{"id":1270,"date":"2007-02-15T20:51:00","date_gmt":"2007-02-16T02:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/02\/senators-wont-allow-open-conference-committees\/"},"modified":"2007-02-15T20:51:00","modified_gmt":"2007-02-16T02:51:00","slug":"senators-wont-allow-open-conference-committees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/02\/senators-wont-allow-open-conference-committees\/","title":{"rendered":"Senators won’t allow open conference committees"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The Senate killed a bill today that would have opened the doors of legislative conference committees, the meetings at which the House and Senate reconcile, in secret, differences between bills passed in both chambers. <\/p>\n

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

With 20 voting against it and 19 voting for it, the Senate voted down the proposal following a lengthy, testy debate. It\u2019s the third time the Senate has shot down the bill in recent years.<\/p>\n

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

\n

The bill was Senate Bill 288<\/a>, sponsored by Dede Feldman<\/a>, D-Albuquerque. With two proposals to open conference committees alive in the House and a one-vote difference among Senators this evening, the proposal isn\u2019t dead in the 2007 Legislature, but it\u2019s on life support.<\/p>\n

\n

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

The issue is important because, in conference committees, major differences between versions of bills are worked out in secret by six lawmakers \u2013 four Democrats and two Republicans \u2013 and, at times, such committees will even add elements to bills that weren\u2019t in either version.<\/p>\n

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The powerful committees often make substantive changes to bills, and there is almost no time for any scrutiny by the public or other lawmakers before the bills move to the governor for consideration and can no longer be amended.<\/p>\n

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

One of the primary arguments of those who opposed opening conference committees was that the public wouldn\u2019t attend the meetings even if they were allowed, and the media would mischaracterize what happened at the meetings and skew public perception, so the Legislature would be better off keeping conference committees closed.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThe press is going to manipulate these committees to serve their needs \u2013 nothing more, nothing less,\u201d said Sen. John Grubesic<\/a>, D-Santa Fe.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThey just want to have something so they can sell more newspapers,\u201d said Sen. Timothy Jennings<\/a>, D-Roswell. \u201cThat\u2019s all they\u2019re interested in.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

But it wasn\u2019t only the media that several lawmakers attacked. Jennings<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> and others complained that opening the secret committees to the public would give Gov. Bill Richardson power over lawmakers because he has retaliated against them in the past, and conference committees places where they can deliberate without fear.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cYou know that\u2019s true,\u201d Jennings<\/st1:city> said in asserting that Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> retaliates against those who cross him. \u201cMaybe no one but me will say it, but by God you know it\u2019s true.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u2018Our business should all be public\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Feldman began the debate by pointing out that 41 states and the U.S. House of Representatives have open conference committees.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cA representative democracy\u2026 is based on an informed public,\u201d Feldman said. \u201cAn informed public has to know what\u2019s going on in its legislature.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Sen. Cynthia Nava<\/a>, D-Las Cruces, agreed.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThis is a bill for the public,\u201d she said. \u201c\u2026 We do the public\u2019s business and I think that our business should all be public.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Sen. Mary Jane Garcia<\/a>, D-Do\u00f1a Ana, once opposed opening conference committees, but has changed her mind, saying open government restores people\u2019s faith in their leaders.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cLet\u2019s face it: The public, our constituents, many of them, have lost interest in the political process. They\u2019ve lost faith in their politicians,\u201d she said. \u201c\u2026 We need to have transparency.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Decisions would be made elsewhere<\/span><\/p>\n

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

But a number of others spoke against the proposal.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI think it\u2019s probably going to drive government deeper into the ground,\u201d Grubesic said.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cDecisions are probably going to end up being made in other rooms, somewhere else,\u201d Jennings<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> said.<\/p>\n

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

Sen. John Arthur Smith<\/a>, D-Deming, agreed with both of them, and complained at length that newspapers, not citizens, were pushing for the opening of conference committees.<\/p>\n

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

Sen. Michael Sanchez<\/a>, D-Belen, said the only person who has ever asked him to open conference committees was a newspaper editor. He said if the Legislature should open conference committees, newspapers should open to the public their editorial board meetings.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cNewspapers, certain newspapers, even though they say they\u2019re not public bodies, they influence public opinion,\u201d Sanchez said, adding that newspapers don\u2019t always report facts. \u201cIf it\u2019s good enough for them to be in our conference committees, I think it\u2019s good enough for us to be able to walk into their board rooms.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Legislature, not newspapers, set policy<\/span><\/p>\n

