HOUSE MEMORIAL 70

56th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2023

INTRODUCED BY

Marian Matthews

 

 

 

 

 

A MEMORIAL

HONORING FORMER STATE REPRESENTATIVE WILLIAM E. WARREN'S DISTINGUISHED SERVICE TO NEW MEXICO.

 

     WHEREAS, William E. Warren was a state representative from house district 11 in Bernalillo county from 1971 to 1978, which became district 21 in the near northeast heights of Albuquerque after the 1972 reapportionment; and

     WHEREAS, Representative Warren served in the United States air force and had a career with Sandia national laboratories as an applied mathematician; and

     WHEREAS, throughout his legislative career, Representative Warren was an advocate for equal educational opportunities between rich and poor school districts and for equality between men and women; and

     WHEREAS, Representative Warren's accomplishments in school funding included recognizing the fundamental inequality of school districts funded with local revenue sources, which produced wide disparities on a per-pupil basis between rich and poor school districts and exacerbated an uneven allocation of funding to support the special needs of students; and

     WHEREAS, Representative Warren was instrumental in developing and ensuring the passage of the equalized school funding formula in House Bill 85 of the 1974 legislative session, which was subsequently recognized nationally as second only to Hawaii for funding students equitably and is still a fundamental basis of school funding in New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, Representative Warren recognized the basic inequality of New Mexico's treatment of women in community property laws at the time, which denied them full agency in financial matters such as loans, titles and inheritance, as well as being assigned inferior roles in many other aspects of New Mexico life; and

     WHEREAS, in the 1972 legislative session, Representative Warren was a primary sponsor of the equal rights amendment to the constitution of New Mexico by introducing House Joint Resolution 2. He was instrumental in promoting and defending the equal rights amendment to the constitution of New Mexico as it made its way through the 1972 legislative process and was rewarded when the residents of the state voted to approve the amendment by a large margin; and

     WHEREAS, on the first day of the 1973 legislative session, Representative Warren introduced House Joint Resolution 2 to provide for New Mexico's ratification of the equal rights amendment to the United States constitution, which was passed overwhelmingly by the house of representatives and the senate, enabling New Mexico to be the twenty-seventh state to ratify the federal equal rights amendment; and

     WHEREAS, Representative Warren introduced House Bill 22 in the 1974 legislative session to establish and fund the commission on the status of women and worked diligently against entrenched opposition to get the bill passed;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that former state Representative William E. Warren be honored for his dedication to equality in the funding of New Mexico's schools and in his many accomplishments in furthering equality for men and women; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be transmitted to former state Representative William E. Warren.

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