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 House and Senate ensured Thursday morning that New Mexico won’t go broke this year, by agreeing to sweep more than 1,500 stalled brick-and-mortar projects for money to beef up this year’s reserves.
SB 182 claws back $130 million from gyms, senior centers, town hall renovations, animal shelters, domestic shelters, water system improvements around New Mexico. Bigger projects were targeted too. Albuquerque’s proposed equestrian facility was one.
The bill’s passage was the culmination of a tortured path through the Legislature as state lawmakers grimaced and groaned at having to take money from projects in their districts.
The money from the stalled projects is needed because New Mexico likely will need to dip into its reserves to keep state government running this fiscal year, which ends June 30.
A recent report from the Legislative Finance Committee, the Legislature’s budget arm, estimated earlier this month that state revenues were coming in $40 million below expectations, and that trend could continue.
Gov. Bill Richardson’s budget team disputes those numbers, but emphasized the importance of beefing up this year’s reserves.
Legislative leaders agreed this week that if a deal for next year’s budget didn’t materialize SB 182 had to pass. Next year’s budget deal didn’t come about. And true to their intention the Legislature passed the claw-back bill.
The House approved it around 4 a.m. by a vote of 43 to 25. The Senate passed it shortly after 9 a.m.
A great deal of drama accompanied SB 182’s trek through the Legislature.
Hundreds of people showed up early in the legislative session to protest the inclusion of their town’s or county’s or city’s projects winding up on the list of items to be swept of money.
The Senate then added to the list several projects that were Gov. Bill Richardson priorities, proposing that they be stripped of millions of dollars. Among the targeted items: a highway interchange in Belen already under construction; film/media production facilities and a proposed equestrian facility in Albuquerque. State money meant to help Signet Solar in Belen also was targeted.
The House removed two of those items this week – the Belen highway interchange and the money meant to help Signet Solar, setting up what could have been a showdown.
The two projects have been at the center of a tug-of-war between the Richardson administration and Sen. Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen.
But the Senate voted to agree to the changes made by the House this morning with nary a protest. The bill now heads up to the governor’s desk for his signature. And the state has a possible tool to stay out of the red this year.
