I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
The Senate Finance Committee on Thursday reduced by more than half the amount of new revenue the House approved to generate through tax increases, from $340 million to roughly $150 million.
The Senate did this by replacing two House-approved tax increase proposals – a surtax on the state’s wealthiest residents and a half-penny increase on the state gross receipts tax – with a reinstatement of the gross receipts tax on non-staple foods. So what happens now?
Crafting state budget for next year is the Legislature’s main job during the 30-day session. Think of that crafting process as a chess game. And with seven days left, we MIGHT – with a heavy stress on might — be entering the part of the session where the Legislature appears engaged in a game of speed chess.
The Senate as a whole may vote this weekend on the House spending plan amended by the Senate Finance Committee this morning, one senator told the Independent.
Senate approval would send the budget proposal back to the House, where lawmakers there have a choice: agree with the Senate’s amendments or reject them.
If the House agrees, the legislation goes to Gov. Bill Richardson for his signature or veto.
If the House disagrees, the House and Senate will appoint a conference committee made up of several lawmakers from each chamber to resolve the House and Senate’s disagreements over the state budget.
Hanging over all this work is an unofficial deadline of Monday at noon.
Why Monday noon if the session doesn’t end until Thursday?
That’s because the governor must take action within three days on legislation that reaches his desk prior to the last three days of the session. Monday at noon is the three-day trigger.
The governor would get 20 days following the session’s end to take action on any legislation that reaches his desk after the Monday-at-noon deadline.
So if lawmakers can get the budget to the governor before Monday at noon, they’d have time to override any vetoes – or line-item vetoes — the governor enacts on the legislation.
Of course the obstacles to acting so quickly are legion, meaning the Monday deadline might pass without legislative approval of the budget.
One potential obstacle is that there may be too many disagreements between the House and Senate on the budget proposal.
One of the sticking points already is how much to raise in new revenue through tax increases to help close next year’s big budgetary shortfall. Another sticking point is what taxes are used to generate that revenue.
A big sticking point could result in a blown deadline.
But lawmakers can move quickly when they want to, as in lightning fast.
The question is, Is this one of those times, and is the state budget the proposal that provokes such rapid movement.
Stay tuned.
