by Lance Chilton
As I write this, I’m sitting in the morning meeting of the New Mexico House Health and Human Services Committee three days before the end of the 2020 session. I’m interested in testimony on a bill, Senate Bill 131, the Tobacco Products Act. More on another day. But a little about my frustration: delaying tactics by the Republican minority on this committee and in both houses.
Other times when I’ve sat in on the committee meeting, its Republican members have failed to appear, denying the committee a quorum. This time the Republicans are using their other tactic: asking a great many questions and making repetitive comments, delaying over and again – not just in this committee, but in other committees and on the House and Senate floors as well, action on all of the many important matters coming before the Legislature. It’s a little like “taking a knee” in the last two minutes of a football game to run out the clock.
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