Photo by Sara Grajeda

Photo by Sara Grajeda

A budget that largely protects K-12 education, while cutting deeply into most state agencies, won approval from the Legislature Friday evening.

The budget passage came after an exhausting and confusing day in which state lawmakers dueled and disagreed before finally finding common ground. Five Senate amendments were added to a bill that originated in the House of Representatives. The changes, which had appeared at first to be a major obstacle, turned out to be nothing more than a speed bump to passing the budget.

The House agreed with four of the five amendments, and asked the Senate to withdraw the fifth amendment, which it did.

That decision effectively sent the budget bill, which trims more than $200 million in spending, to Gov. Bill Richardson for his signature.

Of the Senate amendments, the only one that substantially altered the budget restored $5 million for state police, which had been facing 7.5 percent cuts.

While the amendments didn’t substantially alter the budget, they threw the Senate into chaos for most of Friday, as senators hurled charges and counter-charges at each other, exposing a rift among Democratic state lawmakers that had been simmering for days—if not longer.

Starting from the beginning, Democrats fought among themselves over Gov. Bill Richardson’s decision to take tax increases off the agenda as a way to address this year’s $650 million budgetary shortfall.

Some Democrats said the governor’s prohibition meant tax increases should not be part of the budget fix, even if they philosophically supported raising taxes. Others pushed hard for tax increases despite the governor’s ban.

That debate was often heated and and antagonized both factions. Those sore feelings were on display Friday, especially after debate on an amendment offered by Sen. Eric Griego, which was adopted after Lt Gov. Diane Denish cast a dramatic tie-breaking vote.

“This is a hell of a way to do business,” Griego said of the effort to remove his addition.

“To say we can’t amend this bill one iota? I’m sorry, things have to change up here. …I know pepole are enjoying the positions of power they have…and I know some of us are going to be retaliated against” Griego said, “But I’m a Barelas boy…”

“We’re not even able to consider [cutting] a pork project but we’ll cut schools,” he said, sounding incredulous.

Added Albuquerque Democratic Sen. Bernadette Sanchez, D-Albuquerque: “I’m upset that someone squeezed arms here.”

The insinuation was that top Democrats had pressured other senators to reconsider their votes to remove Griego’s amendment.

Sen. President Pro Tem Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, took offense, saying neither he nor any other senate leader pressured anyone.

“I am ready to go unpack my car and stay here ’til hell freezes over,” Jennings said.

Sen. Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, ultimately stood up to say the debate had degenerated to name-calling and personal attacks and the motion to remove the amendment was removed.

The budget bill keeps K-12 education largely unharmed by paying a big annual expense for local school districts — property insurance premiums – out of a little-known state fund. If school districts don’t have to pay the insurance premiums, they could better handle the 2 percent in spending cuts laid out in the legislation.

It is one-time money, meaning next year school districts won’t see their premiums paid, but several local school officials said they approved anyway.

But the pain in the new, leaner state budget for state services other than education or Medicaid, the government’s low-income health insurance program, will ripple across the state, warned Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming.

“I’m advising you not to not go back into your senior centers,” Smith said to his fellow lawmakers. “Stay away from there. But you can speed there though because the state police probably are not going to be on the highways as much as they were.”

Smith was talking about the roughly 7 percent cuts to the majority of state agencies, including children services and state prisons. In protecting K-12 education and touching lightly on higher ed, the legislation makes shallow cuts to the programs that make up a majority of the state budget — $60 million from K-12 education and higher ed. But the legislation wrings $95 million in savings from dozens of state agencies.

The budget bill didn’t make many people happy. Republicans – and some Democrats — said it didn’t cut deep enough to prepare for what say will be a $1 billion shortfall in the next budget year.

Progressive Democrats weren’t happy because the budget bill didn’t allow for tax increases to help close this year’s $650 million budgetary shortfall.

In addition to the budget bill, the Legislature will close this year’s $650 million shortfall using legislation that “sweeps” state funds of unused money, claws back money from unfinished brick and mortar projects and uses federal stimulus dollars that disappear Dec. 31, 2010.

All those bills had passed by 7 p.m. Friday. Both chambers then quickly adjourned after an long, and sometimes tense, special legislative session.

“No one was happy with what we had to do,” said House Speaker Ben Lujan, D-Santa Fe. “Our actions in this session provide the breathing room we need for now before we come back in January. This is part of our job as lawmakers to make the hard decisions.”

Some anticipate that the state may face a much tougher challenge when state lawmakers convene the 2010 regular session in January, when a $1 billion shortfall may greet them as they cobble together a spending plan for fiscal year 2011.