{"id":1327,"date":"2007-02-28T14:46:00","date_gmt":"2007-02-28T20:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/02\/group-decries-democrat-sponsored-industry-bill\/"},"modified":"2007-02-28T14:46:00","modified_gmt":"2007-02-28T20:46:00","slug":"group-decries-democrat-sponsored-industry-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/02\/group-decries-democrat-sponsored-industry-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Group decries Democrat-sponsored industry bill"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>An activist group whose aim is to get young people involved in politics is attacking a bill working its way through the House as a proposal that would benefit only \u201cthe corporations and the sleazebag lobbyists, whose single goal is to consolidate wealth and power for their rich friends.\u201d <\/p>\n

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

House Bill 685<\/a>, sponsored by Rep. Dan Silva<\/a>, D-Albuquerque, is a lengthy bill titled the Administrative Accountability Act. The bill would create uniform requirements for rulemaking, adjudication and inspection performed by state agencies, according to the fiscal impact report, but it\u2019s a few of the particulars that have the League of Young Voters<\/a> upset.<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 The bill would require agencies to divulge names of people who report violations by companies the agencies regulate, unless prohibited by law. That, according to the bill\u2019s fiscal impact report, \u201ccould have a deleterious affect on the health, safety and welfare of New Mexicans since potential whistleblowers may be deterred from coming forward because of fear of retaliation. This type of provision is not found in other state, federal or model administrative procedure acts.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 It would limit agencies\u2019 ability to make rules and charge fees to only those areas where the Legislature has specifically granted such authority, which, according to the fiscal impact report, \u201ccould greatly reduce an agency\u2019s ability to act\u201d because some agencies have been given \u201cvery specific rulemaking\u201d while others have been given only general authority. For example, the bill could give a company grounds to challenge every rule of the Energy and Natural Resources Department, which regulates the oil and gas industry.<\/p>\n

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

\u2022 It would require agencies to follow specific requirements while conducting inspections that, according to the fiscal impact report, \u201ccould limit the ability of agencies to conduct effective inspections to protect the health, safety and welfare of New Mexicans.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

The bill is largely modeled after legislation drafted by the American Legislative Exchange Council<\/a>, a controversial group that aims to affect policy on the state legislative level. Many watchdog groups say the council is nothing more than a front for Corporate America. <\/p>\n

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

Common Cause<\/a> in Washington calls it \u201cone of the best-funded and most prolific industry front groups\u201d and says it uses \u201cshady tactics\u201d to advance special-interest legislation.<\/p>\n

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

The bill has been pushed in New Mexico<\/st1:state><\/st1:place> by lobbyist T.J. Trujillo<\/a>, who works for BP America, Diary Producers of New Mexico, Dell, Occidental Petroleum Corp., OXY USA, and Phelps Dodge Mining Company.<\/p>\n

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

The ties to the controversial council have the League of Young Voters upset. The group is running radio ads<\/a> in the Albuquerque<\/st1:city> and Santa Fe<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> area this week questioning Silva\u2019s motives.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cSilva\u2019s bill makes it OK for corporations to endanger employees, pollute our air and water and ignore health standards in New Mexico,\u201d the radio ad states.<\/p>\n

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

Silva has not returned a message I left Monday at his office.<\/p>\n

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

Several state agencies complained about the bill, and their comments are included in the fiscal impact report. For example, the Environment Department said its role in pollution prevention would be \u201cseverely undermined and protection of human health and the environment put at risk\u201d because of the additional responsibilities required by the bill, unless additional staffers are also added to the budget.<\/p>\n

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

The bill would also limit the department\u2019s \u201cability to meet legislatively mandated performance and accountability measures to prevent pollution, and (to) conduct compliance and enforcement actions,\u201d the report states.<\/p>\n

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

The League of Young Voters\u2019 goals this session, according to its Web site<\/a>, are to enact ethics reform proposals and defeat the Administrative Accountability Act.<\/p>\n

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

With the act, \u201cALEC is trying to deregulate New Mexico\u2019s environmental laws, making it easier for big business to sidestep the checks and balances system,\u201d the league\u2019s Web site states, adding that the bill \u201cwill not only devastate the state\u2019s ability to regulate environmental standards, but also makes it extremely hard for whistleblowers to step forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

The bill was approved earlier this month on a vote of 10-0 by the House Business and Industry Committee. It now goes to the Taxation and Revenue Committee before it can be considered by the full House.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An activist group whose aim is to get young people involved in politics is attacking a bill working its way through the House as a proposal that would benefit only \u201cthe corporations and the sleazebag lobbyists, whose single goal is to consolidate wealth and power for their rich friends.\u201d House Bill 685, sponsored by Rep. […]<\/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-1327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1327","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=1327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1327\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}