Mary Kay Papen

Gov. Bill Richardson was in Las Cruces Saturday to sign into law the Whistleblower Protection Act, funding for the Las Cruces downtown tax increment development district and colonias, and a spaceport-related bill.

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 [...]

During a discussion on the Senate floor Wednesday about whether lawmakers should voluntarily reduce their per diem as the Legislature addresses a massive budget shortfall, Sen. Richard Martinez, D-Española, spoke out heatedly about colleagues who he said abuse the system.

Senator Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces, has introduced a Senate concurrent resolution asking for legislators to voluntarily reduce their per diems–the $159 per day that they’re allotted for food and lodging during the session. New Mexico’s legislators are otherwise unpaid.

Gov. Bill Richardson will be in Las Cruces on Monday to announce $30,000 in emergency state funding for a nonprofit that provides child care, education and other help to homeless and near-homeless families, a souther New Mexico state senator said Sunday.

“It’s about time,” were the words uttered by state Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones earlier today when told that four men had been indicted in the drawn-out investigation into the misuse of bond money in the state’s affordable housing system.

Attorney General Gary King will take his investigation into the housing authority scandal before a grand jury Friday with the intent of securing indictments, a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed.

The resignation of New Mexico State University Interim President Waded Cruzado is in the works, a move that has angered some powerful state legislators who believe the Board of Regents and the Richardson administration are forcing the change.

Gov. Bill Richardson today signed a bill that will reform the state’s scandal-plagued affordable housing system.

Las Crucen Frances Williams, in a document she authored at the request of two state senators, writes that State Auditor Hector Balderas’ special audits of the affordable housing system are “confusing, contradictory, inconsistent, inconclusive and misleading.” The document has been circulating among lawmakers and others.

The TIDD proposal for the controversial SunCal development on Albuquerque’s west side wasn’t the only proposal to use the controversial financing method that failed in the legislative session that just ended.

A bill that would reform the state’s scandal-plagued affordable housing system sailed through the House today and is now headed to the desk of a governor who has endorsed it.

Attorney General Gary King has delayed his plan to take the drawn-out investigation of scandal in the state’s affordable housing system before a grand jury, and that has some worried.

In 2007, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish and state Sen. Mary Kay Papen accused House Speaker Ben Lujan of trying to torpedo their attempt to reform the state’s affordable housing system. But this year, he’s shepherding their housing authority reform bill through the House for them.

The state’s budget crunch makes reforming the affordable housing system more difficult, but reform backers are optimistic that the Legislature will approve an overhaul of the regional housing authority system this session.