Gov. Bill Richardson has signed a bill that would restore capital outlay money he vetoed in 2006.
Senate Bill 710, sponsored by Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, provides $82 million for capital outlay projects around the state, including $27 million for Senate projects, $26 million for House projects and $29 million for the governor’s projects.
The bill was controversial because it was an attempt by the Senate to overturn the governor’s veto without actually going through the formal process, making it more like a bargaining chip.
On Thursday, he signed the bill anyway, the Associated Press reported.
Further controversy erupted over the bill a week ago when the Senate threatened that it wouldn’t hear any House legislation until Speaker of the House Ben Lujan began moving the bill through the House. That came after it sat untouched in the House for weeks after the Senate approved it.
Last Friday, it moved through two committees and was approved by the full House, all in one day, but not before lawmakers learned that Lujan had done some shifting of the money appropriated to House members.
Following Lujan’s rearranging, the projects funded by the bill added up to approximately $367,000 per Republican member and $373,000 for each Democratic member of the House.
Republicans cried foul, many Democrats agreed, and a Republican-sought $3 million appropriation to fund National Guard armories around the state was added to the bill to even things out.