{"id":270576,"date":"2017-01-12T18:50:25","date_gmt":"2017-01-13T01:50:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=270576"},"modified":"2017-01-13T08:00:48","modified_gmt":"2017-01-13T15:00:48","slug":"sen-smith-says-martinezs-proposal-to-cut-take-home-pay-wont-happen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2017\/01\/sen-smith-says-martinezs-proposal-to-cut-take-home-pay-wont-happen\/","title":{"rendered":"Sen. Smith says Martinez’s proposal to cut take-home pay won’t happen"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A

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

A statue outside the Roundhouse in Santa Fe.<\/p><\/div>\n

Here comes what may be the battle of the 2017 legislative session.<\/p>\n

Days after Gov. Susana Martinez called for<\/a> what amounts to a 3.5 percent reduction in take-home pay for tens of thousands of state employees and teachers to help balance the state’s budget, the powerful chairman of the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) said that won’t happen.<\/p>\n

Martinez’s proposal<\/a>\u00a0would reduce the state’s contributions to pension plans and shift the burden to employees. But the pension contributions “won’t be touched,” Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, was quoted by The Santa Fe New Mexican<\/a> as saying.<\/p>\n

\"John

Courtesy photo<\/p>

John Arthur Smith<\/p><\/div>\n

“We\u2019ve got phenomenal rates of vacancies [in state government] that are a direct result of low compensation,\u201d\u00a0Smith was quoted as saying, adding that Martinez’s proposed cuts would make it even more difficult to recruit qualified workers.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, the LFC, which Smith chairs, approved its own budget recommendations<\/a> in advance of the 60-day session that begins Tuesday. There are some cuts in the budget recommendations, but the proposal also assumes that “$123.3 million of new revenue or additional adjustments will be enacted to fully balance the budget.”<\/p>\n

In other words, the LFC isn’t definitively rejecting additional cuts, but it’s also leaving the possibility of tax increases or eliminating tax exemptions on the table. During a special session to balance the budget last fall, senators, on a party-line vote, approved a freeze<\/a> of the 2013 corporate tax cuts, but the proposal died in the House, which was controlled by Republicans at the time.<\/p>\n

The November election means Democrats now control the House, and a freeze of the corporate tax cuts and other tax increases have a greater chance of passing the Legislature. That would send the proposals to Martinez, a Republican, who continues to insist on cuts and sweeps of various funds as the solution to the state’s budget woes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis sends a message that it\u2019s up to state government to tighten its own belt \u2013 not our hardworking families,\u201d Martinez said earlier this week.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Smith and Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, fired back.<\/p>\n

“The plan we saw from the governor earlier this week drains money from local communities and cuts the salaries of hard-working New Mexicans who we look to each day to keep our communities safe and our storefronts open,” Wirth said in a news release.<\/p>\n

“Under Governor Martinez\u2019s proposal, our state agencies and the families they serve would bear an even greater burden as a result of her refusal to act quickly,\u201d Smith said in the release. \u201cIt\u2019s imperative that we move quickly in a bipartisan and responsible manner that protects the very employees and the families that Gov.\u00a0Martinez\u2019s proposal would leave holding the bag.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martinez, on the other hand, said this week that the Legislature was to blame for the need to cut employee take-home pay, which she said was a proposal\u00a0aimed at avoiding furloughs.<\/p>\n

\u201cLawmakers avoided making tough choices [during the special session], but we have some time now to work together on a budget that restrains spending, doesn\u2019t raise taxes, and protects the progress we\u2019ve made on education, economic development and public safety,\u201d Martinez said.<\/p>\n

How policymakers will resolve this standoff between the Democratic majority in the Legislature and the governor isn’t clear. But\u00a0Wirth insisted that\u00a0the LFC proposal is responsible and bipartisan.<\/p>\n

“This blueprint protects the investments we make in our teachers, law enforcement, and nurses while balancing the state checkbook,” he said.<\/p>\n

A prior version of this posting incorrectly stated that the LFC released its budget recommendations on Thursday.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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