Bill mandating background checks at gunshows heads to Senate floor as clock ticks

From Capitol Report New Mexico - The only gun control bill left standing in the current 60-day legislative session passed through the Senate Judiciary Committee in a vote that came at 11:23 p.m. Thursday (March 14), with just a day and a half left in the 60-day legislative session. House Bill 77, which requires background checks in an effort to close what gun control advocates call the gun show loophole, passed on a 6-4 vote, with all the Democrats on the committee voting yes and all Republicans voting no. The bill now heads to the Senate floor.
     “This is a good bill that we worked on with representatives on the other side of the aisle,” said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Miguel Garcia, D-Albuquerque. Supporters and critics of HB77 waited well into the night to watch the proceedings and voice their opinions to the committee members who voted on the bill without debate. The bill — which already passed through the House and Republican Gov. Susana Martinez indicated she’d sign — now has to beat the clock.
     If the Senate (where Democrats hold a 25-17 advantage) passes the bill in a floor vote, it would then have to go back to the House for concurrence because HB77 was amended slightly in an earlier Senate committee. Concurrence can happen relatively quickly but there’s no guarantee as the Legislature will adjourn at noon on Saturday. Read more

Bill mandating background checks at gunshows heads to Senate floor as clock ticks

It's battle of the budget as session nears end

From KOB-TV.com - by Stuart Dyson, KOB Eyewitness News 4 - State lawmakers will wrap up their sixty day session on Saturday, but the odds are they will be back in a special session. Gov. Susana Martinez says she will veto the budget bill and call lawmakers back in to come up with another one. Senate Finance Committee chairman John Arthur Smith said talks continue with the Martinez administration, but there is no deal at this point. Martinez can't live with the budget that lawmakers crafted. Among other things, it leaves out $3 million in extra pay for outstanding teachers. Martinez also wants bigger tax cuts for businesses. New Mexico's corporate income tax rate is the highest in the region.
     "What the legislature has to do is have the desire and have the courage to put our kids first and to put our economy first, especially with the federal sequestration cuts looming over us we have to diversify our economy," she said. Democratic lawmakers say they're stunned that they will have to comeback in a special session over a $3 million difference in a budget that totals almost $6 billion.
     "The reality is that we would have to wait a couple weeks at least for people to go home and take care of any business, and then come back," said Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino, an Albuquerque Democrat. "I don't think she would try to keep us here beyond Saturday, but I don't know. This is a Governor who doesn't disclose her information to us freely."
     A special session will cost the taxpayers about $40,000 a day, and that's on top of the regular session that's costing New Mexican's more than $8 million. Look for a special session sometime before the middle of May. That's mainly because the public schools will need budgets in place so they can do contracts with teachers and buy books and equipment and supplies for the school year that starts in August. Read more

It's battle of the budget as session nears end

Lawmakers approve change in email disclosure

New Mexico lawmakers have approved a policy that could shield legislators' email from disclosure through public records requests. 

The new legislative rule will govern how the Legislature handles requests under the Inspection of Public Records Act, which grants access to records about public business with certain exceptions, such as trade secrets. 

Legislators contend that much of their communication with constituents and others about legislation should remain confidential. Some lawmakers use email through personal accounts rather than a legislative email system. 

The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government opposes the new records policy and disagrees with lawmakers who contend the state constitution provides special protections exempting legislative email from public disclosure.

Lawmakers approve change in email disclosure

Interior Secretary to settle northern NM water dispute

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will be in New Mexico to finalize the latest settlement of a decades-long water rights battle in northern New Mexico. 

The Interior Department says Salazar will be meeting Thursday in Santa Fe with pueblo leaders from Tesuque, Nambe, Pojoaque and San Ildefonso. 

The water rights settlement was one of four included in legislation signed by President Barack Obama in 2011 that was aimed at delivering clean drinking water to tribes in New Mexico, Arizona and Montana. 

Under the agreement, a regional water system will be built to serve the four New Mexico pueblos and their neighbors. The federal government, the state and Santa Fe County will share the cost of building the system. 

The price tag has been estimated at more than $177 million.

Interior Secretary to settle northern NM water dispute

Tainted heroin prevalent in San Miguel County

Authorities in northern New Mexico's San Miguel County say tainted heroin has caused one death and several hospitalizations among people booked into the county jail in Las Vegas in the past month. 

Detention Center Warden Patrick Snedeker says officials are using medical screenings and other steps to try to detect warning signs of use of contaminated heroin as people are taken into custody. 

Snedeker says symptoms include seizures, hyperventilation, hallucinations and dangerous changes in vital signs. 

He says the first case was when a 41-year-old woman died Feb. 19, a week after she was stricken at the jail and hospitalized.

According to the Las Vegas Optic, jail officials then began seeing the same symptoms in other inmates who were long-term chronic heroin users.

Tainted heroin prevalent in San Miguel County

PERA proposal clears legislature

A proposal to improve the long-term finances of a pension plan for state and local government workers has cleared the Legislature and heads to Republican Gov. Susana Martinez.  

The legislation would change benefits offered by the Public Employees Retirement Association, which has a $6 billion gap between its assets and the cost of future retirement benefits.

 The pension system covers nearly 90,000 state and local government workers and retirees. If signed into law by the governor, the legislation would lower yearly cost-of-living adjustments for pension benefits.

 The measure also would establish new retirement eligibility and benefits for employees hired after July 1.

PERA proposal clears legislature

Making the failing educational system worse

Commentary by Michael Swickard, Ph.D. Almost all of our societal angst about education concentrates on students who do not wish to learn. Consider: can we force students to learn? Imagine if cattle prods were used. “What is the capital of South Dakota?” Wrong. Zap. That might work in the short term, but they will be flinchy about learning forever. And, there would be that messy business about human rights.

