For Richardson, clock starts ticking on budget today

Gov. Bill Richardson’s office on the fourth floor of the Roundhouse remained largely empty on Sunday as his staffers sought to avoid accepting the state budget, which was given final legislative approval on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the leadership in the Senate also decided to wait to deliver the bill to the governor’s office until this morning as a courtesy.

That gives Richardson until Thursday morning to act on the bill, and gives the Legislature until noon on Saturday to override line-item vetoes. The Legislature hasn’t traditionally approved the budget in time for veto overrides before the end of the session, so the new move sets up the last week of the session to be even more hectic than usual.