{"id":1428,"date":"2007-03-17T01:09:00","date_gmt":"2007-03-17T07:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/03\/committee-approves-housing-overhaul-compromise\/"},"modified":"2007-03-17T01:09:00","modified_gmt":"2007-03-17T07:09:00","slug":"committee-approves-housing-overhaul-compromise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/03\/committee-approves-housing-overhaul-compromise\/","title":{"rendered":"Committee approves housing overhaul compromise"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A new version of a bill that would reform the state\u2019s affordable housing system was approved unanimously this morning by members of the House Business and Industry Committee, and now appears to be on the fast track through the House. <\/p>\n

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

A bipartisan group of lawmakers and the lieutenant governor are hailing the new bill as a great compromise that will provide necessary oversight of the regional housing authorities. Many said it was a stronger bill than the original version.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI\u2019m really pleased, because this shows great bipartisan cooperation in the Legislature and between the House and Senate,\u201d Sen. Mary Kay Papen<\/a>, D-Las Cruces and the sponsor of Senate Bill 519<\/a>, said in an interview.<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>The new version of the bill would keep the regional housing authorities in existence, but put in place extensive oversight: Bonding and eminent domain authority would belong to the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority<\/a>, not the housing authorities; the Department of Finance and Administration and state treasurer would have roles in administering finances; and the authorities would be required to submit quarterly audits \u2013 most agencies have to submit them annually \u2013 to the DFA.<\/p>\n

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

The bill would also appropriate $200,000 to the state auditor to fund audits of the seven regional housing authorities to determine the extent of mismanagement that led to the system crumbling in scandal last year. That work must be complete by Dec. 1.<\/p>\n

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

The compromise leaves the housing authorities in place, which many Democratic members of the Business and Industry Committee wanted, but implements oversight that is lacking in the current system. It also strips them of much of their power.<\/p>\n

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

Board members will have to be reappointed by the governor by Sept. 1, or they lose their positions. A group of non-profits that exist under the authorities will be stripped of all power if they don\u2019t obtain an OK from the state Board of Finance by Sept. 1.<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>Lt. Gov. Diane Denish<\/a> applauded the new bill in a news release.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cFrom the beginning, I have insisted on major reform to include the kind of oversight and accountability that taxpayers demand from their state government,\u201d she said. \u201cThe main problem with some of the authorities was the complete lack of oversight and accountability. The result has been scandal, grave misuse of taxpayer dollars and bond defaults.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

House Republicans joined Papen and Denish in keeping the bill alive this week after the committee tabled it. Minority Whip Dan Foley<\/a>, R-Roswell, thanked his caucus for \u201csticking to their guns,\u201d but said their push would have fallen on deaf ears without help from a number of House Democrats, Papen and Denish.<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>\u201cI think it\u2019s a great compromise,\u201d Foley said in an interview. \u201cThis is what can happen when people work together.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

The bill now heads to the House Appropriations and Finance Committee, which is expected to meet this morning, and will then head to the House floor.<\/p>\n

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

Foley said the bill should pass the House without problem. It then goes to the Senate for concurrence, and Papen said she\u2019s hopeful it will be approved there.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI\u2019m hopeful it will be,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m very confident that it will be.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

A bipartisan compromise<\/span><\/p>\n

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

The new bill is the result of the work of a committee that met throughout Friday to find a compromise. It included a number of Democrats and Minority Leader Tom Taylor<\/a>, R-Farmington.<\/p>\n

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

The House Democrats were Joseph Cervantes<\/a> of Las Cruces, Al Park<\/a> of Albuquerque, Lucky Varela<\/a> of Santa Fe, Debbie Rodella<\/a> of Ohkay Owingeh, George Hanosh<\/a> of Gallup and Jose Campos<\/a> of Santa Rosa. Papen and Foley said all members genuinely worked toward the compromise. They singled out Rodella as one who worked to find a solution.<\/p>\n

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

That\u2019s significant because Gov. Bill Richardson<\/a> accused her this week of stalling the bill.<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>At this morning\u2019s committee meeting, Rodella thanked Papen \u201cfor her patience\u201d and Speaker of the House Ben Lujan<\/a> for creating the committee \u201cto iron out the issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cWe had some questions. We had some points of concern. I think we made a lot of progress as we met throughout the day (on Friday),\u201d Rodella said.<\/p>\n

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

In her interview, Papen singled out Denish as the person \u201cwho really took the lead on this and made it happen,\u201d and said the effort represented \u201cgreat teamwork.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

In the news release, Denish agreed.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThis compromise was hard-fought, and legislators on both sides of the issue ultimately put politics aside in favor of doing the right thing in a true bipartisan effort to ensure accountability and oversight. I don\u2019t think either side is entirely ecstatic, but that\u2019s the mark of a good bill,\u201d Denish said. \u201cI\u2019m pleased that the regional housing authorities will finally be under the kind of scrutiny that builds consumer and taxpayer confidence, and that will enable them to provide more affordable housing across New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Lujan attended this morning\u2019s committee hearing on the bill. He told me the compromise is \u201cdemocracy at work.\u201d He and Papen agreed that the bill is stronger than the original proposal.<\/p>\n

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

Lujan applauded passage of the bill.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cSenator Papen, thank you for addressing this issue,\u201d Lujan said. \u201c\u2026 We can now go back to our communities and hopefully be able to provide some affordable housing. \u2026 I congratulate you for all the hard work you\u2019ve done here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new version of a bill that would reform the state\u2019s affordable housing system was approved unanimously this morning by members of the House Business and Industry Committee, and now appears to be on the fast track through the House. A bipartisan group of lawmakers and the lieutenant governor are hailing the new bill as […]<\/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-1428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1428","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=1428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1428\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}