{"id":194197,"date":"2016-10-05T23:14:45","date_gmt":"2016-10-06T05:14:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=194197"},"modified":"2016-10-06T05:57:02","modified_gmt":"2016-10-06T11:57:02","slug":"house-oks-amended-version-of-senate-bill-to-cut-state-agencies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/10\/house-oks-amended-version-of-senate-bill-to-cut-state-agencies\/","title":{"rendered":"House OKs amended version of Senate bill to cut state agencies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t<div id=\"slides-194197-f42c8f0f3127938f49aff9951f2db865\" class=\"navis-slideshow\"><div id=\"194197-f42c8f0f3127938f49aff9951f2db865-slide1\"><img data-lazy=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/Roch-Dennis.jpg\" \/><h6 class=\"credit\">Luis S\u00e1nchez Saturno \/ The Santa Fe New Mexican<\/h6><h6 class=\"permalink\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/10\/house-oks-amended-version-of-senate-bill-to-cut-state-agencies\/#194197-f42c8f0f3127938f49aff9951f2db865\/1\" class=\"slide-permalink\"><i class=\"icon-link\"><\/i> permalink<\/a><\/h6><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">State Rep. Dennis J. Roch, R-Logan, introduces an amendment to Senate Bill 9 on the House floor Wednesday.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"194197-f42c8f0f3127938f49aff9951f2db865-slide2\"><img data-lazy=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/McCamley-Bill-1.jpg\" \/><h6 class=\"credit\">Luis S\u00e1nchez Saturno \/ The Santa Fe New Mexican<\/h6><h6 class=\"permalink\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/10\/house-oks-amended-version-of-senate-bill-to-cut-state-agencies\/#194197-f42c8f0f3127938f49aff9951f2db865\/2\" class=\"slide-permalink\"><i class=\"icon-link\"><\/i> permalink<\/a><\/h6><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">State Rep. Bill McCamley, D-Las Cruces, speaks in opposition to an amendment to Senate Bill 9 on the House floor Wednesday.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<p>After a lengthy debate, the state House of Representatives voted late <span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_1442028617\"><span class=\"aQJ\">Wednesday<\/span><\/span>\u00a0to approve a series of budget cuts proposed by Republicans to balance the state budget, but the spending plan still needs approval from the Senate, which is scheduled to reconvene\u00a0<span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_1442028618\"><span class=\"aQJ\">on Thursday<\/span><\/span>.<u><\/u><u><\/u><\/p>\n<p>The House voted 36-32 to approve\u00a0an amended version of <a href=\"https:\/\/nmlegis.gov\/Legislation\/Legislation?chamber=S&amp;legType=B&amp;legNo=9&amp;year=16s\" target=\"_blank\">Senate Bill 9<\/a> to cut higher education spending and went beyond the Senate\u2019s proposed budget cuts for the Department of Health and Department of Cultural Affairs.<u><\/u><u><\/u><\/p>\n<p>The clash <span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_1442028619\"><span class=\"aQJ\">Wednesday<\/span><\/span> night pointed to an ideological impasse. Throughout the special session of the New Mexico Legislature that began <span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_1442028620\"><span class=\"aQJ\">Friday<\/span><\/span>, Democrats have refused to back any plan that does not include boosting revenue. However, House Republicans have kept to a party line that rejects any changes in tax policy.<u><\/u><u><\/u><\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article comes from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.santafenewmexican.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Santa Fe New Mexican<\/a>. NMPolitics.net is paying for the rights to publish articles about the 2016 special legislative session from the newspaper. Help us cover the cost by\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/donate\/\" target=\"_blank\">making a donation to NMPolitics.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Republicans offered their proposal as an amendment to a bill passed by the Senate on the session\u2019s first day.<u><\/u><u><\/u><\/p>\n<p>House Republican leaders characterized their plan as including only minor changes, such as exempting the Department of Public Safety as well as the Children, Youth and Families Department from the budget ax.<u><\/u><u><\/u><\/p>\n<p>But the compromise, some legislators in both parties said, will not be enough to address the state\u2019s financial shortfall. Lawmakers might face the prospect of having to cut even further later in the budget year, which ends in June 2017.<u><\/u><u><\/u><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re going to be having this same conversation in January because I don\u2019t think we\u2019re done,\u201d Rep. Antonio \u201cMoe\u201d Maestas, D-Albuquerque,\u00a0\u00a0told the House.