Legislative roundup, Jan. 20

Days remaining in session: 57

Senate recesses: A day after the state Senate approved four bills aimed at eliminating the state's projected $69 million budget deficit for the fiscal year that ends June 30, the body decided to take Friday off and come back to work Monday morning.

The House of Representatives will keep working Friday so it can consider those Senate bills.

In past years both chambers typically have halted on the first Friday of the session to allow time for bills to be printed.

Coming uncorked: Two senators have introduced a bill that would make it easier for diners to bring their own bottle of wine into a restaurant.

Under Senate Bill 58, sponsored by Sens. Ron Griggs, R-Alamogordo, and Bill O'Neill, D-Albuquerque, eating establishments with a dispenser license, canopy license or restaurant license would allow patrons to "bring onto and consume on the licensed premise the customer's own bottle of wine that is not available on the menu."

The restaurant could charge "a corkage fee for uncorking and serving the wine."

Customers who buy wine with a restaurant meal but don't finish the bottle would be permitted to take it home with them.

Lunch ladies: Cafeteria workers and school bus drivers could see a raise if lawmakers approve a bill filed earlier this week.

Rep. Christine Trujillo, D-Albuquerque, proposes raising the minimum wage for certain school employees to $15 per hour.

An old state law pegs the minimum wage for public school staff such as bus drivers and cafeteria workers at $6 per hour.

New Mexico's minimum wage has since risen to $7.50 per hour.

Trujillo's bill would boost pay for staff at school districts as well as charter schools to twice that level through June 2019 and then peg minimum pay to a cost of living index, authorizing even higher wages if prices rise.

But the bill faces an uncertain future in this session as school districts battle to hold on to current funding levels.

Looking ahead: State Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Daniels, who told legislators Thursday that a funding crisis is threatening New Mexico's justice system, is Lorene Mills' guest on "Report from Santa Fe," which airs this weekend on all three PBS television stations across New Mexico, including an 8 a.m. Sunday broadcast on KNME-TV, Channel 5.1, for Northern and Central New Mexico.

-- The Senate has designated Feb. 2 as Survivors of Suicide Day at the Legislature, an annual observance to honor loved ones lost to suicide and to raise awareness to help prevent suicide. First introduced by former Majority Floor Leader Michael Sanchez in 2012, this year's memorial is sponsored by Sen. Richard C. Martinez, D-Española, who plans to speak about a family's experience with suicide.

Quote of the day: "I once questioned who I was. I once hated who I was." -- Sen. Jacob Candelaria, the first openly gay man elected to the Legislature, who is cosponsoring a bill to outlaw conversion therapy practices aimed at changing a gay person's sexual orientation. Rep. Andrés Romero is the other sponsor. Candelaria and Romero are Democrats from Albuquerque.

The Santa Fe New Mexican is the sister paper of The Taos News. We'll be sharing their coverage of the legislature throughout the duration of the 60-day session.