Bayard and is a twenty-year special education teacher at Silver Consolidated Schools. I know this community well, as a lifelong resident, a teacher, and a Little League coach. know that people in our community are struggling to find good paying jobs, wondering how to pay for their prescription drugs that keep getting more expensive, and worrying about their kid’s education.
Like my parents, I believe a strong education creates the best opportunities for success. But we can’t get there with our current State Rep, who doesn’t share the reality that families are living with now, nor the same vision for success. My priorities for the families of Southern New Mexico are:
1.) Fund high-quality public schools and double our efforts to recruit the best teachers to teach in our Southern NM public schools.
2.) Better-paying jobs: I will ensure Southern New Mexico gets our fair share of jobs in education, clean energy, film, & tourism, & I will support local business owners to train and hire new workers here.
3.) Healthcare freedom, especially for reproductive rights. I will fight to keep abortion safe and legal.
I applaud the efforts by the legislature to cut personal income and gross receipts tax and eliminate the tax on Social Security. Those measures put real dollars into the pockets of working families and retirees. That’s critical. But we can do more to make our income tax structure more fair to working families and we need to ensure out-of-state corporations pay their fair share.
New Mexico has ideal conditions to expand clean energy such as wind and solar energy production, and we should provide the education, training and apprenticeship programs to ensure that New Mexicans are trained and ready for these well paying jobs. We must also partner with our higher education institutions to train the workforce of the future in advanced energy agriculture, cannabis, film, healthcare, mental and behavioral health.
I applaud the move to raise base pay for teachers to a minimum of $50,000 per year and to make college and vocational school free for all New Mexicans who work hard. But we need to do more to attract and retain high quality teachers and support staff. We must also invest in school infrastructure to ensure that we have state of the art facilities for our students and smaller class sizes. We also need to address the lack of consistency of leadership at NM Public Education Department.
Campaign Phone
575-313-4262
Occupation
Business owner
I am a lifelong resident of Grant County. This county is where I raised my family, built my business, and served my community. For the past several years I’ve had the honor to represent this district as a member of the New Mexico State House where I have fought for our mining jobs, our first responders, our veterans, our elderly, and for every hard-working family that calls this district home. I’ve secured much needed funds for our schools and I’ve given Southern New Mexico a loud voice in Santa Fe.
We have so much work to do on so many fronts. My number one priority is to provide tax relief and lower the cost of living for people in New Mexico. I’ve worked to get rid of social security taxes and taxes that leave families and the elderly at risk financially. Not far behind, and something I’ve been fighting for since I’ve been in the legislature, is supporting law enforcement recruitment and retainment. Crime is out of control and we must do something now.
New Mexico’s tax structure is convoluted and cumbersome. Businesses are triple-taxed for goods and services and they are forced to pass that cost down to the consumer. I would like to see major changes to our tax code that is more fair to everyone in New Mexico.
We must embrace not only our energy resources (oil and gas still funds the majority of our education budget), but we should also embrace our natural resources. New Mexico has so much to offer, and tourism is an underutilized source of revenue that we can be using to bolster our economy.
There are a lot of ideas on the table when it comes to education funding, but what it comes down to is making sure those dollars reach our teachers and our students. Making schools more competitive and allowing parents to sit in the driver’s seat of their child’s education has proven in other states to be the key to more quality education. I think we should adopt a model that allows for freedom of choice in education, because one size does not fit all when it comes schooling. We need to protect the 4-day school week for those districts where it is successful. We need to rely on local control and local school boards rather than getting mandates handed down from Santa Fe.
