Lt. Gov. Diane Denish isn’t happy that a proposal to overhaul the state’s troubled affordable housing system wasn’t approved Tuesday night by the House Business and Industry Committee.
On a split 6-6 vote, the committee failed to take any action on Senate Bill 519, sponsored by Sen. Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces, so it remains in limbo. The committee had previously tabled the House version, House Bill 997, sponsored by Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones, R-Albuquerque.
The bills would fund an investigation to determine the extent of mismanagement that led to the system crumbling in scandal last year, and would also replace the authorities with a new system overseen by the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority.
“This legislation was drafted and introduced as part of the systemic ethics reform package I’ve been pushing hard for, and was a governor’s bill,” Denish said in a news release. “Sen. Mary Kay Papen’s bill serves to provide sorely needed oversight and accountability that taxpayers demand from their state government.”
Denish, who chairs the MFA board, said such accountability is needed so the system can function properly.
“None of the current regional housing authorities has built a single housing unit or project in five years. The entities have outlived their usefulness,” Denish said. “The time has come to restructure and create new entities that accomplish the original intent of the housing authorities – to provide affordable housing to working New Mexicans in need. This legislation would have done that.”
She called on the committee to reconsider the bill. If it won’t, she wants Speaker of the House Ben Lujan to bring it out of the committee and let it be heard by the full House.
If Lujan refuses to do that, a vote of a majority of members could bring it to the House floor. A number of House members tell me they’re discussing whether to attempt that.
“It is my hope, at this point, that House Business and Industry Committee members and the speaker of the House will reconsider this important legislation and allow it to move to the House floor,” Denish said. “The importance of this reform cannot be understated. While the committee did pass a bill to investigate current misuse of funds and scandal at several of the Regional Housing Authorities, by tabling SB 519 they have essentially refused to protect taxpayers’ money in the future. This is not good government.”
The bill Denish is referring to is House Bill 1321, sponsored by Minority Whip Dan Foley, R-Roswell. It was approved unanimously by committee members Tuesday night and appropriates $300,000 to fund an investigation by the Legislative Finance Committee and State Auditor’s Office into the problems with the housing authorities.
That bill must still move through two House committees and the full House before it can be considered by the Senate. The House Judiciary Committee, of which Foley is a member, may hear it this afternoon.
Update, 3:20 p.m.
Kate Nash of the Albuquerque Tribune is reporting on her blog that Lujan told her “he wouldn’t support blasting the bill out of committee, even though he supports the housing reform measure.”
I can’t wait to read whatever article Nash is working on to learn how Lujan will try to rationalize that. He has consistently tried to find ways to kill the Papen/Arnold-Jones proposal without looking like he’s trying to kill it.
Regardless, Lujan’s statement means a majority of House members would have to vote to blast the bill out of committee without the support of their leader. We’ll see if they can get the votes to do that.