The 2007 special session of the Legislature is over.
Now that I’ve sorted through all the confusion that colored its last minutes, here’s what happened:
The Senate did not adjourn Thursday night after approving the feed, road funding and public financing bills. It instead stood in recess.
When the House convened today, it immediately began considering House Bill 7, the approval of which would have required the Senate to act again. It was a bill that would have placed limits on campaign contributions.
Senators suspected something like that might happen, and they weren’t willing to meet again, which is why they didn’t adjourn Thursday. The four senators who stuck around – Democrats John Arthur Smith, Tim Jennings and Ben Altamirano and Republican Stuart Ingle – reconvened the Senate and voted to adjourn sine die while the House was considering the new bill. They then notified the House of their action.
Smith said Speaker of the House Ben Lujan told senators he intended for the House to also adjourn sine die, but not before consideration of the campaign contribution bill. Smith said he believed that was Lujan’s attempt to respond to the news that former Senate President Manny Aragon had been indicted, but said it was “like calling the fire department after the barn has burned.”
It didn’t work. House Democrats were one member short of having a quorum on their own, and Republicans revolted by refusing to take their seats and vote, creating a standoff in the House that eventually ended with the bill dying because there wasn’t a quorum.
After a series of additional standoffs between Republicans and Democrats, the House eventually voted to concur with all three bills approved by the Senate. Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones, R-Albuquerque, said that happened only after Majority Leader Ken Martinez, D-Grants, made a plea for an end to the standoff that included a promise that proved to be false.
Republicans had a problem with the public financing bill, which would extend the state’s public financing system to judicial races only if voters also approved a constitutional amendment that wiped out the retention system. Arnold-Jones said the bill was “a pretty bad piece of legislation” that didn’t address many issues.
She said
Republicans agreed, believing Democrats would vote with them to kill the bill, Arnold-Jones said. The majority of Democrats, including
I couldn’t reach
Regardless, with the House having concurred on all bills acted upon by the Senate, House members then voted to adjourn sine die, ending the session.
In addition to the public financing bill, legislators approved a bill that provides about $108 million for roads around the state, including $10 million for a road to Spaceport America.
Not surprisingly, Gov. Bill Richardson immediately declared the session a success.
“I want to thank legislators for their hard work and for taking the time to continue their work during this special session on behalf of the people of
Many lawmakers with whom I spoke said the session was a complete disaster.
Update, 5:05 p.m.
“The main reason I’m calling a special session is I want a complete ethics package,” he said at the time.
You go, guv. The truth is always flexible.
Update, 6 p.m.
House Minority Whip Dan Foley, R-Roswell, said he was proud of the bipartisan work done during the regular and special sessions. In particular, he said a strong group from the House and Senate brought the session to an end today.
He named Reps. Joseph Cervantes and Mary Helen Garcia of
“If the New Mexico Legislature was filled with people with the character they have, we wouldn’t be last in all the good categories and first in all the bad ones,” Foley said.