{"id":1261,"date":"2007-02-14T12:01:00","date_gmt":"2007-02-14T18:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/02\/another-ethics-reform-bill-moves-forward\/"},"modified":"2007-02-14T12:01:00","modified_gmt":"2007-02-14T18:01:00","slug":"another-ethics-reform-bill-moves-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/02\/another-ethics-reform-bill-moves-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"Another ethics reform bill moves forward"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a onblur=\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_IabUCQmoheQ\/RdNOmjSe5YI\/AAAAAAAAA7c\/edgAkmpCIf0\/s1600-h\/Legislature.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;\" src=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/_IabUCQmoheQ\/RdNOmjSe5YI\/AAAAAAAAA7c\/edgAkmpCIf0\/s200\/Legislature.jpg\" alt=\"\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5031451632917734786\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a>The last of the House Democrats\u2019 group of ethics reform bills to get a hearing was given unanimous approval by a committee today.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><a href=\"http:\/\/legis.state.nm.us\/lcs\/_session.asp?year=07&#038;chamber=H&#038;number=823&#038;type=++\" target=\"_blank\">House Bill 823<\/a>, sponsored by Rep. <a href=\"http:\/\/legis.state.nm.us\/lcs\/legdetails.asp?Name=186&amp;Submit=Search\" target=\"_blank\">Joseph Cervantes<\/a>, D-Las Cruces, would make several amendments to the Governmental Conduct Act, which attempts to set ethical standards for public officials. The most significant change in the original version of the bill would make public officials disclose, in cases of contracts and other business with the state, not only their own business but that of spouses, children, parents and siblings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">The bill was also amended by the House Health and Governmental Affairs Committee today to make the act apply to judges, who are currently exempt. The bill now moves to the Judiciary Committee.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><a onblur=\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_IabUCQmoheQ\/RdNOrDSe5ZI\/AAAAAAAAA7k\/9Am6myymssU\/s1600-h\/Cervantes,+Joseph.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;\" src=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_IabUCQmoheQ\/RdNOrDSe5ZI\/AAAAAAAAA7k\/9Am6myymssU\/s200\/Cervantes,+Joseph.jpg\" alt=\"\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5031451710227146130\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a>The amendment comes after the December overturning by the New Mexico Supreme Court of the 2003 rape and bribery conviction of a former Espa\u00f1ola judge. He was convicted under the bribery statute in the Governmental Conduct Act, which currently exempts judges.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Cervantes, when questioned by committee members about why the original version of the bill didn\u2019t include the amendment related to judges, said he is \u201cvery receptive to including judges.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\u201cIn all honesty, Madame chair, I didn\u2019t want to be, as an attorney who practices before these judges, the one to do that,\u201d Cervantes told Rep. <a href=\"http:\/\/legis.state.nm.us\/lcs\/legdetails.asp?Name=229&amp;Submit=Search\" target=\"_blank\">Mimi Stewart<\/a>, D-Albuquerque and the committee\u2019s chair.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">He chuckled as he said it. Stewart then proposed the amendment, noting that the bill was moving next to judiciary, and most of that committee\u2019s members are attorneys.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\u201cMaybe we should amend it here so all those attorneys aren\u2019t nervous Nellies,\u201d Stewart said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">The bill has the support of the governor. A representative of Attorney General Gary King also spoke in support of it at the hearing. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The last of the House Democrats\u2019 group of ethics reform bills to get a hearing was given unanimous approval by a committee today. House Bill 823, sponsored by Rep. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, would make several amendments to the Governmental Conduct Act, which attempts to set ethical standards for public officials. The most significant change [&hellip;]<\/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-1261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1261","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=1261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1261\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}