April 2007 Vol.
100 Issue Two Another wonderful victory for ENLACE
NEWSLETTER
Greetings to the ENLACE familia!
THE FINAL STRETCH:
The state legislative session has now come
to a close; final deal making, arguing and
voting has all taken place and bills have
either passed or died in committee rooms.
Here’s an update on what happened with the
issues the ENLACE team asked be the
central topics of 2007 legislative session.
ENLACE LEGISLATIVE NEWS!
Since the last legislative newsletter our bills
‘ENLACE at Certain Schools’, Senate Bill
77, Senate Bill 500, and House Bill 325
have been heard in both the Senate and
House Education Committees. Senate Bill
77 and Senate Bill 500 were heard on
Monday February 5 where both bills do
passed with no votes in the negative! Many
ENLACE staff members and parents were
present to testify in support of this bill. This
was a great victory for us and we thank
Senator Cynthia Nava and Senator
Bernadette Sanchez for their work for
ENLACE.
House Bill 325 was heard in the House
Education Committee on February 16,
where it do passed with a vote of 12 in the
affirmative and zero in the negative.
The above bills all passed because of such a
strong ENLACE voice and because of great
support across the board including many
professionals such as Beth Evert, Beverly
McClure and Joe Guien of the State School
Board Association.
was the placement of ENLACE in House
Bill 2 entitled ‘General Appropriations Act
of 2007’ under the recurring funding
through the Public Education Department.
UPDATES:
Counselors – A memorial was not
introduced this session. We have begun
discussion with students from New Mexico
State University who will work on creating
the legislation for the counselor to student
ratio. Instead of a memorial we hope to have
enough information by the 2008 legislative
session to introduce a bill.
Lottery Scholarship – Lottery reform Bill,
Senate Bill 364, passed! This bill promises
to get dollars to the lottery scholarship. It
was sponsored by Senate Majority Leader
Michael Sanchez, Senate Minority Leader
Stuart Ingle and Senator Tim Jennings,
passed the Senate 39-1 and the House 65-0.
The bill was signed by Governor Richardson
on March 29. Both Erwin Rivera and I were
invited to the bill signing and were there
representing ENLACE.
FYRA Grant (Family Youth Resource
Act) – Presently we do not have any
information pertaining to this bill. We will
keep you updated.
Bilingual Education – ENLACE supports
and endorses House Bill 67 entitled NM
Highlands Medical – Health interpreters
sponsored by Representative Rick Miera.
This bill will increase the number of trained
and certified Spanish-English interpreters
who can work with health providers
throughout New Mexico.
Curriculum – The AVID legislation is to be
carried on behalf of Governor Richardson by
Representative Rick Miera and is House Bill
68.
Senate Bill 943 ‘Dual High School & Post- funds coming for ENLACE
Secondary Credits’ sponsored by Senator services to New Mexico’s
Cynthia Nava was passed and signed by students
Governor Richardson on April 3. This bill
specifies the requirements and conditions for - We’ve worked together as one
high school students to enroll in college voice and ENLACE is being
level courses and simultaneously earn credit recognized as a positive force in
toward high school graduation and a post- the education of our New Mexico
secondary degree. youth.

Senate Bill 561 ‘ High School Redesign’ Look for the upcoming newsletters. It’s
sponsored by Cynthia Nava also passed and because of all of your individual efforts that
was signed by the Governor on April 3. we have had and will continue to have
success in the legislature.

Mil Gracias.
Diana Montoya-Boyer,
The following is not one of our priorities, dmb_2000_abq@hotmail.com
however it impacts our ENLACE families
and we feel a responsibility to share this
information with you. On January 29, the
House Judiciary Committee heard House
Joint Memorial 13 entitled ‘Oppose Creation
of National ID Card’ sponsored by
Representative Ken Martinez (D – Grants)
and Senator Michael Sanchez. This
memorial opposes the REAL ID Act which
requires additional qualifications for
Driver’s Licenses, one of which would be
US citizenship.

WRAP – UP:

Early into the legislative session we have

seen small victories!
- Lottery Scholarship fund
increase was passed by the
Senate Education Committee.

- Many Senators and

Representatives have agreed to
co-sponsor the bills that keep