House Commerce committee outlines broad interim work plan; members push rural focus, extra meeting days

House Commerce Committee Chair Doreen Gallegos opened the interim meeting and presented a draft work plan, asking members to identify topics they wanted the committee to study during the interim. "This is probably one of the funnest committees," Gallegos said, urging bipartisan engagement and suggesting staff had compiled topics from the past decade to guide the schedule.

Members immediately pitched additions and changes. Senator Liz Stepanek asked for a briefing from the patient compensation fund to assess whether expanded coverage is easing health-care costs for New Mexicans. Representative Roybal Caballero urged the committee to include food trucks and other microbusiness models in its small-business outreach, saying regulatory volatility has disproportionately harmed those operators. Representative Martha Garcia and others pressed for rural-focused hearings and an assigned subcommittee or task force to ensure frontier communities are included in planning.

Several members asked the chair to add a meeting day in Albuquerque and to reconsider some meeting locations. "I've had several calls today from members, requesting an extra day," Gallegos said; she told the committee staff are seeking a response to a request for an additional day and will balance schedule changes against speaker availability.

Why it matters: Members framed the interim as an opportunity to pair statewide economic development priorities with on-the-ground perspectives from rural districts and practitioners. The committee did not take formal votes but directed staff to pursue scheduling options, consider location changes (Roswell or other rural sites were suggested), and line up guest speakers from relevant agencies and industry.

Next steps: Chair Gallegos said staff will reorganize topics and circulate an updated schedule; she asked members to confirm attendance to avoid losing quorum when meetings move off the central calendar. The committee adjourned after a brief public-comment reminder and an announcement about a related energy symposium.