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.
New Mexico legislators took a step toward the once-a-decade process of redistricting by naming an 18-member committee to begin the hard work of redistricting. The committee will not only reset the lines for the state’s three congressional districts but also for each of the state House and state Senate districts. But the lawmakers face a challenge: Cuts that could mean fewer public hearings on the new district lines.
Lawmakers are worried, however, that they may not be able to get as much public input because Gov. Susana Martinez line-item-vetoed $100,000 in funding for the redistricting committee’s expenses.
The New Mexico Senate passed a bill Wednesday night that would still allow undocumented immigrants to receive driver’s licenses, but stiffened some restrictions on provisions made by the Senate Judiciary Committee. An amendment that would have reverted the language of the bill to match what passed the House failed in the chamber.
Harrison Schmitt withdrew his nomination to serve as head of the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources department on Thursday following his decision to not undergo a background check by the Senate Rules Committee. Gov. Susana Martinez said that Schmitt agreed to be screened but “was not willing to waive that investigator’s liability for any improper actions or use of that information.”
A shakeup in a major Senate committee has Sen. Richard Martinez, D-Española, replacing Sen. Cisco McSorley, D-Albuquerque, as head of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Martinez is more conservative than McSorley, especially on social issues.
The state legislature and Gov. Susana Martinez will begin the 2011 session today with some big ticket items — including, most notably, a state budget deficit that’s estimated to be anywhere from $200 and $400 million. Martinez has vowed to fill the gap without raising taxes or making cuts to either classroom education or Medicaid.
For the past year on the campaign trail Governor-elect Susana Martinez has hammered away at the corruption and serial scandals that have plagued New Mexico since 2005. Her response always to voters was that she’d treat corruption as what it was – a crime. And then she’d talk of creating a special State Police unit charged with investigating public corruption. Now, with two months before her first legislative session, Martinez must convince state lawmakers of the worthiness of her idea.
Republican Gov.-elect Susana Martinez promised repeatedly during this year’s election to try to repeal a law allowing illegal immigrants to get New Mexico drivers licenses and to revoke thousands of already-issued documents. But interviews with state lawmakers this week make clear that undoing the law isn’t a sure thing when the New Mexico Legislature convenes in Santa Fe in January for one of the toughest sessions in recent memory.
Correctional officers earned $7.2 million in overtime last year, mostly working longer hours to make up for a system-wide staffing shortage at New Mexico’s prisons. In July, the Roswell Correctional Center, which reported a 27 percent vacancy rate, had to ask the state’s highly trained Special Operations Response Team to swoop in to search for contraband and to avert possible violence among that facility’s inmates.
Health insurers contributed nearly $428,000 to New Mexico elected officials from 2004 to 2008, according to campaign finance data analyzed by The Independent. The data show the companies, an industry association and political action committees spread the campaign contributions around, giving to several state office holders and nearly every state lawmaker in the Legislature. The role of health insurers in policy-making decisions is coming under additional scrutiny at a time when a battle is brewing in time for the 2011 legislative session. Lawmakers and health insurers likely will face off over the question whether policy makers should re-write state laws to strengthen how New Mexico vets health insurers’ requests to raise premium rates.
On Wednesday, June 30, New Mexico First will host a public lecture (“Collaborative Politics: Now More Than Ever“) moderated by ABC newsman Sam Donaldson. Mike McCurry, Bill Clinton’s former press secretary, will be a keynote speaker along with former RNC chair…
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.”
It took a 30-day regular session and almost three days of a special session to hammer it out, but New Mexico finally has its budget for the 2011 fiscal year. After debating the measure for about two hours Wednesday night,…
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.
Legislative leaders were at the Roundhouse Thursday for a third day of “intense, behind-closed-doors talks and one key Senator said they were almost exactly in the same place they were when the session ended a week ago.
Gov. Bill Richardson has delayed until Monday, March 1, a special session originally scheduled for Wednesday.
His decision came as top lawmakers lobbied him to postpone the session, which will be dominated by money issues. State lawmakers have to craft…
“I’m very disappointed they failed to reach an agreement,” Gov. Bill Richardson said half an hour after the end of the session. “They were very close. It was nip and tuck.”
The state Legislature on Thursday morning passed a bill that would reform the State Investment Council. The Governor has said he will sign the bill.
HB 150, the House version of the Hispanic Education Act passed the Senate Wednesday by a vote of 25-13. But because of an amendment by Sen. Linda Lopez, the bill must go back to the House before it…
A special prosecutor hired by the New Mexico Attorney General would investigate and recover any money lost from state investment funds due to fraud under legislation that unanimously passed the Senate floor Tuesday afternoon. “I believe personally that we…
