{"id":1434,"date":"2007-03-17T11:03:00","date_gmt":"2007-03-17T17:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/03\/liveblogging-the-last-hour-of-2007-legislature\/"},"modified":"2007-03-17T11:03:00","modified_gmt":"2007-03-17T17:03:00","slug":"liveblogging-the-last-hour-of-2007-legislature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/03\/liveblogging-the-last-hour-of-2007-legislature\/","title":{"rendered":"Liveblogging the last hour of 2007 Legislature"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Since the ethics reform proposals and the road funding are bogged down in the Senate, I\u2019m going to do some liveblogging from the Senate for the last hour. Check back frequently as time expires on the 2007 Legislature. <\/p>\n

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

Time is up at noon.<\/p>\n

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

Shortly after it became clear that Sen. Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, was intentionally skipping over ethics bills, he received a phone call and was on the phone for several minutes. Those of us in the media gallery are assuming Gov. Bill Richardson\u2019s people are pushing him to hear the ethics bills.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 11:05 a.m.<\/p>\n

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

Sanchez just announced that the Senate will hear items on the concurrence calendar in a moment. He didn\u2019t say whether that would include the ethics bills that are on the calendar.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cWe\u2019ll see what happens,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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

But he then turned the floor over to a rabbi who is speaking about his experiences with the Legislature. This guy spoke for about 10 minutes on the House floor yesterday. I\u2019m wondering why this had to wait until the last hour of the session.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 11:09 a.m.<\/p>\n

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

So the rabbi only spoke for about two minutes, then received a standing ovation from the Senate. Then Sen. Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, went off on his appreciation of the rabbi. A number of others followed Jennings<\/st1:city><\/st1:place>, including Sen. Leonard Lee Rawson, R-Las Cruces.<\/p>\n

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

Apparently, the rabbi, whose name I haven\u2019t gotten, has been a Senate chaplain. It sounds like he\u2019s retiring.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 11:11 a.m.<\/p>\n

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

Sanchez just announced that the Senate will go to the concurrence calendar and allow the hearing of Senate Bill 931, the gift ban proposal.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 11:15 a.m.<\/p>\n

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

Sen. John Grubesic, D-Santa Fe and the bill\u2019s sponsor, is explaining the bill and that it\u2019s \u201cin line with what the House wanted.\u201d Rawson asked that the Senate pass up the bill for now because senators don\u2019t have copies.<\/p>\n

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

But Grubesic explained the bill, saying it\u2019s \u201ca little tighter\u201d than the bill he originally proposed.<\/p>\n

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

Rawson pushed on his motion, and Lt. Gov. Diane Denish allowed that the bill be passed over.<\/p>\n

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

Sanchez just called for a 15-minute recess so the Democratic caucus can meet in secret. We\u2019re speculating that they\u2019re discussing the ethics bills.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 11:27 a.m.<\/p>\n

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

Democratic senators are returning to the floor.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 11:29 a.m.<\/p>\n

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

Sanchez asked for messages from the House, then got on the telephone again. I called the governor\u2019s office to ask if he is involved in this, and was told I\u2019d be called back. I haven\u2019t received the call yet.<\/p>\n

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

Sanchez just announced that the Senate will now hear Grubesic\u2019s gift ban bill. He also said they will hear Senate Bill 800, sponsored by Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque. It\u2019s the bill that limits campaign contributions.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 11:35 a.m.<\/p>\n

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

Grubesic explained the changes in the bill (read the next posting to learn about that) in response to a question from Rawson. Grubesic pointed out that the bill does not include a prior Senate amendment that would make local government officials subject to the act.<\/p>\n

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

Rawson is asking a number of questions.<\/p>\n

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

It looks like Republicans might run the clock out on the session. At least Sen. Gay Kernan, R-Hobbs, and Sen. Rod Adair, R-Roswell, are lined up to speak. <\/p>\n

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

Tick, tick tick\u2026<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 11:37 a.m.<\/p>\n

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

Rawson is asking similar questions to those he asked earlier this week. He appears to be stalling.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 11:39 a.m.<\/p>\n

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

Sanchez has vanished from the Senate floor.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 11:42 a.m.<\/p>\n

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

At least one representative is on the Senate floor shaking hands and senators are starting to hug. Sen. Mary Jane Garcia, D-Do\u00f1a Ana is congratulating everyone. It looks like the session might be over with only one ethics reform bill being approved.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 11:44 a.m.<\/p>\n

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

Rawson just yielded. Sen. Stuart Ingle, R-Portales, just said he didn\u2019t like the bill much, but said \u201cI think we need to pass something\u201d and made a motion to concur with the House changes to the bill. On a voice vote, the bill has been approved. Repeat: The gift ban has been approved.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 11:47 a.m.<\/p>\n

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

Sen. Diane Snyder, R-Albuquerque, wants to explain her vote and is complaining about the bill\u2019s approval. Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, is also taking the opportunity to complain about the bill.<\/p>\n

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

Tick, tick tick\u2026<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 11:48 a.m.<\/p>\n

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

They\u2019re now on to Feldman\u2019s bill. Sen. Clinton Harden, R-Clovis, is complaining about the House amending out the Senate\u2019s amendments to the bill.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 11:51 a.m.<\/p>\n

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

Harden complained that the House stripped the amendment that would make the bill apply to contributions to political action committees in addition to contributions to candidates. Sen. Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, agreed, as did Sen. Steve Komadina, R-Corrales, saying this and the last bill were poor.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cWe\u2019re doing this so we can say that somebody did ethics reform,\u201d Komadina said.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 11:52 a.m.<\/p>\n

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

Harden complained that the House stripped the amendment that would make the bill apply to contributions to political action committees in addition to contributions to candidates. Sen. Tim Jennings, D-Roswell, agreed, as did Sen. Steve Komadina, R-Corrales, saying this and the last bill were poor.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cWe\u2019re doing this so we can say that somebody did ethics reform,\u201d Komadina said.<\/p>\n

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

On a voice vote, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish ruled that the bill was approved. There was a challenge, and there will be a voice vote.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 11:56 a.m.<\/p>\n

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

The bill died on a vote of 21-20, with Sen. Joe Carraro, R-Albuquerque, changing his vote to \u201cno\u201d at the last minute.<\/p>\n

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

The Senate is just about done. I\u2019ll have more later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since the ethics reform proposals and the road funding are bogged down in the Senate, I\u2019m going to do some liveblogging from the Senate for the last hour. Check back frequently as time expires on the 2007 Legislature. Time is up at noon. Shortly after it became clear that Sen. Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, […]<\/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-1434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1434","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=1434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1434\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}