Advocates tend to set their sights lower during a 30-day legislative session – there’s a time crunch, and most attention is focused on the state’s budget. But even with the Foundation for Open Government’s lowered expectations this year, the New Mexico Legislature failed to pass any of the transparency legislation we were backing.
We got very far, but not far enough. To our supporters, thank you – we will be back next year with an ambitious agenda for open-government reform!
The Senate left open-meetings reform on the table.
Rep. James Smith’s HB 35 would have made public-meeting agendas available 72 hours in advance (instead of the current 24 hours), allowing New Mexicans more time to become informed and engaged in local and state government. It died Thursday when Senate Majority Leader Sen. Michael Sanchez adjourned without ever calling the bill up for a floor vote.
The bill garnered early support from Gov. Susana Martinez, and it was tweaked to address concerns from counties and from bodies that meet more than once weekly. It received broad bipartisan support in two House committees, the full House and two Senate committees. It arrived on the Senate calendar on Wednesday morning, more than 24 hours before the end of the session.
Thank you to Smith for carrying this important public-access reform two years in a row, and to Sen. Peter Wirth for sponsoring it once it passed over to the Senate.
The Sunshine Portal bill generated controversy, but sputtered out.
Sometimes it’s good news when a bill dies – and that’s the case with Sen. Sander Rue’s SB 30. The bill passed the House and Senate in different forms, both of which FOG opposed.
Because the Senate didn’t concur with the House’s changes, the bill also died at noon Thursday.
This measure started out as a fairly straightforward plan to codify something the governor’s office did in December – post all state employee names and salaries on the Sunshine Portal. The bill included protections for victims of domestic violence and undercover police officers who need anonymity.
In that form, FOG was pulling for it.
The bill attracted a lot of negative attention, and won FOG’s disapproval as well, when the Senate added an amendment that would have required all private businesses doing business with state government to post their employees’ names and salaries on the portal – information that is not currently in the public domain.
The House stripped that amendment, but added another – saying that the Legislature must authorize the addition of any new categories of information to the portal. This would have put a lock on the portal, stifling its innovation and expansion.
In this case, it’s better to have no change than a bad change.
As always, thanks to Dixon Award recipient Sander Rue for taking punches on behalf of your right to know.
Check out www.nmfog.org for a complete round-up of the 2012 legislative session. Or contact us directly at info@nmfog.org.
FOG is New Mexico’s leading voice for transparency in government, educating the public and public officials about sunshine laws, assisting individuals who have been denied access to public records or meetings, and advocating for greater public access.
