{"id":1343,"date":"2007-03-04T17:55:00","date_gmt":"2007-03-04T23:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/03\/committee-tables-housing-authority-overhaul-bill-after-lujan-privately-speaks-to-members-during-hearing\/"},"modified":"2007-03-04T17:55:00","modified_gmt":"2007-03-04T23:55:00","slug":"committee-tables-housing-authority-overhaul-bill-after-lujan-privately-speaks-to-members-during-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/03\/committee-tables-housing-authority-overhaul-bill-after-lujan-privately-speaks-to-members-during-hearing\/","title":{"rendered":"Committee tables housing authority overhaul bill after Lujan privately speaks to members during hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A bill that would remake the state\u2019s troubled affordable housing system was tabled by a House committee today, but a second bill that\u2019s already been approved by the Senate remains alive. <\/p>\n

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

House Bill 997<\/a>, sponsored by Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones<\/a>, R-Albuquerque, was tabled by the House Business and Industry Committee on a vote of 6-5 this afternoon. Six Democrats voted to table. Four Republicans and Rep. Dona Irwin<\/a>, D-Deming, voted against the motion.<\/p>\n

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

The bill\u2019s demise came after Speaker of the House Ben Lujan<\/a>, D-Namb\u00e9, entered the committee room during the hearing and spoke privately with the committee\u2019s chair, Rep. Debbie Rodella<\/a>, D-Ohkay Owingeh, and freshman Rep. Thomas Garcia<\/a>, D-Ocate, sources tell me.<\/p>\n

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

Garcia then made the motion to table the bill, which had previously been approved unanimously by members of the House Health and Governmental Affairs Committee.<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>Rodella and Garcia could not be reached for comment. Lujan doesn\u2019t return my calls.<\/p>\n

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

The bill is a companion to Senate Bill 519<\/a>, sponsored by Sen. Mary Kay Papen<\/a>, D-Las Cruces, which passed the Senate several weeks ago on a 36-1 vote. Her bill has also been approved by the House Health and Governmental Affairs Committee, and is awaiting a hearing in the House Judiciary Committee.<\/p>\n

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

Papen and Arnold-Jones decried the tabling of the Arnold-Jones bill.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI\u2019m terribly disappointed,\u201d Papen said, adding she was hoping that both bills would proceed through the House together.<\/p>\n

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

The proposal, which has the endorsement of the governor, would, over a period of several months, shut down the state\u2019s scandal-plagued regional housing authorities and replace them with a system overseen by the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority.<\/p>\n

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

It would also provide for audits of each of the seven housing authority regions to determine the extent of the mismanagement first revealed last year when Frances Williams, a member of the Las Cruces-based Region VII board, complained about problems. Several weeks after she went public, the Region III authority, based in Albuquerque<\/st1:city><\/st1:place>, defaulted on $5 million in bonds it owed to the state.<\/p>\n

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

The housing authority scandal has been a hot potato in the Legislature because of the relationship between Lujan and former Region III Housing Authority Director Vincent \u201cSmiley\u201d Gallegos. Gallegos is a former legislator and current lobbyist who, in past sessions, has spent a lot of time in the speaker\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

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

Among the scandals that have plagued the housing authority was the disclosure late last year that a top aide to Lujan, who may not qualify for low-income housing, had been living rent-free in a home owned by the Region III authority. After the situation was revealed by the Albuquerque Journal<\/a>, the aide paid back rent. She continues to live in the home.<\/p>\n

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

Lujan has repeatedly said he didn\u2019t know about the situation until a reporter told him about it.<\/p>\n

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

Lujan\u2019s actions at today\u2019s committee hearing didn\u2019t surprise some of those I spoke with, who believe he is attempting to kill the proposal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A bill that would remake the state\u2019s troubled affordable housing system was tabled by a House committee today, but a second bill that\u2019s already been approved by the Senate remains alive. House Bill 997, sponsored by Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones, R-Albuquerque, was tabled by the House Business and Industry Committee on a vote of 6-5 this […]<\/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-1343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1343","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=1343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1343\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}