At the Roundhouse: Santa Fe Drivers

But it seems like a pretty fast clip to insiders.

Really, it’s just a reflection of how things go up here in Santa Fe. The Legislature manufactures its own clocks for the bizarro worlds of New Mexico’s 60 and 30-day lawmaking sessions. It also marches to its own drummers, who in this case are the leaders of its Democratic majorities. And it takes time for each new legislative session to get organized, yada yada. And, in truth, the system is constitutionally framed, meaning the folks who set up the system intended it to give New Mexico citizens a best shot at representation and  fair shake at the Capitol.

At any rate, the tick-tock of two weeks to get a first hearing on a bill is in bell-ringing contrast to the final days of New Mexico legislative sessions, when bills the majorities WANT to pass often get final approval in just minutes. Some of the veterans up here get awfully good at time-keeping.

The governor’s 15-page driver’s license bill is House Bill 132 and the sponsor is Rep. Paul Pacheco, R-Albuquerque, a retired police officer. You can read it here if you want: http://www.nmlegis.gov/lcs/_session.aspx?Chamber=H&LegType=B&LegNo=132&year=13 

The January 29 hearing will be before the House Labor and Human Resources Committee, which is supposed to start meeting at 1:30 p.m. but, like all committees, might convene much later, depending on the chamber’s floor schedule.

The same committee on the same day is scheduled to hear another bill to end illegal immigrant licensing, House Bill 161 by Rep. Bill Rehm, R-Albuquerque, but I’m told the “governor’s bill” is Pacheco’s.

In this morning’s Journal, reporter James Monteleone tried to clear up confusion about the governor’s position on possible compromise efforts on the driver’s license issue: “Gov. Still Wants Full Repeal of License Law.”  Here’s that story: http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2013/01/24/politics/legislature/gov-still-wants-full-repeal-of-license-law.html

Meanwhile,  no one yet seems to be able to say how votes will go on the issue this year, although most observers seem to think the governor’s bill as-is can pass the House but not the Senate.

Senate Minority Leader Stuart Ingle, R-Portales, and Senate Finance Committee Chairman John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, both supporters of the governor’s repeal efforts, want to see this long-running issue resolved this session. They are talking about compromise possibilities should the governor’s approach falter again.

Ingle told me he just wants to get the ball rolling and get the problem fixed.