Gov. Bill Richardson

The longstanding battle over who owns the state’s more than 1,900 voting tabulators – the counties or the state – appears settled, and none too soon with this year’s elections fast approaching. A bill Gov. Bill Richardson signed into law in recent days renders the fight moot, state and local officials say, by requiring the state to [...]

If Gov. Bill Richardson vetoes the food tax, Sen. President Pro Tem Tim Jennings, D-Roswell says he should make up the $68 million dollar budget difference by cutting tax incentives for the film industry.

Gov. Bill Richardson is deliberating whether to veto a controversial food tax provision in legislation state lawmakers sent him last week, saying he doesn’t want to balance the budget on the backs of ordinary citizens. But one state lawmaker is questioning the depth of Richardson’s stated concerns over how the provision will affect the state’s population, describing the governor’s public protestations as a “dance.”

Gov. Bill Richardson on Wednesday reappointed David Harris and named Catherine A. Allen (of the Santa Fe Group) and Doug Brown (of UNM’s Anderson School of Management) to the State Investment Council (SIC), complying with a new law that re-organizes the besieged state agency.

“The Richardson administration pulled out all the stops to keep Gary Bland on the SIC,” Foy’s attorney, Victor Marshall, said at a small news conference Tuesday. But four SIC members said they never felt pressure from the Richardson in the days before the former state investment officer resigned.

A bill to boost the state’s cigarette tax by 75 cents cleared an important legislative committee Tuesday afternoon, after a bit of arm-twisting and some last-minute horse trading by two Democratic lawmakers. The sheer effort to push the bill out of the House Taxation and Revenue Committee gives one a sense of how difficult the New Mexico Legislature is finding it to pass out a state budget.

A proposed state budget currently before state lawmakers would grant Gov. Bill Richardson a power the New Mexico Legislature has zealously guarded in the past: the power to cut monthly allotments to state agencies. The last time a governor tried to unilaterally fiddle with the monthly general fund allotments, the Legislature sued. And won.

Legislative leaders have struck a budget deal, and just in time. Details are few, but Gov. Bill Richardson saw it Friday and pronounced it good. Here are the general outlines of the deal. The recently struck deal involves raising $233 million in revenue. That revenue would come from increasing the state’s gross receipts, cigarette and compensating taxes. Certain foods also would be taxed for the first time in years, although it’s unclear what food items would fall under the state’s gross receipts tax. The proposed budget agreement also relies on spending decreases. State agencies are expected to shave spending. Public education, meanwhile, would be reduced by about 1 percent.

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.

High-powered lawmakers are in Santa Fe today trying to persuade Gov. Bill Richardson to delay the special session planned for tomorrow.
House leadership is already meeting with Richardson, said Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. He added that senate leaders plan to chat with Richardson around 4 p.m. today.
“Talks are [...]

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 [...]

A bill to authorize $40 million for projects around the state cleared the House early Thursday morning. Lawmakers voted 37 to 31 to fund everything from a Hewlett Packard center in Rio Rancho to a technical support center at Mesa Del Sol in Albuquerque. The proposal now goes to the Senate.

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 from more than 1,500 brick-and-mortar projects around the state to help beef up the state’s nearly-depleted reserves, [...]

State lawmakers should have judged Neri Holguin on her professional qualifications, not her past political work, Gov. Bill Richardson said Tuesday, after the Senate rejected his nominee to the state Environmental Improvement Board by a vote of 17 to 25. “I think there were some personal issues. She is a very dedicated environmentalist,” Richardson said [...]

Gov. Bill Richardson said Tuesday he prefers House Speaker Ben Lujan’s version of a bill that would restructure the State Investment Council. That comes as no real surprise; Lujan’s version keeps Richardson on the SIC, while the Senate bill does not.