Another bill in the House Democrats’ package of proposed ethics reforms was approved by a committee this morning.
House Joint Resolution 6, sponsored by Majority Leader Ken Martinez, D-Grants, would propose a constitutional amendment to voters that would allow an annual disbursement for lawmakers equal to 15 percent of the salary of New Mexico Supreme Court justices, to be spent only on expenses directly related to their duties. With only Rep. Eric Youngberg, R-Albuquerque dissenting, the committee voted to send the bill to the House floor.
The bill is a companion to Martinez’s House Bill 820, which would prohibit lawmakers from spending campaign funds except, for the most part, on politically related activities, and would authorize the disbursements to lawmakers. That bill is one of five in the House Democrats’ ethics package that have been approved by the House.
Of the seven bills in the package, only House Bill 822, sponsored by Rep. Mary Helen Garcia, D-Las Cruces, is stalled.
The bill would create a state ethics commission that has the authority to subpoena and investigate complaints against state officials, lobbyists and contractors, and would fund it in fiscal year 2008 with $500,000. The bill was approved by the Judiciary Committee at the beginning of February, but has not been touched by the Appropriations and Finance Committee, where it must gain approval before heading to the House floor.
Garcia said the bill is stalled because the funding was not included in House Bill 2, the budget bill that was approved last month. She said that situation is in the process of being remedied.