ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Albuquerque city councilors are meeting on Monday. On the agenda are a number of hot-button issues that include competing legislation.
The first to be heard, introduced by council president Isaac Benton would put in place a vaccination mandate for city employees that includes Albuquerque Police officers and firefighters. Councilor Benton says vaccines should be required for city employees and Councilor Dan Lewis wants to ban vaccine requirements for city employees. Benton argues vaccines should be required to continue the progress the city and state have made against COVID. Lewis says vaccines are a personal choice and should not be based on fear and consequences.
It’s now a race for city councilors to finalize how the city will regulate the cannabis industry in Albuquerque. Items on the agenda include amending the Clean Indoor Air Ordinance which only regulates tobacco, to include cannabis. It bans cannabis from being smoked at places like the BioPark and on public transit to comply with changes to the state law. Councilor Benton is also asking to remove paraphernalia from the criminal code.
Another item on the agenda would take steps to renegotiate the Department of Justice’s oversight of APD. APD has been under the scrutiny of the justice department since 2014 after the DOJ found a pattern of excessive force. The resolution introduced by Councilor Dan Lewis would let the city petition to reopen the agreement and negotiate its terms. This comes after Attorney General Merrick Garland made changes to how the DOJ monitors police departments. The resolution would allow the city to look into if any of those changes would benefit the department.
They will also discuss the future of the plastic bag ban in the duke city. The ban was put in place to help the city be more green. Councilor Brook Bassan wants to get rid of the ban, saying paper bags use more energy to produce and cause more damage to the environment. She also says it is a burden to businesses because of supply chain issues. But a group of 35 local businesses says they want the ban to stay in place, that large retailers are the ones complaining.
[ad_2]
Originally Appeared Here