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.
Lobbyists continued to spend money on lawmakers during the last week of the 2010 legislative session, as shown by the latest 48 hour lobbyist reports. Details after the jump.
A rare veto override move came to a dead end Wednesday afternoon when the House Judiciary committee voted 7-4 to table a bill that would have forced state agencies to share financial data, including Medicaid spending, with the Legislative Finance…
The curious case of Senate bill 531 is heating up. The bill–which would force state agencies to share financial data, including Medicaid spending, with the Legislative Finance Committee–is on today’s agenda of the House Judiciary Committee, but it wasn’t…
A bill that would give New Mexico judges the option of sending defendants to treatment instead of jail for drug possession passed the House on Tuesday. This was the second time around for House bill 178, which failed…
After two days of turmoil, over four hours of heated debate and lots of procedural wrangling, the House on Tuesday passed a major piece of ethic legislation. HB 118 would ban campaign contributions from lobbyists and big state contractors from giving money to state-wide candidates and political parties. The bill now has less than 48 hours to try and get through the Senate.
The 2010 legislative session will be noteworthy for a lot of reasons, among them the low number of bills lawmakers have introduced. The Legislative Council Service (LCS) says there have been a total of 571 bills introduced which is the…
With a 7-4 vote the Senate Finance Committee tabled one of the most-watched bills of the 2010 regular session. For nearly three weeks, strong opinions have swirled around domestic partnerships legislation, but supporters vow that it will be back in 2011.…
“Today’s setback is huge,” said Rep. Jose Campos, D-Santa Rosa, moments after he asked to delay debate on his election reform bill. After debating House bill 118, which would ban contributions to statewide candidates from lobbyists and some…
Rep. Henry “Kiki” Saavedra, D-Albuquerque told the Independent Monday that he will raise the issue of trying to get enough money for the 2010 elections when the House and Senate meet to hammer out a budget deal.
The Senate Public Affairs committee approved a measure to add more cameras to the webcast on the Senate floor–but voted against a measure to add any cameras to committee meetings.
During the debate Sens. Eric Griego, D-Albuquerque, and…
The Roundhouse is still deciding what to do with Senate bill 10, a bill that would make a lot of food items taxable in New Mexico. But those grocers who sell the foods say the tax won’t be the…
A bill that would allow treatment instead of jail time for those charged with drug possession failed in the House on Friday by a vote of 37-33. There are a lot of conditions, but assuming a defendant is willing and…
New Mexicans may soon be able to renew their drivers licenses without having to stand in line. House bill 25 passed on Friday by a vote of 58-0. The bill now has less than a week to make it…
They say it’s healthier, easy to implement and most of all, helps the budget. Senate bill 10 makes more foods eligible to be taxed in New Mexico and it crossed its first hurdle on Friday.
At one of the most unique rallies at the Roundhouse during the session, 12,000 white tortillas were handed out by St. Joseph Community Health and other groups opposing a bill that would reimpose the gross receipts tax on certain…
“This is a tax on the poorest people of New Mexico,” Allen Sanchez, a lobbyist for the New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops, said Thursday. He’s referring to a bill that would reinstate the gross receipts tax on certain…
Video webcasting of the House floor is only two days old, yet it seems the word is getting out. The Legislative Council Service (LCS), which operates all the webcasting in the roundhouse, says on Wednesday there were 181 watchers/listeners of…
Senator Steven Neville, R-Aztec is appealing directly to House Speaker Ben Lujan, D-Santa Fe, to hear his bill in the House. The measure, which would restructure the State Investment Council, passed the Roundhouse last year but was vetoed by Governor Richardson. In the second time in as many days the Senate voted to override a veto, sending Neville’s bill back to the House. Speaker Lujan told the Independent after the Senate’s first veto override that it likely wouldn’t get a hearing in the House. More …
When it came from the House, the budget called for $300 million dollars more than the state had. To make the numbers add up the House passed controversial tax measures. But the Senate Finance Committee dropped a surtax on high earners and a temporary increase in the gross receipts tax in favor of reinstating the tax on non-staple foods, cutting education and other measures.
Some are straight donations and others are for receptions–but no matter the reason the total amount is $52,276.46. That’s how much lobbyists working the 2010 legislature have spent on lawmakers.
