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.
Hours after two state representatives joined GOP lawmakers to table a major budget bill, the pair changed their votes and the bill moved forward. What happened between two major votes on Feb. 17, the next to last day of the regular session, offers a glimpse into how the New Mexico Legislature operates, especially when rank-and-file lawmakers buck a coalition of power brokers.
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…
The fourth try was the charm for the House Taxation and Revenue Committee.
That committee voted 10 to 6 along party lines Thursday evening to pass a bill Wednesday evening viewed as essential to state budget negotiations. The approval followed…
The House Taxation and Revenue Committee tried but failed minutes ago to bring back up a capital outlay bill viewed as key to state budget negotiations. The House committee amended SB 182 late Tuesday and then tabled it. Committee Chairman
Legislative leaders are running out of time to finalize a state budget package, but a deal must come together by tonight in order to clear the logistical hurdles of passage. If no deal is made, leaders agree they must claw back capital $130 million in outlay funds to make sure the state doesn’t start bouncing checks.
A House committee on Tuesday removed two Belen projects from a bulging capital outlay bill (SB182), setting up a possible showdown between the House and Senate.
The capital outlay bill is meant to sweep $130 million in state money…
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.
State lawmakers sent Gov. Bill Richardson a message Wednesday evening: You have to share in more in the state’s budget pain, Governor. State lawmakers stripped millions of dollars from high-profile projects and initiatives Richardson has lobbied and pushed for around the state. Among the targeted items: a highway interchange in Belen already under construction; film/media production facilities and a proposed equestrian facility in Albuquerque.
Hundreds of people turned a cavernous hearing room into cramped quarters Thursday to hear how more than 1,500 brick-and-mortar projects wound up on a 60-some-odd page list of projects targeted to lose state money. The bill could become the linchpin to the 30-day session. But if the large crowd of real people and dogged questioning by state lawmakers were any indicators, the legislation isn’t winning any popularity contests.
Three state senators want the Legislature’s budget committee to examine how much money will be pulled from brick-and-mortar project in tribal communities compared to how much places like Albuquerque will lose.
Politically, this bill will get more eyes than most any other bill this session, save perhaps the state budget. Over the next few days, many state lawmakers will review the over 60-some-odd page list of targeted projects to see if any of theirs is on it. The gyms, senior centers and bridges built with state money are often viewed as tangible evidence of what the lawmakers are doing for the districts.
What will become one of the best-read bills during this session dropped in the Senate Monday afternoon. It would cancel funding for more than 1,500 brick-and-mortar projects around the state
Spending on state government would shrink by 3 percent and millions of dollars sunk into stalled brick-and-mortar projects around the state would return to the state’s main budget account under a proposal made public by Gov. Bill Richardson…
Denish said Wednesday that tax increases and spending cuts must be discussed when state lawmakers convene in Santa Fe in January to write next year’s state budget, which could include a $1 billion shortfall. But before state lawmakers increase revenue or cut spending, she said, they should consider eliminating “double dipping” for certain state workers and reform how the state hands out money for brick-and-mortar projects around the state.
Waiting until January to cut capital outlay projects isn’t good enough, Governor Bill Richardson said today as he moved to freeze “pork projects.”
Hundreds of millions of dollars remain unspent on thousands of brick-and-mortar projects the Legislature has approved in recent years. How much of that cash should be used to address the budget shortfall hasn’t yet emerged as a flashpoint between Gov. Bill Richardson and the Legislature as they try to reach a deal. But given recent history, it may well flare up.
The announcement comes less than 24 hours after the Senate passed a bill that scrapped funding for health and education projects around the state, including domestic violence facilities.
Leaders in the House and Senate sent out an advisory to the media this morning announcing that state lawmakers would hold a press conference shortly after noon. The subject: how the last piece of a budget package to address this…
Many state lawmakers and Richardson administration officials agree the real battle over how to close this year’s $454 million budget gap won’t come over cuts to state agencies, or how much in unspent money to sweep into the state’s general…
