New Mexico Rep. Cathrynn Brown announced this week she would seek re-election to the New Mexico House District 55 seat.
Brown has held the seat since 2011.
Prior to the redistricting process of 2021, the district encompassed half of Eddy County.
Now that District 55 reaches across Eddy and Lea counties and includes the eastern New Mexico cities of Eunice and Jal.
Brown, a Republican, is a member of the House Appropriations and Finance Committee and the House Agriculture, Acequias and Water Resources Committee.
She serves as a member on the Interim Legislative Ethics Committee and the Interim Radioactive and Hazardous Materials Committee. She is also a designee of the interim Legislative Finance Committee.
Work in the recent Legislative Session
Brown sponsored and co-sponsored a battery of bills in the recent 30-day budget session in Santa Fe.
Among them were House Memorandum 41 which created New Mexico State Firefighter’s Association Day, — signed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.
Brown also sponsored House Bill 124 which increased the number of judgeships in the Fifth Judicial District from 11 to 12.
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House Bill 48— of which Brown was the lead sponsor — would have repealed the New Mexico tax on Social Security benefits, but was ultimately “consolidated into a compromise tax package that will now exempt 90 percent of New Mexico’s retirees from the state’s tax on Social Security,” according to a news release from Brown.
“It’s not the full repeal I wanted, but it is a big win for the senior community,” said Brown in a news release.
“Since 1990, retirees in New Mexico have been subjected to an unfair double tax on their Social Security income. This bill will put, on average, $700 a year back in the pockets of seniors who worked for decades to build their retirement nest egg. It’s rightfully their money.”
Brown also successfully sponsored bills to add a judgeship in Eddy County (HB 124) and to increase facilities funding for charter schools statewide (HB 43).
Among her co-sponsored bills were House Bill 91, which would prohibit critical race theory from entering New Mexico curriculum, and House Bill 130 which created a pathway for the incorporation of personal finance as a school elective.
“Money management is a subject all students must understand and a skill they must develop,” Brown said about House Bill 130. “This is vital preparation for every student’s future.”
Brown is a life member of the National Rifle Association and volunteers her time with the Carlsbad Literacy Program, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Eddy County, and Right to Life of Carlsbad.
She is married to Mike Brown, a retired engineer, and the couple has have five grown children.
Jessica Onsurez can be reached at jonsurez@gannett.com, @JussGREAT on Twitter at by phone at 575-628-5531.