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

Several who supported opening conference committees countered that newspapers, just like anyone else, can attempt to influence public policy, but it\u2019s the Legislature that sets it.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cWe are the deliberative branch of government. We are the ones that mull these things over,\u201d said Sen. Gerald Ortiz y Pino<\/a>, D-Albuquerque. \u201cThat ought to be done in the light of day. \u2026 I don\u2019t think we have anything to fear from opening the doors to the light of day, to the public, but we have a great deal to fear from doing things in secret.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cIf you can\u2019t stand for principle, then you want your vote secret, it seems to me. If you want secrecy, you create a wall between yourself and your constituents,\u201d said Sen. Cisco McSorley<\/a>, D-Albuquerque. \u201cWhen I stand on principle, I want my constituents to know it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Sen. James Taylor<\/a>, D-Albuquerque, agreed that the Legislature sets policy, but used that to argue against opening conference committees. He said that, with all the Legislature has \u201cgiven\u201d to the governor in the last few years, \u201cthis is one of the last tools that we have to really hammer out the final details at the final hour.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Sen. Rod Adair<\/a>, R-Roswell, said that\u2019s not the case, pointing out that the work of conference committees, which are made up of six legislators, is also kept secret from the rest of the Legislature, at least until it\u2019s effectively too late to change the committee\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThis has been presented as something that is the protection of the legislative branch,\u201d Adair said. \u201c\u2026 But guess what? It\u2019s not just a secret from the people. It\u2019s a secret from the other 106 (out of 112 lawmakers in the Legislature).\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cIt makes you wonder what goes on in there with the few who do know,\u201d Adair said. \u201cPeople have a right to know this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\n

In a prior version of this article, I called the proposal to open conference committees \u201ceffectively dead\u201d this year. With such a close vote in the Senate, I decided that wording was too strong and eliminated it. It also incorrectly stated that Sanchez is from Bernalillo.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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

Those who voted to open conference committees<\/span><\/p>\n

Rod Adair<\/p>\n

Mark Boitano<\/p>\n

Pete Campos<\/p>\n

Joseph Carraro<\/p>\n

Kent<\/st1:place><\/st1:country-region> Cravens<\/p>\n

Dianna Duran<\/p>\n

Dede Feldman<\/p>\n

Mary Jane Garcia<\/p>\n

Carroll Leavell<\/p>\n

Lynda Lovejoy<\/p>\n

Cisco McSorley<\/p>\n

Cynthia Nava<\/p>\n

Gerald Ortiz y Pino<\/p>\n

William Payne<\/p>\n

John Pinto<\/p>\n

John Ryan<\/p>\n

William Sharer<\/p>\n

Diane Snyder<\/p>\n

David Ulibarri<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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

Those who voted against it<\/span><\/p>\n

Ben Altamirano<\/p>\n

Vernon<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> Asbill<\/p>\n

Sue Wilson Beffort<\/p>\n

Carlos Cisneros<\/p>\n

Phil Griego<\/p>\n

John Grubesic<\/p>\n

Clinton<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> Harden<\/p>\n

Stuart Ingle<\/p>\n

Timothy Jennings<\/p>\n

Gay Kernan<\/p>\n

Linda Lopez<\/p>\n

Richard Martinez<\/p>\n

Steven Neville<\/p>\n

Mary Kay Papen<\/p>\n

Lidio Rainaldi<\/p>\n

Nancy Rodriguez<\/p>\n

Bernadette Sanchez<\/p>\n

Michael Sanchez<\/p>\n

John Arthur Smith<\/p>\n

James Taylor<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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

Those who were absent<\/span><\/p>\n

Steve Komadina<\/p>\n

Leonard Lee Rawson<\/p>\n

Shannon Robinson <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Senate killed a bill today that would have opened the doors of legislative conference committees, the meetings at which the House and Senate reconcile, in secret, differences between bills passed in both chambers. With 20 voting against it and 19 voting for it, the Senate voted down the proposal following a lengthy, testy debate. […]<\/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-1270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1270","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=1270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1270\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}