Commentary: Today, the honorable Brian Egolf (D-Santa Fe) was re-elected as Speaker of the House of Representatives. After his swearing in, he made opening remarks about the House priorities for the 2019 Legislative Session.
“We have the opportunity before us to work with our new Governor and our friends in the Senate to produce what I think could be the most productive Legislative Session in the state’s history,” said Speaker Brian Egolf. “We start with the most diverse slate of Representatives the House has ever seen; with a record setting number of freshman and a Democratic Caucus made up of a majority of women. We are showing the rest of the country what it means when people of diverse backgrounds, ideas, and faiths come together for the betterment of our people and our state.”
In addition to focusing on passing a responsible budget, House Democrats are working to save a generation of children from a lifetime of poverty with the first of many efforts toward an education moonshot. Democrats are focused on diversifying New Mexico’s economy, expanding access to health care, funding for infrastructure projects, and a new energy future.
“We can make New Mexico once and for all a leader in clean and renewable energy, and we will pursue sentencing in criminal justice reform,” said Speaker Egolf. “We will make unprecedented leaps in funding for early childhood education and reforms at CYFD. We will work to diversify our economy, and health care – we will put in New Mexico law protections for those with preexisting conditions and we will make access to reproductive health care more available.”
Additionally, the Speaker emphasized the importance of working together for the people of New Mexico.
“Over the past two years, we charted a new course for politics and policy making in this Chamber. We made bipartisanship the name of the game whenever possible, we always worked hard to include all voices on all issues, and to make sure that whenever cooperation is possible we would pursue the course of working together instead of working against each other. The numbers in this room have changed substantially over the last two years, but my commitment to work collaboratively, cooperatively, and to work in a bipartisan way whenever possible is my commitment to the state and to this chamber. We want to show everyone in New Mexico we don’t have to be like Washington, D.C.,” said Speaker Egolf.
The first session of the 54th Legislature opened today at noon and will conclude at noon on March 16th.