Second capital outlay bill heads toward House OK

The second capital outlay bill, Senate Bill 471, is quickly moving through the House and may soon be headed to Gov. Bill Richardson.

It has already been approved this evening by the House Taxation and Revenue Committee and Appropriations and Finance Committee. It’s ready to be voted on by the full House any time, and would go to the governor for his signature after that because it has already been approved by the Senate.

The bill is nearly identical to House Bill 43, the original capital outlay bill Richardson vetoed earlier today, with the only major exception being that it does not include a $300,000 appropriation to the Gadsden Independent School District from Sen. Cynthia Nava, D-Las Cruces.

This is an incredible turn of events. The Senate approved SB471 on Friday because of its frustration over House Speaker Ben Lujan’s refusal to move the House capital outlay bill. Then, on Saturday, the Senate’s threat to go home without approving any more House bills forced Lujan to move a capital outlay bill, so the House approved HB43.

That’s the bill that was later approved by the Senate and sent to the governor.

So we began today expecting that Richardson would cave and act on that bill by 6 p.m. today with line-item vetoes, giving the Senate time to attempt to override vetoes, or that he would act on it after 6 p.m. and there would be a court battle.

Instead, it appears that Richardson made that bill nearly irrelevant by vetoing it, and used the Senate’s own bill – SB471 – against the Senate by making a deal with House Democrats to send it to him.

Assuming the House approves SB471, Richardson will have 20 days to act on it, giving him plenty of time to consider who deserves punishment.

The Senate can’t even attempt a veto override on HB43. Because it’s a House bill, such an attempt would have to originate in the House. For the time being, it appears that the tables have been completely turned. The Senate is still in session. The House just adjourned. Considering it’s the last night of the session, this is an unusually early adjournment. The House appears confident.

Richardson has threatened a special session unless the Senate approves his health-care legislation. Assuming the House approves SB471 in the morning, he can start the special session immediately with the threat of capital outlay vetoes as leverage.

A prior version of this posting incorrectly stated that the Senate could initiate a veto override on HB43. It also listed an incorrect bill number at one point in the posting.