At the Roundhouse: Pork and more

Lawmakers have given final approval to $274 million worth of capital improvements across New Mexico — the proverbial “pork” of the 60-day legislative session.

Want to see the complete list of projects approved by the Legislature?

Click here for projects by county.

Click on this for projects by the agency. 

Remember the legislation — Senate Finance Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 60 — still needs to go through Gov. Susana Martinez for her approval.

These projects would be financed by severance tax bonds and do not entail a tax increase.

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Just before shutting down for the night late Wednesday, senators quickly approved a Legislature rule to change, and possibly limit, the way legislator emails can be made public.

Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, moved just before the recess to take House Concurrent Resolution 1 off of the president’s table and make it the next order of business.

The Senate the voted 39-1 with no debate to adopt the rule change. Journal staff writer Jim Monteleone reported the news shortly before midnight. See the email story here.

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Dan Boyd reports that the Legislature sent Gov. Susana Martinez a $5.9 billion state budget on Wednesday and that Republican governor isn’t too keen on it. See the budget story here. 

The budget is the central business of every legislative session and the only thing lawmakers really have to do.

The governor will have 20 days after the Legislature adjourns at noon on Saturday to act on the budget bill.  She can line-item veto appropriations.

By my count, those 20 days run until April 5.

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Just to show you how outdated parts of our New Mexico Constitution are, the section that deals with governor approval or vetoes of bills refers exclusively to governors as “he.”

That’s Article IV, Section 22.

Susana Martinez is, of course, the state’s first elected female governor.

And, if you’re wondering about that “first elected” part, Deborah Baker explained it all in a Journal story back in 2010.

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Acting on one of the most difficult issues of the session, lawmakers on Wednesday approved a measure to shore up the solvency of the financially troubled Public Employees Retirement Association fund.

See Dan Boyd’s report on that development by clicking here.

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Speculation will be rampant for the next several days on whether there will be a special session.

The truth is you never really know.  At the moment, special session talk is largely a bargaining chip.

Martinez is going to have a lot of time to review the legislation lawmakers are just now sending her. She can call a special session at any time, or not, after taking a careful look at all the bills before her.