Dede Feldman

The House Taxation and Revenue Committee on Wednesday night rejected by a seven to eight vote a Senate proposal to raise New Mexico’s cigarette tax.

The aim of the bill is to stop potential state contractors from donating money to public officials while they hold or are seeking a state contract.  But the sponsor, Sen. Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque, says an amendment to the bill is a ‘poison pill’ and she is not sure she still wants the bill to move [...]

A bill sponsored by Sen. Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque, which would post online a database of political contributions from those seeking contracts with the state, and ban contributions while a contract is being considered, cleared the Senate easily on Monday. The bill would put the information, which is already available online but in different locations, in [...]

New Mexico would tax food for the first time in years, add $1 to the state cigarette tax and net taxes from out-of-state owners of business partnerships on income earned here.
Meanwhile, state agencies would get fewer dollars and several hundred jobs would disappear from state government. That mixture of spending cuts and tax hikes was part of a $5.276 billion state budget proposal that the Senate passed 25 to 17 early Sunday morning to help close a projected shortfall of several hundred million dollars next year.

Stock up on white flour tortillas and red chile pods now. The New Mexico Senate voted late Saturday night to extend the state’s gross receipts tax on a wide variety of foods after a wide-ranging debate that included attempts to raise taxes on the state’s wealthiest residents and out-of-state corporations.

Annie got one step closer to being able to carry her concealed gun into a restaurant on Friday.
Senators voted 27-15 to approve Sen. George Muñoz‘ SB 40 that would allow those with concealed weapon permits to bring their guns into restaurants that serve beer and wine, unless a restaurant opts out of the program.

A bill that would oppose any mandate that New Mexicans buy a specific type of health care coverage failed Friday in the Senate Rules Committee on a 4-3 vote after very little debate. The sponsor, William Sharer, R-Farmington, said the bill would allow people to choose to remain uninsured (or “self-insured” as Sharer called it) [...]

The Senate Rules Committee tabled a bill Wednesday that would have banned people who have contracts with the State Land Office from giving campaign contributions to the land commissioner or candidates for that office. 

A modified food tax bill that would add gross receipts tax to non-staple food is poised to become part of the budget package, it’s sponsor, Sen. Bernadette Sanchez, D-Bernalillo, said in a statement issued late Monday. While the New Mexico Food and Agriculture Policy Council took a position against the imposition of a food tax earlier in the year and hasn’t discussed this bill, the coordinator of the policy table, Pam Roy, told The Independent she thought this bill was “palatable.”

Lively debate preceded the Senate’s Wednesday vote in favor (23-15) on SB 148, which prohibits insurance companies from using gender as a factor in determining health insurance rates.

If the state establishes an ethics commission, how many members should it have? Who appoints them? And how much of the commission’s work should be made public? Legislators are grappling with those decisions as three bills are combined into one.

A major transparency bill that would create a “sunshine portal” passed the Senate unanimously Friday afternoon. The sunshine portal is described as an online version of the state’s checkbook, showing information about state spending, including state contracts and state employee salaries.

On Wednesday night, NMI hosted our third Independent Forum event with Sen. Dede Feldman, Rep. Dennis Roch and Sarah Welsh of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government. We had a lively discussion that ranged from taxes to webcasting. You can watch it below. And don’t forget to join us next Wednesday, Feb. 10 from [...]

Two bills designed to reform laws related to DWI, brought by Sen. Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, made their way through the Senate Public Affairs Committee Tuesday. Neither got out of committee with a “do-pass” recommendation, and each gained an additional committee assignment.

Fred Nathan of Think New Mexico, the think tank that championed eliminating the gross receipts tax on food several years ago, and has campaigned hard against reinstating the tax this year, told The Independent today that the group would be willing to compromise and support a tax on soda and candy.
Gov. Richardson has said he opposes reinstating the food [...]