Governor vetoes 70 measures

SANTA FE – Gov. Susana Martinez on Friday vetoed legislation shoring up the judicial retirement system, giving the Public Education Commission the final word on charter school decisions and revamping the membership of the New Mexico Finance Authority.

All told, the Republican governor axed 70 bills – nearly one-fourth of those passed during the recent legislative session – either vetoing them with an explanation or not acting on them by the deadline.

Martinez said that although the judges’ and magistrates’ retirement systems are in dire condition, Senate Bill 25 relied too heavily on taxpayer contributions and didn’t contain the “serious reform” needed for long-term sustainability.

House Bill 392 would have made the Public Education Commission independent of the Public Education Department and given the PEC – rather than the state education secretary – the authority to rule on chartering appeals. It was passed after Secretary-designate Hanna Skandera’s overturning the PEC and approving an all-virtual charter school.

Martinez said taking the secretary out of the chartering process would upset the checks and balances in the current system.

The Finance Authority bill (Senate Bill 12) would have reduced the number of gubernatorial appointees on the board, allowed the Legislature to appoint some members, and had the chair elected rather than appointed by the governor. Martinez objected to having her Cabinet secretaries taken off the board.

The governor also vetoed Senate Bill 16, which sought to bring New Mexico’s public financing of campaigns for some judges and for Public Regulation Commission members into line with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling regarding candidates and matching funds. She questioned whether the fix was constitutional and said the entire judicial election system should be overhauled.

A proposal to revamp the state’s traffic citation system – under which motorists either pay the Motor Vehicle Division or contest tickets in court – also got the ax. Martinez objected that Senate Bill 131, which would have put the administration of all traffic citations in courts, would have limited the availability of online information about the cases.

Other vetoed bills would have:

♦ Required certain disclosures by contractors of company information and campaign contributions. (House Bill 133).

♦ Required an inventory of tax credits for businesses, including how much they cost the state and how many jobs they’ve created. (Senate Bill 7).

♦ Allowed lawmakers who didn’t sign up previously for certain legislative pension plans to become eligible now. (Senate Bill 114).

♦ Allowed for the expungement of certain criminal arrest records. (Senate Bill 294).

♦ Set up a pilot project for community engagement teams that would link the mentally ill to available treatment and services (House Bill 588).
— This article appeared on page C1 of the Albuquerque Journal