{"id":199564,"date":"2016-10-19T20:21:55","date_gmt":"2016-10-20T02:21:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=199564"},"modified":"2016-10-19T20:21:55","modified_gmt":"2016-10-20T02:21:55","slug":"governor-signs-two-bills-line-item-veto-angers-lawmaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/10\/governor-signs-two-bills-line-item-veto-angers-lawmaker\/","title":{"rendered":"Governor signs two bills; line-item veto angers lawmaker"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gov. Susana Martinez on Wednesday signed two bills from the recent special session of the Legislature aimed at balancing\u00a0the state budget.<\/p>\n

\"Susana

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

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

She also made her first line-item veto from the session, cutting the words “to support home visiting services” from an amendment that provided $1.5 million to the state’s Children, Youth and Families Department “to\u00a0support home visiting services for the prevention of child abuse.”<\/p>\n

In other words, Martinez left the new $1.5 million appropriation\u00a0for CYFD in place, and the requirement that it be spent to prevent child abuse, but she wiped out the Legislature’s intent that the money\u00a0be spent specifically on home-visiting services,\u00a0which teach parenting skills and provide other support for pregnant mothers and new parents and guardians.<\/p>\n

The language Martinez vetoed “is too narrowly drafted as it excludes all child abuse prevention initiatives except home visiting services,” she wrote in her message<\/a> to the Legislature explaining the decision.<\/p>\n

The sponsor of the\u00a0amendment to Senate Bill 6<\/a> that designed the funding for home visiting, Rep. Javier Mart\u00ednez, D-Albuquerque, wasn’t pleased. He wrote in a Facebook post<\/a> that home visiting is “the best child abuse prevention tool available.”<\/p>\n

“The amendment was unanimously supported by ALL members of the Legislature, Rep. Mart\u00ednez wrote. “This Governor’s petty politics are disappointing, to say the least.”<\/p>\n

Rep. Mart\u00ednez has championed an expansion of home-visiting services<\/a>, which his family has utilized, for years. Experts say such services help prevent child abuse and neglect.<\/p>\n

SB 6, the rest\u00a0of which Gov. Martinez signed into law on Wednesday, was aimed primarily at closing several tax loopholes to save the state millions each year.<\/p>\n

Martinez also signed<\/a> Senate Bill 2, which takes $220 million in settlement money from tobacco companies to help balance the budget.<\/p>\n

The governor has already signed<\/a> two special-session bills —\u00a0Senate Bill 4<\/a>, which directs\u00a0$25 million in severance tax bonds school costs, and\u00a0Senate Bill 7<\/a>, which halts transfers from the state’s general fund to two other accounts.<\/p>\n

Martinez has yet to act on three bills:<\/p>\n