Senate votes to override Richardson veto

U.S. Rep. Harry Teague has introduced legislation that would encourage states to collect DNA from people arrested for felony crimes so it can be checked against DNA gathered from other unsolved crimes.

As the convention wrapped up with an hourlong address by and Q&A with Sarah Palin — broadcast live on CNN, Fox, MSNBC and C-Span — it was clear that the organizer’s massive and controversial gamble had mostly paid off. More than 200 members of the media had descended on Nashville to write probing stories on the Tea Party Movement.

Join The Independent and staff from the Sunlight Foundation as we report live from the Senate Rules Committee this morning. Click the headline to join in.

The state Senate voted 36-4 Saturday to strip more than $130 million from brick-and-mortar projects from around the state.

While senators overwhelmingly supported the legislation, the debate sometimes reflected the anger that lawmakers felt at watching money stripped from projects in their district. State officials say they need to claw money back from stalled projects to beef up the state’s reserves.

The first two tax increases to reach the floor of the House made it through on Friday, but not before some strong words on both sides. One bill would temporarily raise the gross receipts tax by .5 percent; the other would raise taxes on the state’s highest earners by 1.5 percent. Both bills could bring in $300 million to state coffers.

House Speaker Ben Lujan’s bill to implement a temporary half-cent hike in the state’s gross receipts tax would presumably not have passed earlier today if two Republican members hadn’t missed the vote.

State senators weren’t agreed Friday about how to reform a state agency at the center of an investment scandal. But one thing’s for sure: they’re spoiling for a fight with Gov. Bill Richardson over who should control the State Investment Council. Three reform bills are being combined into one that could be heard on Monday in the Senate Rules Committee.

In the morning we were joined by the Sunlight Foundation during the Senate Rules Committee this morning; in the afternoon we watched some big drama unfold as the House passed tax bills and the budget. Click the headline to read a transcript of the live blog.

The House of Representatives could vote as early as Friday morning to raise $380 million in new revenue to help close next year’s budgetary shortfall. A half-cent hike in the state gross receipts tax and a 1-percent surtax on the state’s wealthiest residents are in the mixture of tax increases and targeted closure of tax deductions and loopholes. House Speaker Ben Lujan, D-Santa Fe, said Thursday afternoon he thinks he has the votes to push through the tax package.