Panel OKs competing conference committee bills

The House Judiciary Committee has approved separate proposals that take different approaches to opening conference committees to the public.

The proposals now head to the Appropriations and Finance Committee before they can be considered by the full House.

With only Rep. Elias Barela, D-Belen voting in opposition, the committee voted Monday to approve House Bill 297, sponsored by State Rep. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, and House Concurrent Resolution 1, sponsored by Majority Leader Ken Martinez of Grants, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican.

Cervantes’ proposal would amend the New Mexico Open Meetings Act to require that conference committees be open meetings, unless the House and Senate provide for exemptions in their joint rules. It specifically exempts caucus meetings and meetings of panels investigating ethical conduct of members.

Martinez’s proposal, instead of amending the act, proposes rules changes to open committees, and allows closed meetings for the exemptions provided in the act – the discussion of real estate transactions, personnel matters or threatened or pending litigation – and also for “good cause,” which would be decided by members of the committee.

Bob Johnson, executive director of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government, objected to the “good cause” exception, the newspaper reported, saying it allows legislators to close meetings for any reason.

Martinez, according to the newspaper, said the members would have to vote in public to close the meeting using the exception, and said it “moves us in the direction of more openness in conference committees.”

On the Senate side, Senate Bill 322, sponsored by Joe Carraro, R-Albuquerque, is fourth on the list of bills to be considered today on the Senate’s flexible calendar. It’s different than another proposal that was killed by the Senate earlier this month in that it specifies that the public can be present but cannot participate in conference committees, and that political parties will have proportional representation on committees.