A government watchdog is upset about a Senate committee head’s decision to delay hearings on two ethics reform bills earlier today.
Senate Bill 931, which would place limits on gifts to public officials, has been on the Senate Rules Committee calendar for more than a week. Senate Bill 800, which would place limits on campaign contributions, has been on the calendar for at least four days.
They’re both sponsored by members of the committee, and yet Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque and the committee’s chair, passed them up again today in favor of hearing other bills, said Matt Brix, Common Cause New Mexico executive director. At the end of the hearing, a quorum of members were willing to stay to hear the ethics bills, Brix said, but Lopez would not allow it.
“There were people on the committee who were distressed. There were people in the gallery who were distressed, but the chair would not budge,” Brix said of today’s hearing. “The chair opted to push them back yet another day.”
The bills are two of seven that make up an ethics reform package that has been introduced in the Senate. Thus far only one, Senate Bill 799, which would provide for an expansion of public financing of elections to include statewide and judicial races, has been approved by any committee. That bill, sponsored by Sen. Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque, was approved by the Rules Committee on a vote of 4-2 on Feb. 19. It is now awaiting a hearing before the Finance Committee before it can move to the Senate floor.
The House, by contrast, has approved five of the seven bills. Of the other two, one is currently awaiting a vote of the full House, and the other has one more committee hurdle before it can be voted on by the House.
Brix said the bills Lopez is delaying are “some of the least controversial issues” among the reform proposals. The House version of the gift ban proposal was approved unanimously, and the contribution limit bill had the support of 12 Republicans in addition to the Democratic caucus.
“Why do they have to continue to languish on the Senate Rules calendar?” Brix asked. “These are fundamental ethics reform proposals. This is not rocket science.”
The gift ban bill is sponsored in the Senate by John Grubesic, D-Santa Fe and a member of the committee. The contribution limit bill is sponsored by Feldman, another committee member.
Brix said this morning’s committee meeting lasted until the start of today’s Senate floor session, but five members – a quorum of the committee – were willing to stay and hear the ethics bills. Lopez didn’t allow it.
Lopez could not be reached for comment.
“There are a lot of things on the calendar, but these are important issues,” Brix said. “I personally find it distressing that these bills have yet to be heard in the committee.”