The Bernalillo County Resolutions Committee adopted four resolutions on the State Central Committee email ballot that members received on October 5. Voting ends on Wednesday, October 9. These four resolutions address urgent social justice issues.
In summary, the resolutions are:
- Emergency Methane Emission Reduction through Enforced New Mexico Compliance tackles such emissions, especially those from the venting, flaring, and leaking of oil and gas facilities. Reducing methane emissions, an important cause of global warming, would reduce the rate of warming. State agencies should not approve new permits until applicants show their existing wells comply with emissions standards. Royalty fees should be increased to fund timely inspections and enforcement.
- To Support the Passage of Paid Family and Medical Leave (PFML) in 2025. This represents a long-overdue policy objective. Much evidence shows that (a) paid leave after the birth of a child is associated with improved maternal health and reduced post neonatal mortality; (b) low income workers are most likely not to have PFML; and (c) leave programs reduce turnover and improve labor participation rates, thus benefiting both employers and their workers. DPNM elected officials should align their platforms with the Party core values by actively supporting PFML.
- To Promote … a Constitutional Amendment … [authorizing] Ballot Initiatives puts direct democracy on the table as a potential supplement to representative democracy. Voters in Ohio, Michigan, and other states have used ballot initiatives to enhance reproductive rights, limit interest rates on medical debts, and protect the consumers of investor-owned public utilities. The legislature should develop a constitutional amendment that empowers voters to petition for the placement of legislation on ballots.
- Bicyclists May Treat Stop Signs as Yield Signs and Stop Lights as Stop Signs (originally adopted by the Environmental Justice Caucus). This resolution promotes new legislation that would improve traffic safety and promote the use of bicycles. The transportation sector of the United States economy is the single largest domestic contributor to climate change. The legislature should enact a law that allows cyclists to treat stop signs as yield signs and red lights as stop signs. This is one measure to mitigate climate change.
The Resolutions Committee is a powerful tool to build grassroots involvement in the DPNM. County Resolutions Committees put our communities’ concerns in formal resolutions that we then use in our advocacy within our wards and counties, at the statewide Party leadership level, and in the advocacy directed at our elected officials. The upcoming SCC vote is one step in this important process.