{"id":1256,"date":"2007-02-13T15:21:00","date_gmt":"2007-02-13T21:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/02\/richardson-yet-to-receive-requested-legislative-approval-of-priorities-left-over-from-2006-session\/"},"modified":"2007-02-13T15:21:00","modified_gmt":"2007-02-13T21:21:00","slug":"richardson-yet-to-receive-requested-legislative-approval-of-priorities-left-over-from-2006-session","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/02\/richardson-yet-to-receive-requested-legislative-approval-of-priorities-left-over-from-2006-session\/","title":{"rendered":"Richardson yet to receive requested legislative approval of priorities left over from 2006 session"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Almost halfway through the 2007 legislative session, Gov. Bill Richardson said today he is pleased with the progress of his agenda despite the fact that lawmakers haven\u2019t yet endorsed priorities Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> wanted approved by Thursday.<\/a> <\/p>\n

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

In his State of the State address<\/a> last month, Richardson<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> asked for four of his priorities to be approved within 30 days \u2013 by Thursday. They are:<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 Raising the minimum wage.<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 Creating a state Renewable Energy Transmission Authority to focus on the development of alternative energy in New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>.<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>\u2022 Pass GRIP II, which would fund a multitude of road and transportation projects around the state.<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 Pass the governor\u2019s proposed tax cuts.<\/p>\n

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

While speaking to a joint session of the House and Senate this morning, Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> praised lawmakers for working \u201cselflessly\u201d and \u201chard.\u201d He then joked with them.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThirty days have passed. We\u2019ve got 30 to go,\u201d he said with a smile and chuckle. \u201cStart passing my agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

But he wasn\u2019t really kidding with them. In a news conference after the joint session, Richardson said he is pleased that all four items have moved through some committees and, in the case of minimum wage, the Senate, but also said he is \u201cgetting a little impatient, because you get into the last 30 days and there\u2019s all kinds of scrambling, there\u2019s all kinds of tension.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said, however, that his request for approval by Thursday was nothing more than \u201cartificial deadlines you throw out at the beginning of the session.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI\u2019m pleased with the pace of the Legislature on our major initiatives,\u201d Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said. \u201cI want to commend the Legislature. They\u2019ve worked hard. They\u2019re doing a good job.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Early in the session, the Senate passed a bill approving $79 million in capital outlay the governor vetoed last year. Acknowledging the push by the Senate, Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said he must receive something in return. He said that, assuming the bill passes the House, he will sign it \u2013 if his four priorities for the first half of the session are approved \u201csoon.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Pressed for a deadline, Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said, \u201cSend it to me now.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> also spoke about a number of other topics. He announced a compromise on payday lending legislation, which you can read about by clicking here<\/a>. On Minimum wage, he said he hopes the House passes its own version of the Legislation so a conference committee can resolve the differences between the two.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cAt the right time, we\u2019ll try to intervene and bring people together,\u201d Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said. \u201c\u2026 I believe we can work out the differences.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

In addition, Richardson<\/st1:city> spoke about the House\u2019s approval Monday of legislation that would abolish the death penalty in New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>. The Senate killed the House bill in 2005, and Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> opposed it.<\/p>\n

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

Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said today that his position hasn\u2019t changed, but also didn\u2019t close the door on signing the bill.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI don\u2019t change my positions based on what\u2019s good in primary states,\u201d he said, referring to Iowa<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>, which does not have a death penalty. \u201cI have firm convictions.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Still, when asked if he might sign the bill, Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said, \u201cLet\u2019s see what comes up.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Almost halfway through the 2007 legislative session, Gov. Bill Richardson said today he is pleased with the progress of his agenda despite the fact that lawmakers haven\u2019t yet endorsed priorities Richardson wanted approved by Thursday. In his State of the State address last month, Richardson asked for four of his priorities to be approved within […]<\/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-1256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1256","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=1256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1256\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}