The Roundhouse in Santa Fe (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
The House Appropriations and Finance Committee has given a do-pass recommendation to a proposal to create a state “Sunshine Portal,” so the bill needs only approval on the House floor before it heads to the governor for action.
The finance committee sent Senate Bill 195, sponsored by Sander Rue, R-Albuquerque, to the House floor on Monday. The bill would create a publicly accessible database of financial information from government agencies in New Mexico.
The committee did not amend the bill to add in a provision that would have included employees’ names in the database. But Rue said he expects an attempt on the House floor to add that provision back into the bill.
The bill didn’t originally call for the inclusion of employee names in the database, but the Senate added in that provision before unanimously passing the legislation earlier in the session. Over the weekend, the House Judiciary Committee once again removed the provision from the bill.
The bill has not yet appeared on the House calendar, so when it will be brought up for debate isn’t clear.