State lawmakers cut travel costs by more than half

(NewsNM Swickard) Well, they can cut spending. As Gomer Pyle used to say, "Surprise, surprise, surprise." From the Santa Fe New Mexican.com - by Steve Terrell - Because of ongoing state budget problems, complicated by items in the Legislature's budget vetoed by Gov. Susana Martinez, lawmakers in recent weeks have been talking about imposing more travel restrictions on themselves to save money. However, an examination of last year's travel vouchers of legislators shows that even without imposing formal restrictions, the state in 2010 paid less than half for out-of-state travel than it did just two years before. The total cost of trips outside New Mexico last year was $93,828.35. In 2008, the state reimbursed legislators more than $211,000 for out-of-state travel. "I've tried to impress on my members that our revenues were not in the same situation as in the past," said House Speaker Ben Luján, D-Nambé, in an interview Friday. He said he asked House members to skip out-of-state meetings unless they were officers of the organization or if there was something on the program that especially interested them. All reimbursement for out-of-state travel for House members has to be approved by the speaker. Senators must get reimbursement for their out-of-state trips approved by Senate President Pro-tem Tim Jennings, D-Roswell. Read more

State lawmakers cut travel costs by more than half