     The second problem is the effect over the last thirty years of the rapidly expanding administration. In the 1960s there were few administrators. How did they know if teachers were good? The principal walked into classes and talked with parents and students. The principal knew who was good and who needed help.
     We no longer trust principals to administer, they instead coordinate legions of experts who spend their time trying to find things to justify their employment. Most teachers would really like the bloated administration to leave them alone to teach since that is their role.
     Teachers say the administrative experts who cannot themselves teach assume all teachers are the same and all students are the same. They want each teacher to listen to them rather than concentrating on educating students. There has been a tsunami of accountability tests in the last twenty years that trump real teaching.
     Everyone now spends almost all of their time in concern for the administrative tests rather than student learning. What the students need is to quit spending the entire year getting ready for the teacher accountability tests and just spend it learning.
     An example of goofy experts: a teacher was called to a meeting with an expert who said, “Do not use the SF basal readers.” The teacher shrugged, “OK, do you have a different basal for me to use?”
     “No,” the expert said.
     “But you want me to use a basal as I teach reading?” the teacher asked.
     “Of course,” The expert answered, “Just do not use the SF basal you are using right now.”
     No wonder teachers cringe when the experts show up. They are overwhelmed with well-paid experts who cannot hit water from a boat. They know that politically every student in America must be above average or there will be hell to pay. Read column

Making the failing educational system worse

Legislators hope to debate remaining gun bill

From KOB-TV.com - by Stuart Dyson, KOB Eyewitness News 4 - Time is running short in New Mexico's 60 day legislative session, with the only surviving gun control bill still awaiting a hearing in a Senate committee. That committee, Senate Judiciary, is swamped with bills. Hundreds will die when the session ends at noon on Saturday. Gun control could be one of them.
     The bill already passed in the House of Representatives. It would require background checks on people who buy guns at gun shows, just like they do at gun stores. Gun control supporters worry that it's stuck in that committee with time running out. One supporter who's not worried is Rep. Brian Egolf, a Santa Fe Democrat.
      "From the outside it looks like there's only three days left," Egolf said. "It may look to people outside the building like there's not much time left, but in the final days of a legislative session three days is an eternity. I am confident."
     But on the other side a lot of pro-gun people worry the bill might get un-stuck! Republican Bill Rehm, a retired cop, says the bill is unenforceable. "It's easy to get around it," Rehm said. "If I'm an individual who's at a gun show and I'm selling a gun to you, all I have to do is tell you to meet me in the parking lot and now we're around it. That's why I say this kind of legislation has to come at the federal level so it affects globally where we are."
     When the Senate Judiciary Committee does schedule a hearing, it's likely to jam the Capitol with people who want to testify, just like every other gun control hearing this session. That could mean a marathon meeting, devouring up precious hours while the legislative clock ticks away toward the Saturday deadline. Read more

Legislators hope to debate remaining gun bill

Lincoln County to get more than $1 million for Little Bear Fire cleanup

From KOB-TV.com - The Federal Emergency Management Agency is providing more than $1 million to reimburse Lincoln County for cleanup costs resulting from flooding following last summer's Little Bear Fire in the White Mountain Wilderness Area near Ruidoso. Lincoln County incurred more than $1 million in costs last year removing and hauling debris resulting from post-fire flooding to improve public safety, restore access to roadways and protect property. "As fire season approaches again in New Mexico, we are still dealing with the devastation from the Little Bear Fire," said Sen. Tom Udall.
     "I spent time with the Little Bear incident commander and regional team and was very impressed with their coordination. These federal dollars are going to Lincoln County for the tremendous work the community has done to restore the area."
     In June 2012, the Little Bear Fire burned almost 45,000 acres, destroyed over 250 homes and structures, and damaged six local watersheds, becoming one of the most destructive fires in state history. In July 2012, the communities also experienced heavy post-fire flooding as a result of runoff from the fire burn scar.
     Udall and retired Sen. Jeff Bingaman sent a letter to President Obama in August 2012 requesting disaster declarations from the federal government to offset the cost to the state and affected communities. Read more

Lincoln County to get more than $1 million for Little Bear Fire cleanup

In Spaceport we trust: Liability protection heads to Gov’s desk

From Capitol Report New Mexico - A bill that would extend liability protections to Virgin Galactic and other spacecraft manufacturers in case of accidents at Spaceport America is heading to the desk of Gov. Susana Martinez. On Monday (March 11), the state House of Representatives on a 62-0 vote passed Senate Bill 240, which applies to the facility in southern New Mexico that state taxpayers spent $240 million to construct.
     “It’s a good promise for New Mexico,” Rep. Jim White, R-Albuquerque, told New Mexico Watchdog. “It means we’re going to move forward on this thing.”
     Virgin Galactic, the anchor tenant at Spaceport, has made veiled threats of pulling up stakes and leaving New Mexico and taking its scheduled sub-orbital launches of tourists to other states that have instituted liability protections for manufacturers unless New Mexico followed suit.
     Under the bill, the protections would go to spacecraft manufacturers and suppliers, as long as they carry liability insurance policies of at least $1 million. Victims who live or have property off the Spaceport grounds can still sue in case of any disaster. Rep. White said the bill has a sunset provision that concludes in 2022.
     Before the current 60-day session started, Gov. Martinez urged the legislature to pass the liability bill as a way to help ensure that Spaceport becomes a financial plus for the state.
     “For two years, Gov. Martinez has called for legislation that makes New Mexico a more competitive place for commercial spaceflight and protects the investment taxpayers have already made in Spaceport America,” Martinez spokesman Enrique Knell said in a statement. “This measure is long overdue, and she is hopeful that it will improve New Mexico’s competitiveness in this industry.” Read more

In Spaceport we trust: Liability protection heads to Gov’s desk