Session ends with meltdown; capital outlay bill dies

The Roundhouse in Santa Fe (Photo by Heath Haussamen)

Two behind-the-scenes battles exploded in public view and consumed the final hour of the 2011 legislative session today, causing the $240 million capital outlay bill to die as time expired.

A bill that would have ended so-called “social promotion” in schools died as well. But instead of going quietly, both bills went down in flames.

In the House, Rep. Patricia Lundstrom, D-Gallup, prolonged debate on the capital outlay bill in the session’s final hour with a lengthy series of questions. Meanwhile, there were intense, behind-the-scenes negotiations between House and Senate members over which projects would be funded.

In the Senate, Republicans John Ryan of Albuquerque and Rod Adair of Roswell hijacked a bill that would have amended the Fraud Against Taxpayer’s Act, talking about topics ranging from the various St. Piuses to the sounds Ryan made while he spoke because his mouth was dry.

Their filibuster was an attempt to force Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, to hear the social promotion bill, which was being pushed heavily by Gov. Susana Martinez. Sanchez didn’t back down, and after being on the Senate calendar for days, the bill died without a floor hearing.

As the delays played out in the House and Senate, other lawmakers watched the death of bills they were hoping to pass.

The Senate filibuster

Sen. John Ryan during today’s filibuster. (Screenshot taken from official Senate webcasting stream)

Ryan and Adair began their filibuster in the Senate began as soon as the House started debate on the capital outlay bill. The filibuster came with a behind-the-scenes threat that they would not leave time for the capital outlay bill to be heard in the Senate unless Sanchez agreed to also call up the social promotion bill for debate.

House Bill 21, sponsored by Mary Helen Garcia, D-Las Cruces, would have required that students read at grade level before being passed on to the fourth grade. It was a key part of Martinez’s education reform plan. Earlier in the session it passed the House on a vote of 62-5.

The reason for the Senate filibuster became clear when the Senate GOP caucus sent out a news release complaining about the apparent death of Garcia’s bill.

“In essence, one person and only one has stopped the legislative process for a very good bill,” Sen. Vernon Asbill, R-Carlsbad, said in the release. It was a pointed shot at Sanchez.

The fact that the news release included a quote from Asbill may have been indicative of Martinez’s involvement in the last-minute wrangling. In the final weeks of the session, Asbill was one of Martinez’s go-to lawmakers in the Senate.

During the filibuster, Adair and Ryan took some pointed shots as well. Adair said if a certain bill that he didn’t directly name became law, “someone who can read by the time they’re finishing the third grade and then subsequently improve their reading” would recognize “good procedure from bad procedure, listening to the voters and not listening to the voters.”

Sanchez, who, as I highlighted earlier this week, controls the Senate calendar, didn’t budge. But in a speech at the end of the session, he said he “really enjoyed Laurel and Hardy. I appreciated that.”

The capital outlay fight

Meanwhile, the battle between the House and Senate over capital outlay ended in a stalemate. The Senate had waited until late in the session to send the bill to the House, and representatives were infuriated that no money was left for them to appropriate.

Friday, the House Taxation and Revenue Committee added two projects to the bill – $1 million for the health science education building at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, and $184,000 to chip seal Superman Canyon Road in McKinley County, which is located in the district of Rep. Sandra Jeff, D-Crownpoint. The House Appropriations and Finance Committee later added more changes.

The Senate wanted the House to recede from its amendments and send the Senate version of the bill to the governor. The House instead kicked the bill back to the Senate.

Martinez’s threat to kill the capital outlay bill if she didn’t get the social promotion legislation came true. Ryan and Adair gave up their filibuster moments before the end of the session. Sanchez then called up the capital outlay bill for a vote, but it became clear there wasn’t time to resolve the dispute between the two legislative chambers.

Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, complained about the House changes. Sen. Lynda Lovejoy, D-Crownpoint, explained that the House had added “pet projects for certain House legislators.”

Referring to the smaller amount of capital outlay money available this year, Lovejoy said, “We all know that we could not put any personal, pet projects in this bill.”

With only a couple of minutes left in the session, Sanchez withdrew the capital outlay bill from consideration and went on to other legislation. The $240 million bill included funding for all sorts of projects including water rights settlements, buildings at colleges and universities and state highway improvements.

Other projects included $1.9 million to upgrade security equipment at district and magistrate courts and to furnish a courthouse in Taos, $1.4 million for a water and wastewater system in Roswell, and $4.3 million for the state to purchase school buses.

What happens to those projects isn’t clear. It’s possible the governor will put the capital outlay bill on the call for the special session that will be held later this year for redistricting.