{"id":177776,"date":"2016-08-18T15:23:05","date_gmt":"2016-08-18T21:23:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=177776"},"modified":"2016-09-29T15:51:19","modified_gmt":"2016-09-29T21:51:19","slug":"governor-will-call-special-session-to-address-states-budget-woes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/08\/governor-will-call-special-session-to-address-states-budget-woes\/","title":{"rendered":"Governor will call special session to address state’s budget woes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gov. Susana Martinez said Thursday she will call the Legislature into\u00a0special session to address the state’s falling revenues and budget shortfall.<\/p>\n

Martinez said her staff “is talking with leaders in the House and Senate in hopes that all parties can be as prepared as possible so the session will be brief,” The Associated Press reported<\/a>. “While the exact timing is uncertain, Martinez said it will likely happen in September.”<\/p>\n

\"Susana

Heath Haussamen \/ NMPolitics.net<\/p>

Gov. Susana Martinez<\/p><\/div>\n

Mike Lonergan, a spokesman for the governor, cautioned that\u00a0there’s still work to do before the governor will call a session.<\/p>\n

“The governor has said that yes, there will be a special session,” Lonergan told NMPolitics.net. “But before calling one, we need to move forward in a cautious, diligent, and responsible way that protects New Mexico\u2019s taxpayers. In the meantime, she and her staff continue to meet and be in regular contact with lawmakers in both chambers.”<\/p>\n

The state\u00a0still has\u00a0to figure out how to make up for money it\u00a0spent last fiscal year\u00a0that it\u00a0didn\u2019t have<\/a>. The current estimate is that the state ended the fiscal year on June 30 about $150 million in the red, though the Legislative Finance Committee is expected to release a new estimate next week, The Associated Press reported.<\/p>\n

This fiscal year\u2019s shortfall is shaping up to be in the range of $300 million to $500 million<\/a>. And the longer-term outlook, a recent legislative presentation states, is\u00a0\u201cgloomy.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

The state’s budget problems are\u00a0largely caused by\u00a0sinking\u00a0oil and gas revenues.<\/p>\n

Martinez has already\u00a0issued a directive<\/a>\u00a0to executive-branch agencies under her control to \u201cimmediately prepare for and begin reducing\u201d general fund spending by \u201cat least\u201d 5 percent. Details on what will be cut haven’t been released. The governor\u00a0also urged legislative, judicial, and executive agencies not under her control to do the same.<\/p>\n

Democrats, in the meantime, have been urging the governor to call a session<\/a>. Some Democrats want to consider tax increases and other revenue generators in addition to budget cuts, but Martinez has said she won’t consider tax hikes.<\/p>\n

Two Republican state lawmakers commented\u00a0on NMPolitics.net’s Facebook page on Thursday in support of the governor calling a special session.<\/p>\n

“I agree we need a special session to get the state finances in order,” wrote<\/a>\u00a0Rep. Andy Nu\u00f1ez, R-Hatch.<\/p>\n

“I’m ready to get to work!” wrote<\/a> Rep. Conrad James, R-Albuquerque.<\/p>\n

While the governor has urged a short, half-day session to approve a deal negotiated largely in secret, the N.M. Foundation for Open Government wants legislators to hold public budget discussions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe impact of the budget decision will be felt all over the state, and the public can\u2019t be shut out of the process,\u201d Gregory P. Williams, president of the foundation’s\u00a0Board of Directors, has said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew Mexicans need to be able to participate, and not just read about the result in the newspaper,” Williams said.<\/p>\n

This breaking news article has been updated to include comments from Lonergan, Nu\u00f1ez and James.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gov. Susana Martinez said the special session will likely be held in September.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":60345,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[3305,196,118,107],"class_list":["post-177776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2016-special-session","tag-budget","tag-economy","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177776","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=177776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}