State senator introduces regents training bill, resolution for nominating committee

An education bill addressing how Board of Regents are trained is expected to have its first committee hearing at the Legislature this week.

The bill, sponsored by Sens. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces, and Gabriel Ramos, R-Silver City, would mandate training for members of the state’s higher education governing boards. Another joint resolution, read out on the floor on Wednesday, would introduce a constitutional amendment — something voters must also approve — seeking to change the way the governor nominates those members.

The move comes, in part, after calls for reforms to state higher education governing boards from lawmakers and weeks after the majority of Western New Mexico University’s Board of Regents resigned over alleged ethical misconduct.

Senate Bill 19, Boards of Regents Training Requirements, is on the schedule of the Senate Education Committee for Friday.

House Speaker Javier Martínez, D-Albuquerque, earlier this month at a news conference called to hold members of the state’s higher education governing boards accountable. He was joined by Attorney General Raúl Torrez, who is investigating the former WNMU Board of Regents and the institution’s departed president, Joe Shepard.

The five-member board and Shepard came under Torrez’s radar last month, when the board unanimously approved a $1.9 million payout to Shepard, who agreed to resign Jan. 15 amid numerous ethics investigations.

State Auditor Joseph Maestas concluded in November that Shepard, his wife, Valerie Plame, and members of the board spent more than $363,000 for 402 instances of “extravagant” travel and 91 instances of purchasing, including furniture for the president’s residence in Silver City.

Though Steinborn did not sponsor SB19 with the House Speaker’s call or the accusations at WNMU in mind, he told the Journal the recent developments out of the Silver City campus stresses the importance of his legislation. Steinborn added that while it’s impossible to prevent accusations like the ones facing WNMU from ever happening again, “you can set yourself up for success.”

“The biggest thing you an do to set yourself up for success is to pick the very best people in the first place,” he said.

SB19 is part of a long-time effort from Steinborn to reform higher education governance and was inspired by legislation passed last year requiring training for public school board members, he said.

His bill would require members to complete 10 hours of training during the first year of their terms. The training includes two hours each on various subjects, including financial management and ethics. The state’s Higher Education Department would be tasked with developing and providing the training. The agency already provides training, which Steinborn is aware of, but he believes his proposal would offer more comprehensive training.

“A little bit of training can go a long way toward helping people really understand the appropriate boundaries and red lines for this specific job,” Steinborn said, noting that he has received training on being a public official.

The proposed constitutional amendment Steinborn is pushing for would require the governor to nominate board members from a list provided by a committee from each institution. The nominations would still require Senate confirmation.

Steinborn credited Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham for the way she has handled nominating board members, but he said previous administrations tended to nominate those who were donors of the governor or had no background in higher education.

“Clearly, the history going back 20 years is that there has not been much of a vetting process outside of who supported the governors and their campaign,” Steinborn said. “The great thing about a nominating commission is we could really professionalize (the process) and invite a wider net of people, who aren’t necessarily politically connected, to be interviewed in a nonpartisan way.”