News New Mexico: 03/08/11

WA Votes to Keeps Drivers Licenses to Illegals

From seattletimes.com - A Republican-led motion to bring a vote on a bill that would have restricted access to driver's licenses to illegal immigrants and attempted to stop identification fraud was defeated Monday in the state Senate, dealing a major defeat to proponents of the measure. In a procedural motion, Republicans asked the Senate to consider the bill, which had not been brought to the floor by Democrats, who hold the majority and control over which bills get a vote. The motion failed 23-25 in the waning minutes of a deadline to vote on bills in their chambers of origin. Among the "no" votes was chief sponsor Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, but she said that she will take the issue to the governor. More News New Mexico

Welfare Benefits Make Up 35% of US Wages & Salaries

From CNBC.com -Government payouts including Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance make up more than a third of total wages and salaries of the U.S. population, a record figure that will only increase if action isn’t taken before the majority of Baby Boomers enter retirement. Even as the economy has recovered, social welfare benefits make up 35 percent of wages and salaries this year, up from 21 percent in 2000 and 10 percent in 1960, according to TrimTabs Investment Research using Bureau of Economic Analysis data. “The U.S. economy has become alarmingly dependent on government stimulus,”

NM House Approves Oil Well Regulatory Rewrite

From businessweek.com - A New Mexico agency must rewrite regulations governing temporarily abandoned oil wells under a bill heading to the Senate. Supporters say the regulatory overhaul is to give the oil industry more flexibility in decisions on whether to temporarily halt production of a well. However, opponents warned that the proposal will get rid of current regulations protecting groundwater from leaking abandoned wells. The regulations govern the plugging of wells after production has stopped. The legislation will require the Oil Conservation Division to adopt new regulations by the end of the year, taking several issues into consideration, including whether the rules allow for variations based on the size of the well operator. The House approved the bill on a 48-20 vote on Monday and sent it to the Senate for consideration.

A Day in The Life of an Arizona Rancher

From gatewaypundit.com -The Center For Immigration Studies has produced its first web-based film that looks in depth at what it is like to live as an Arizona rancher amongst the isolation and dangers posed by illegal immigration. “A Day in the Life of an Arizona Rancher: Border Fences, Illegal Aliens, and One Man’s Watchtower,” released one year after the March 2010 tragic murder of rancher Robert Krentz, unravels the mindset of a rancher trying to balance the complexities of illegal immigration when dealing with protecting himself, his family and his property from unknown, constant and potentially dangerous trespassers who in Arizona are nearly always illegal aliens. More News New Mexico

Senator Sanchez Next Up

Michael Sanchez

After numerous procedural measures that would have thwarted the desires of an overwhelming majority of citizens in New Mexico were voted down, the House of Representatives followed the leadership of Representative Andy Nunez last week and passed HB-78. The attention for the bill which calls for the repealing of a provision that allows the state to issue driver's licenses to people who have entered the country illegally turns to the New Mexico Senate, where Michael Sanchez may well hold the key to fair treatment of the bill in that chamber. Many listeners and News New Mexico site visitors have asked for contact information on Senator Sanchez, so we are posting that information here. The email address for Senator Michael Sanchez is senatormssanchez@aol.com and his office telephone number is: (505) 865-0688. You can locate the email addresses and phone numbers for all State Senators here: News New Mexico

Senate Back on Budget.....Sort of

Santa Fe New Mexican - The New Mexico House shifted the dollars-and-cents debate to the Senate on Monday when it passed the final piece of legislation in a package of state budget-related bills. By a vote of 42 to 28, the House passed HB 628, a revenue bill needed to help balance a proposed $5.4 billion state budget approved by the House last week. The legislation would require state workers and public-school teachers to contribute more into their retirement systems — 3.25 percent more, to be exact.

The savings to the state, if the measure passes, is estimated at around $100 million for the year that starts July 1. The amount the state must pay into the retirement systems would decrease by the same amount produced by the increased employee contributions. With that legislation out of the House, the battles over the state budget proposal that have bottled up the chamber for weeks will now swirl around Read full story here: News New Mexico

Sowell: Union Myths

Thomas Sowell

Townhall - The biggest myth about labor unions is that unions are for the workers. Unions are for unions, just as corporations are for corporations and politicians are for politicians. Nothing shows the utter cynicism of the unions and the politicians who do their bidding like the so-called "Employee Free Choice Act" that the Obama administration tried to push through Congress. Employees' free choice as to whether or not to join a union is precisely what that legislation would destroy. Workers already have a free choice in secret-ballot elections conducted under existing laws. As more and more workers in the private sector have voted to reject having a union represent them, the unions' answer has been to take away secret-ballot elections. Under the "Employee Free Choice Act," unions would not have to win in secret-ballot elections in order to represent the workers. Instead, union representatives could simply collect signatures from the workers until they had a majority. Read full column here: News New Mexico

Another Run At Voter I.D.

Dianne Hamilton

Capitol Report New Mexico - Republicans will try again this week to pass a bill instituting a photo voter identification system in New Mexico but the chairwoman of the committee the bill is assigned to says she thinks there’s not enough time for it get to the Governor’s desk to sign it into law. Rep. Cathrynn Brown (R-Carlsbad) is sponsoring House Bill 577, which is expected to be heard Thursday (March 10) in the House Voters and Elections Committee, that would require voters to show a form of identification when they appear at the polls.

Cathrynn Brown

A similar bill that was introduced by Rep. Dianne Hamilton (R-Silver City) was shot down in the same committee last month but Brown says HB577 has a number of differences from Hamilton’s bill. One of the major criticisms Democrats had with Hamilton’s measure was that it did not require any form of ID for absentee voters. Read full Story here: News New Mexico

Bill Gross: 2 Bits - 4 Bits - 6 Bits a Dollar

Bill Gross

One of our favorite money managers is Bill Gross of PIMCO. Gross manages more fixed income assets than anyone else we know of. He is an astute investor with decades of seasoning. His insights are the topic of discussions all around the world. To read his latest thoughts on the financial situation facing America and investors you can click here: News New Mexico

Fire Burns Silver City

News9west - SILVER CITY, N.M. (AP) - New Mexico fire officials say a wind-driven wildfire that destroyed up to 15 homes has now grown to nearly three square miles. New Mexico State Forestry spokesman Dan Ware says the blaze near the southwestern New Mexico town of Silver City had blackened about 1,770 acres, or about 2.7 square miles, by early Tuesday. That's up from 500-1,000 acres burned by Monday night. Read full story here: News New Mexico

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