{"id":281484,"date":"2017-01-31T09:45:59","date_gmt":"2017-01-31T16:45:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=281484"},"modified":"2017-01-31T14:32:10","modified_gmt":"2017-01-31T21:32:10","slug":"lawmakers-approve-new-bill-to-fund-session","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2017\/01\/lawmakers-approve-new-bill-to-fund-session\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers approve new bill to fund session"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_56542\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-56542\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse-771x504.jpg\" alt=\"A statue outside the Roundhouse in Santa Fe.\" width=\"771\" height=\"504\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse-771x504.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse-336x220.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse-768x502.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse-1170x764.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Heath Haussamen \/ NMPolitics.net<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">A statue outside the Roundhouse in Santa Fe.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Three days after Republican Gov. Susana Martinez vetoed funding for the Legislature, lawmakers on Monday approved another measure to pay for the 60-day session and provide emergency cash to pay jurors in the state&#8217;s court system.<\/p>\n<p>Martinez&#8217;s veto demonstrated how even a routine bill that usually passes unanimously at the beginning of each legislative session could become mired in partisan politics this year.<\/p>\n<p>Unclear is whether Martinez will sign the latest bill. If she does, it would hearten employees at the Capitol who are expecting a paycheck at the end of this week.<\/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 2017\u00a0legislative 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>But the Senate stripped funding from the bill to pay for the Legislature&#8217;s year-round operations, meaning it also unclear whether cuts might still be in store for the offices responsible for analyzing bills, tracking state finances and serving as a watchdog on government.<\/p>\n<p>The Senate approved the latest bill with bipartisan support, 35-5. The House concurred with a voice vote that seemed to go along party lines.<\/p>\n<p>The measure provides about $8.6 million for the cost of the 60-day session, cutting 4 percent from each legislative chamber. It&#8217;s about $300,000 less than the bill the governor vetoed. She has three days to act on the new proposal.<\/p>\n<p>Martinez last week castigated Democrats for approving a bill to finance the session without the cuts proposed by Republicans and accepted unanimously by the House of Representatives earlier this month.<\/p>\n<p>House Republicans said the Legislature should reduce its budget as it also slashes spending around state government. But the Senate did not take up the House bill. Instead, it approved a separate bill that did not include cuts, though it would have funded the Legislature at a lower level than in 2015, the last 60-day session.<\/p>\n<p>Martinez described the addition of funding for the state&#8217;s courts and adult protective services to the Senate bill as &#8220;cynical and disturbing,&#8221; suggesting the judiciary was adequately financed.<\/p>\n<p>Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, countered that the governor&#8217;s veto message was political rhetoric.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We can throw a match on it or step back and let it roll like water off a duck&#8217;s back,&#8221; Smith said as the Senate took up the revised bill on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>Staffers said the pay period ended <span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_1129081678\"><span class=\"aQJ\">Friday<\/span><\/span> and they expect to be paid at the end of this week. That gave the Legislature until midweek to find a solution, according to Senate staff.<\/p>\n<p>New Mexico legislators are the only ones in America who do not receive a base salary. Their stipend for expenses while on official business is $164 a day.<\/p>\n<p>Debate was far more subdued on Monday than last week. Republicans still opposed adding emergency funding for the courts to a bill intended to pay for the legislative session. But Democrats said it was the fastest way to ensure that the justice system has money to pay jurors, though they dropped a proposal that passed last week to include funds to prevent furloughs in the state supreme court and fill a shortfall in the adult protective services program.<\/p>\n<p>A few Democrats in the Senate argued that the bill would still allow for House staffers to keep raises they received under the former Republican majority.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s unfortunate that through this dialogue there are some positions getting increases while everyone else is taking a haircut,&#8221; said Sen. John Sapien, D-Corrales.<\/p>\n<p>House Republicans said the Senate&#8217;s insistence on passing a funding bill that adjusted the House&#8217;s spending and ignored its recommendations trampled the chamber&#8217;s very purpose.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I do believe that going forward we need to assert our authority as a body and as a co-equal branch of the Legislature,&#8221; said House Minority Leader Nate Gentry, R-Albuquerque.<\/p>\n<p><em>Contact Andrew Oxford at (505) 986-3093 or <a href=\"mailto:aoxford@sfnewmexican.com\">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>If Gov. Susana Martinez signs the bill it would hearten employees at the Capitol who are expecting a paycheck at the end of this week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56542,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[3329,196,107],"class_list":["post-281484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2017-legislative-session","tag-budget","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281484","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=281484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}