<u><\/u><u><\/u><\/p>\n<p>The budget cuts <a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/10\/senate-passes-bills-to-address-budget-shortfall-then-goes-home\/\" target=\"_blank\">passed by the Senate<\/a> called for slashing higher education funding by 5 percent. House Republicans said <span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_1442028621\"><span class=\"aQJ\">on Monday<\/span><\/span> they would seek to cut even deeper into the budgets of the state\u2019s universities, reducing spending by 6 percent at all institutions of higher education except for the University of New Mexico, which would be cut 8 percent. However, Democrats in both the House and Senate balked at the plan. And when the House convened <span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_1442028622\"><span class=\"aQJ\">Wednesday<\/span><\/span>, Republicans appeared to step back slightly from their proposal by calling for a cut of 5.5 percent to higher education funding, including to\u00a0UNM.<br \/>\n<u><\/u><u><\/u><\/p>\n<p>The half-percent proved a point of contention <span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_1442028623\"><span class=\"aQJ\">Wednesday<\/span><\/span>, however, and Republicans eventually returned to the Senate\u2019s original proposal.<!--more--><u><\/u><u><\/u><\/p>\n<p>\u201cGridlock cannot prevail here because if it does, government shuts down,\u201d said House Majority Leader Nate Gentry,\u00a0\u00a0R-Albuquerque.<u><\/u><u><\/u><\/p>\n<p>But if Republicans were offering a compromise, many Democrats did not see it that way.<u><\/u><u><\/u><\/p>\n<p>The House Republican amendment ultimately did not cut as deeply as an outline offered by the party\u2019s leaders <span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_1442028624\"><span class=\"aQJ\">on Monday<\/span><\/span> and dialed down cuts to public elementary and high schools. And the House Republican plan exempts the Children, Youth and Families Department as well as the Department of Public Safety. The Senate voted to cut funding for both agencies by $1.5 million and $1.8 million, respectively. The House dialed down cuts to public education, too.<u><\/u><u><\/u><\/p>\n<p>The series of budget cuts passed by the House, however, cuts deeper into funding for the Department of Health and Department of Cultural Affairs.<u><\/u><u><\/u><\/p>\n<p>Democrats railed against the proposed cuts to the Department of Health. While the Senate plan would slash by $2.1 million, the House plan would cut an additional $2.6 million.<u><\/u><u><\/u><\/p>\n<p>The Senate passed a measure to hold off on implementing a package of corporate tax cuts. But Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee rebuffed the plan, prompting Democrats to lambaste the proposed budget cuts as unfair.<u><\/u><u><\/u><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe continue to hollow out New Mexico, which this bill does, while we try to protect a few at the top and a trickle-down economic policy,\u201d Rep. Bill McCamley, D-Las Cruces, told the House.<u><\/u><u><\/u><\/p>\n<p>Senior lawmakers, meanwhile, said the House Republican proposal will not do enough to bridge a gap in the state\u2019s budget, even for the current fiscal year, which ends at the end of June 2017.<u><\/u><u><\/u><\/p>\n<p>Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming,\u00a0\u00a0said legislators will likely have to make even more changes to the state\u2019s budget when they reconvene for a regularly scheduled 60-day session in January.<u><\/u><u><\/u><\/p>\n<p>The House plan will further deplete the state\u2019s reserves, down to about 1 percent, Smith said.<u><\/u><u><\/u><\/p>\n<p>And he does not expect the state\u2019s revenues to improve during the next three months as the energy markets remain volatile.<u><\/u><u><\/u><\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur revenues are still heading south,\u201d Smith said.<u><\/u><u><\/u><\/p>\n<p><em>Contact Andrew Oxford at 575-986-3093 or <a href=\"mailto:aoxford@sfnewmexican.com\" target=\"_blank\">aoxford@sfnewmexican.com<\/a>. Follow him on Twitter at <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/@andrewboxford\" target=\"_blank\">@andrewboxford<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The spending plan still needs approval from the Senate, which is scheduled to reconvene on Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":194170,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[3305,196,118,107],"class_list":["post-194197","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\/194197","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=194197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}