New Mexico legislature reject 5 more petitions by 'patriot' groups
SANTA FE - New Mexico groups pushing to repeal laws passed by the Democratic-controlled Legislature during this year's 60-day session are finding it hard to clear a legal hurdle just to set the rarely used process into motion.
Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver recently denied five more referendum petitions that were submitted by self-described "patriot" groups — targeting bills that ban coyote-killing contests and prohibit local "right-to-work" ordinances, among other measures.
In all, the Democratic secretary of state has rejected 14 proposed petitions, due to technical problems with the paperwork — in some cases punctuation marks were not properly used — and constitutional concerns.
Specifically, all five of the proposed petitions, she said, are barred by the state Constitution's prohibition on repealing laws that were enacted for "public peace, health or safety."
Read more: https://www.currentargus.com/story/news/politics/2019/06/14/nm-legislature-reject-5-more-petitions-patriot-groups/1451424001/
(Carlsbad Current Argus)