Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, says a proposal to open conference committees and other legislative meetings to the public will be the last item the Senate will hear tonight.
The Senate will hear House Bill 393, sponsored by Rep. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, Sanchez said, rather than Senate Bill 737, sponsored by Sen. Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque. Feldman requested earlier today that Cervantes’ bill be heard instead of hers because Cervantes’ has already passed the House.
Interestingly, it’s Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque and chair of the Senate Rules Committee, who will present Cervantes’ bill tonight, rather than Feldman. That must have been done at the request of Cervantes.
When the conference committee proposal came before the Senate twice in 2007, it was defeated each time by one vote. Lopez missed one of those votes and, the second time, voted against the bill.
Lopez has been accused this year by the governor, activists and some in the media of stonewalling ethics reform. In fact, the proposal to open conference committees languished for most of the session in her committee without being scheduled for a hearing until an unusual procedural move by Feldman forced action on the bill.
The Senate is meeting now. Watch it here and join the New Mexico Independent’s liveblog here.