SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The state legislature is meeting for the second time this year to tackle the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic and has introduced a bill to channel millions in federal funding into a one-time stimulus of $1,200 to economically stressed workers.

The stimulus checks would go to state residents who lost their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic, including those whose unemployment benefits have run out.

It’s the second special legislative session called by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham this year to tackle budgetary challenges brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. Democratic lawmakers are optimistic that they can introduce and pass the bill in one day.

If they do, the six-page bill could be signed into law by Thanksgiving and state officials could send the $1,200 stimulus checks before Christmas.

Federal stimulus checks of the same amount earlier this year were credited by state officials to keep residents spending and buoying gross receipts tax even as New Mexico’s main sources of revenue -- fossil fuel extraction and tourism -- nosedived.

A second round of federal stimulus expected by state legislators never came.

“We all thought that the federal government would get their act together and do a second CARES Act, but they haven’t. They don’t seem to be ready to do any of that. So, we have to step in,” said Mimi Stewart, of Albuquerque, who is nominated to become the top-ranking member of the Senate, known as the pro tem, and is expected to assume the role in January.

When the Democrat-controlled legislature met in June, it dialed back some planned spending increases such as teacher raises which had been approved during the regular legislative session, before the pandemic hit.

Five months later, the state finds itself with around 130,000 people still on the unemployment rolls, with many set to run out of eligible state and federal unemployment next month, and 1,515 workers who have completely burned through their unemployment insurance without finding work, according to the Department of Workforce Solutions.

That looming financial disaster weighs heavily on the department’s secretary, who says he gets phone calls, emails and pleas on social media constantly.

“I hear all the stories, all the stories about how am I going to take care of my kids? How am I gonna afford my rent? How am I gonna afford my truck payment?” said Bill McCamley, a former state legislator who advised on the bill.

Democratic lawmakers say the vast majority of the $350 million relief bill would come from the state’s share of around $1 billion in federal aid passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump in March.

Lujan Grisham’s administration allocated $178 million to city, county and tribal governments and related small-business grants. Local governments are racing against a Dec. 30 deadline.

Around $750 million was assigned to the state general fund during a June special session, and much of it went unspent, lawmakers say.

Tuesday’s bill would put about $194 million into the unemployment benefits and around $100 million for small-business grants, according to an outline of the plan released by the governor. It also called for $15 million in rent relief for the state’s poorest residents.

Republican lawmakers have successfully advocated for a $10 million apportionment to expand coronavirus testing. Because the funds would be spent into 2021, it can’t come from CARES Act money.

Republican-heavy counties in the oil-rich southeast of the state like Artesia have seen some of the highest unemployment rates in the state as energy prices have tanked with the global economy.

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This article has been corrected to show that Sen. Mimi Stewart has been nominated to become pro tem, but does not occupy that role yet.

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Attanasio is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues.