{"id":1463,"date":"2007-03-24T12:02:00","date_gmt":"2007-03-24T18:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/03\/senate-votes-to-adjourn-again-awaits-house-action\/"},"modified":"2007-03-24T12:02:00","modified_gmt":"2007-03-24T18:02:00","slug":"senate-votes-to-adjourn-again-awaits-house-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/03\/senate-votes-to-adjourn-again-awaits-house-action\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate votes to adjourn again, awaits House action"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The New Mexico Senate voted again today to adjourn sine die in defiance of the governor. <\/p>\n

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

It\u2019s the second time in a week the Senate has voted to end the session and reject Gov. Bill Richardson\u2019s<\/a> call for a special session. The move places the ball back in the House\u2019s court, as that chamber\u2019s membership must now decide whether to adjourn sine die and end the session or force the Senate to meet a third time.<\/p>\n

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

The Senate didn\u2019t approve the feed bill before adjourning today, so House members would be working without per diem, as they did during the first week of the special session, if they continue. If they keep working, the Senate must return by Wednesday, but could vote to adjourn again.<\/p>\n

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

Democratic Sens. John Arthur Smith<\/a> of Deming, Tim Jennings<\/a> of Roswell<\/st1:city> and Linda Lopez<\/a> of Albuquerque<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> voted with the Republican caucus to adjourn sine die. The motion passed on a vote of 18-17, with several senators absent.<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>\u201cWe do not have an imminent emergency in state government for a special session,\u201d Smith told me following the vote.<\/p>\n

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

Richardson has a number of items he wants approved during the special session, including public financing of judicial campaigns, campaign contribution limits, a state ethics commission, a registry for methamphetamine laboratories, tougher penalties for domestic violence, $208 million for road projects and domestic partner benefits.<\/p>\n

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

The House has approved all proposals except the contribution limits bill.<\/p>\n

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

Smith said one of the most contentious issues is the road funding bill. It\u2019s dubbed GRIP II, with the acronym standing for Governor Richardson\u2019s Improvement Plan. The issue is that GRIP I, passed years ago by lawmakers, is some $300 million over budget and unfinished.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI don\u2019t believe until we fund GRIP I we should even move on to GRIP II,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/a>Sen. Leonard Lee Rawson<\/a>, R-Las Cruces, said the House Democratic caucus, which to this point has kept the special session alive by refusing to adjourn, should realize that the Senate has no intention of approving the bills already approved by the House.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cAt a certain point, I think the House has to accept the Senate\u2019s position just out of mutual respect,\u201d Rawson said.<\/p>\n

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

In addition, Rawson noted, there\u2019s a hardship for House members because they aren\u2019t getting per diem.<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThey\u2019ve got members who have to travel from around the state, too,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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

The governor\u2019s office had no immediate comment.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 12:20 p.m.<\/p>\n

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

When the Senate voted Tuesday to adjourn sine die, eight Democrats sided with Republicans. Three of those Democrats did so again today, but four others changed their votes, and one was absent.<\/p>\n

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

Those who changed their votes were Ben Altamirano<\/a> of Silver<\/st1:placename> City<\/st1:placetype>, John Grubesic<\/a> of Santa Fe<\/st1:city>, Bernadette Sanchez<\/a> of Albuquerque<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> and Michael Sanchez<\/a> of Belen.<\/p>\n

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

Democrat Gerald Ortiz y Pino<\/a> of Albuquerque, who voted Tuesday to end the session, was absent for today\u2019s vote.<\/p>\n

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

As for Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place>\u2019s senators \u2013 Rawson voted to end the session; Mary Jane Garcia<\/a>, D-Do\u00f1a Ana, voted against the motion to adjourn; and Cynthia Nava<\/a> and Mary Kay Papen<\/a>, both Las Cruces Democrats, were absent.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 3:15 p.m.<\/p>\n

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

Here\u2019s a statement from Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:City> spokesman Gilbert Gallegos:<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThe governor is very disappointed that the Senate chose to continue to shirk its responsibility to the citizens of New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:State>,\u201d Gallegos said. \u201cWhile we had a tremendous regular session, the fact of the matter is there were critical, time-sensitive issues that remained unaddressed, which is why the governor convened the special session. The House recognized this and did the people\u2019s business. Certainly local governments recognize this. Victims of domestic violence recognize this. Civil rights advocates recognize this. Proponents of ethic reform recognize this. It seems the only people who don\u2019t recognize it are certain members of the Senate who would rather make a political statement than take care of business.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThe governor is not giving up and expects the Senate to address these issues. The House debated the bills, amended them and passed solid legislation,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Senate may have temporarily avoided their work today but they will have to come back. This is not over.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The New Mexico Senate voted again today to adjourn sine die in defiance of the governor. It\u2019s the second time in a week the Senate has voted to end the session and reject Gov. Bill Richardson\u2019s call for a special session. The move places the ball back in the House\u2019s court, as that chamber\u2019s membership […]<\/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-1463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1463","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=1463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1463\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}