{"id":1157,"date":"2007-01-25T16:12:00","date_gmt":"2007-01-25T22:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/01\/local-legislators-tackle-interesting-topics\/"},"modified":"2007-01-25T16:12:00","modified_gmt":"2007-01-25T22:12:00","slug":"local-legislators-tackle-interesting-topics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/01\/local-legislators-tackle-interesting-topics\/","title":{"rendered":"Local legislators tackle interesting topics"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I\u2019ve written about several already, but here is a rundown of some other interesting proposals made by Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place>\u2019s lawmakers in the 2007 legislative session: <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Outlawing cell phones while driving<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Rep. Antonio Lujan<\/a>, D-Las Cruces, has introduced House Bill 241<\/a>, which would outlaw talking on a cell phone while driving in New Mexico<\/st1:state><\/st1:place>. Talking on a cell phone while driving is illegal in the Santa Fe<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> city limits, but the city has an exemption for hands-free devices. Lujan\u2019s proposal does not include an exemption for the use of hands-free devices. The penalty would be a $30 fine.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Same-day voter registration<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Rep. Joseph Cervantes<\/a>, D-Las Cruces, has introduced House Bill 394<\/a>, which would allow same-day registration and voting in primary and general elections in New Mexico<\/st1:state><\/st1:place>. The bill would allow people to register on Election Day at polling places located in the county in which they reside.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Female veterans\u2019 license plates<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Rep. Jeff Steinborn<\/a>, D-Las Cruces, has introduced House Bill 365<\/a>, which would create a special state license plate for female armed forces veterans. The plate would cost $7 for female veterans of the armed forces, and would contain the words \u201cWomen Veterans Serve Proudly.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Additional oversight of superintendents<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Rep. Mary Helen Garcia<\/a>, D-Las Cruces, has introduced House Bill 485<\/a>, which would grant local school boards more oversight of superintendents. The bill would stipulate that school boards must approve administrative action proposed by superintendents in districts with a population of greater than 10,000 students. The bill would also allow local boards in districts with more than 10,000 students to suspend superintendents and take over administration. School board members from around the state have complained since a law enacted several years ago prohibited them from interfering in the administration of their districts.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Suspension of school board members<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Sen. Cynthia Nava<\/a>, D-Las Cruces, has introduced Senate Bill 207<\/a>, which would allow the state secretary of education to suspend local school board members for \u201cmalfeasance, misfeasance, neglect of duty or violation of the oath of office.\u201d The secretary already has authority to suspend an entire board, a superintendent or a principal in certain situations, so this bill would expand slightly on that authority. School board members in the Las Cruces<\/st1:city> and Gadsden<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> districts have been recalled in recent years following allegations of malfeasance.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Restricting eminent domain<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Sen. Leonard \u201cLee\u201d Rawson<\/a>, R-Las Cruces, has introduced Senate Joint Resolution 3<\/a>, which would propose a constitutional amendment to voters that would outlaw the use of eminent domain in New Mexico for the purpose of economic development or the benefit of private commercial interests, even \u201con grounds that the public will benefit from a more profitable private use.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Requiring formal withdrawal letters<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Sen. Dianna Duran<\/a>, R-Tularosa, has introduced Senate Bill 342<\/a>, which would require candidates who desire to withdraw from races to file signed, notarized letters with the secretary of state. This has been a hot topic since the secretary of state accepted last year a statement to the press, submitted by the governor\u2019s office, as a formal withdrawal by Jeff Armijo, who had been the Democratic Party\u2019s nominee for state auditor. Before that, the secretary of state had required signed, notarized letters, but nothing in law requires it. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve written about several already, but here is a rundown of some other interesting proposals made by Do\u00f1a Ana County\u2019s lawmakers in the 2007 legislative session: Outlawing cell phones while driving Rep. Antonio Lujan, D-Las Cruces, has introduced House Bill 241, which would outlaw talking on a cell phone while driving in New Mexico. Talking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1157\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}