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.
Democrat Lt. Gov. Diane Denish supports domestic partnerships. Republican Susana Martinez doesn’t. The distinction is important to those who follow the annual debate over whether to give same-sex couples many, if not all the same rights, as married couples under state law. Both supporters and opponents of the issue are watching the gubernatorial race: supporters hoping for a governor who will sign domestic partnerships legislation; opponents hoping for a governor who will be the last defense against legislation they dislike.
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.…
Over three weeks ago Governor Bill Richardson handed a full plate of initiatives to the Roundhouse. So with just about one week left, how much are lawmakers listening?
The sign posted on the door of the Senate Finance Committee room is clear: no domestic partnerships hearing until the budget is done. “This session is about fiscal appropriations,” Senator and Finance Committee Chairman John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, said…
As the 800+ page domestic partner bill continues to be debated in the Senate, Governor Richardson is talking about the bill and its chances. “Its not same-sex marriage, its totally different,’ Richardson said, ”my view is that the full Senate should…
Republicans and conservative Democrats on Tuesday used a Senate Committee viewed as a friendly forum to seriously endanger domestic partnership legislation. Before sending the legislation on to Senate Judiciary Committee a 5-4 vote, the Senate Public Affairs Committee approved sending the 816-page bill to a third committee, the kiss of death during a 30-day session.
State Sen. Benjamin Rodefer, D-Corrales, responded to Senate Public Affairs Committees’ addition of a committee hearing to a domestic partnership bill by writing on Twitter that he his “ashamed of the Senate’s actions.” He also wrote, “The founding of…
The Senate gallery was packed Tuesday for a hearing on SB 183, New Mexico’s domestic partnership bill. We talked to some members of the audience who came to Santa Fe to watch the hearing.
A Senate Committee viewed as a friendly forum for domestic partnerships may have killed the bill Tuesday.
The Senate Public Affairs Committee approved the legislation but voted to give the 816-page bill a third committee referral.
A bill that must…
Another day of the 2010 legislative session happened today in the Roundhouse and the New Mexico Independent was there to cover the action. One of the more newsworthy occurrences today was a joint meeting of the Senate Judiciary and Senate Public Affairs Committees on domestic partnership, which the Independent live blogged.
Click the headline to read the transcript of the live blog.
As nearly 100 people gathered to support domestic partnerships in New Mexico, Sen. Willliam Sharer, R-Farmington said if the state passed a domestic partnership bill it would almost certainly lead to a lawsuit to bring same-sex marriage to the state. Sharer…
Sen. Cisco McSorley told supporters of New Mexico’s domestic partnership bill on Monday that the measure is only “1 or 3 votes short” of a possible vote before the full Senate.
The bill is expected to go…
Gov. Bill Richardson rejected the notion Thursday that domestic partnership legislation had no chance of passing during the 30-day session.
“I’m going to push it,” Richardson said, acknowledging “legislators have a lot of on our plate.”
“It’s moving. It’s going…
Even before the legislative session, passing domestic partnerships was an uphill climb. Now, with the New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops adding its voice to the opposition, suddenly advocates have found themselves scaling Mt. Everest without an oxygen tank, in 100 mph winds. Even supportive lawmakers say it’s DOA unless the miraculous occurs.
The first day of the 2010 session ended as it began: with no clear plan to solve New Mexico’s worst budget troubles in decades. If past experience is any guide, the budget negotiations will come fits and starts over the next four weeks, with bouts of frustration interspersed with glimmers of hope.
It’s likely the New Mexico Legislature will take up domestic partnerships again during January’s regular legislative session after rejecting several previous measures. Not that other states are a predictor of what may happen here, but Tuesday’s elections produced mixed…
New Hampshire may be the third state in a month to legalize gay marriage, the New York Times reports. That state’s Senate this afternoon passed a a bill that would allow same-sex couples to marry; it will now go…
It’s been almost two months since domestic partnership legislation failed by an 8-vote margin in the New Mexico Senate. But since then, the New Mexico Independent has learned that a committee appointed by New Mexico’s Catholic archbishop has been charged with seeking out a potential compromise with backers of the original bill.
Domestic partnerships could be on the agenda for the Legislature’s special session this fall, Gov. Bill Richardson said Tuesday. He also acknowledged that the New Mexico Catholic Church and supporters of partnerships were working to forge a compromise in time for the special session.
If I didn’t live in New Mexico where even the notion of recognizing domestic partnerships provokes major controversy and ends in lopsided defeat, I’d be tempted to think that those who push for something called marriage equality have the…
