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Wednesday, October 21, 2009
School Spending Cuts Fought
By Dan Boyd And Sean Olson
Journal Staff Writer
SANTA FE — Deep divisions within the New Mexico Legislature underlined the fourth day of a special session, even as lawmakers moved forward on several bills that would help plug a $650 million budget gap.
Democratic senators called progressives waged a fight Tuesday afternoon to revive tax increases but were narrowly outvoted by Democratic leadership and Republicans.
Meanwhile, members of the House budget committee debated proposals to cut state government spending but didn't vote on the bills with the weightiest fiscal impact.
More than 30 budget-balancing proposals have been studied by the Legislative Finance Committee as lawmakers consider ways to shore up the state's $5.5 billion budget against declining revenues in a severe economic downturn.
Divides in philosophy that threatened to grow into chasms were barriers to a quick conclusion of the special session on the budget that began Saturday. Those divisions included:
n Progressive Democrats remained staunchly opposed to cutting public education and Medicaid spending. Instead, they continued to push Tuesday for tax increases and targeted spending cuts.
n Republicans and some conservative Democrats say the state has a structural deficit and want recurring, or year-after-year, spending to be decreased, instead of raiding existing funds and using other cash-saving maneuvers, such as Gov. Bill Richardson has proposed.
n A bipartisan group in both legislative bodies believe trimming the ranks of exempt political hires could save a significant amount of money. Eliminating 180 of the 760 "exempt" employees would save $19 million. Richardson has said he thinks the budget can be balanced without laying off or furloughing state employees.
The disagreements raised frustration among some lawmakers.
"We've been here now for four days ... and there is no consensus being developed in either the House or the Senate on how we're going to solve this budget," said House Majority Caucus Chairman John Heaton, D-Carlsbad.
In the Senate, the dissenting Democrats, led by so-called progressives, argued that Richardson backed them into a corner by limiting their budget-balancing options in a special session proclamation that legislative leaders say precludes consideration of tax increases.
The progressives' efforts to revive tax-increase measures failed repeatedly on 22-16 votes on the Senate floor Tuesday, but their push was indicative of division even within the ranks of the Legislature's Democratic majorities. It also pitted Democrats against the Democratic governor and their House and Senate leadership.
Sen. Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque, said the governor doesn't have the constitutional authority to prevent the Legislature from using any avenues to make up the deficit.
"The way this proclamation has been written, it certainly ties our hands in such a way that it almost certainly forces us to make tough cuts to education and health care," Feldman said.
Senate President Pro Tem Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, agreed the proclamation was "poorly written," but he said the governor called the session and had the authority to limit debate.
Jennings' group — which included other moderate Democrats, party leadership and most Republicans — came out on top, but fresh faces in the Senate have joined long-tenured progressives to give resistance to the traditional powerhouses.
Sens. Feldman; Gerald Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque; Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe; Eric Griego, D-Albuquerque; and Cisco McSorley, D-Albuquerque, led the charge as the core of the progressive Democrats. They were joined by other often-liberal senators and Sen. Rod Adair, R-Roswell.
Adair said he didn't agree with increasing taxes but voted against what he said was a case of Richardson overstepping his boundaries.
The House on Tuesday approved a bill to reduce legislative branch spending by 5.3 percent and another to delay approved increases to two state retirement funds.
The body is expected to take up legislation today, sponsored by Rep. Luciano "Lucky" Varela, D-Santa Fe, that would cut state agency spending by an average of 3.1 percent and public education spending by an average of 2.8 percent. The bill would generate about $172 million in savings.
Richardson has proposed a 3.5 percent cut to state agencies and a 1.5 percent cut to public schools, which would amount to about a $40 million reduction in the state budget for kindergarten through 12th grade.
Despite the divides, some lawmakers voiced optimism that Tuesday's action could presage a resolution to the special session impasse.
"I think we are making progress in terms of the quality of legislation," said Rep. Rick Miera, D-Albuquerque, the chairman of the House Education Committee. "We're starting to gravitate toward what the real problem is."
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