{"id":308154,"date":"2017-03-18T09:28:30","date_gmt":"2017-03-18T15:28:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=308154"},"modified":"2017-03-18T13:37:58","modified_gmt":"2017-03-18T19:37:58","slug":"governor-signs-four-senate-bills-vetoes-one-as-session-winds-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2017\/03\/governor-signs-four-senate-bills-vetoes-one-as-session-winds-down\/","title":{"rendered":"Governor signs four Senate bills, vetoes one, as session winds down"},"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>Gov. Susana Martinez announced early Saturday that she had signed four Senate bills into law and vetoed another.<\/p>\n<p>The movement on Senate bills comes as Martinez and senators are in a fight over whether some previous vetoes\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2017\/03\/secretary-of-state-is-staying-out-of-veto-fight\/\" target=\"_blank\">are constitutional<\/a>. And the governor has directed her anger <a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2017\/03\/governor-blames-senate-failure-for-vetoes-signs-two-house-gop-bills\/\" target=\"_blank\">at the Senate<\/a> over a number of issues, most notably the state&#8217;s budget woes. The bills Martinez signed late Friday are the first Senate bills she&#8217;s approved\u00a0in days.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>And three have the same sponsor &#8212;\u00a0Gay Kernan, R-Hobbs.<\/p>\n<p>Martinez vetoed a Republican-sponsored bill, <a href=\"https:\/\/nmlegis.gov\/Legislation\/Legislation?Chamber=S&amp;LegType=B&amp;LegNo=297&amp;year=17\" target=\"_blank\">Senate Bill 297<\/a>, sponsored by Ron Griggs of Alamogordo. The bill would have allowed disabled military veterans to apply for two special registration license plates instead of one, without paying a fee. Martinez\u00a0wrote in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.governor.state.nm.us\/uploads\/files\/SEM22.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">her veto message<\/a>\u00a0that would cost the state $511,000 in lost fees.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Given the tough fiscal situation our state is facing, and while we are finding ways to build our transportation infrastructure, we cannot afford to reduce these funds,&#8221; Martinez wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the Senate bills Martinez signed are:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nmlegis.gov\/Legislation\/Legislation?Chamber=S&amp;LegType=B&amp;LegNo=28&amp;year=17\" target=\"_blank\">Senate Bill 28<\/a>, sponsored by Kernan, which makes changes to the Educational Retirement Board.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nmlegis.gov\/Legislation\/Legislation?Chamber=S&amp;LegType=B&amp;LegNo=32&amp;year=17\" target=\"_blank\">Senate Bill 32<\/a>, sponsored by Kernan. The bill updates the state&#8217;s K-3 Plus program that allows some students in those grades to attend an additional five weeks of school in the summer\u00a0and expands eligibility. Kernan thanked the governor for her signature in a news release, saying the bill &#8220;makes the K-3 Plus more equitable to all of our schools.\u00a0While this valuable program is not a guarantee because of limited funding, all schools would be eligible to apply and determine if their at-risk students will benefit from 25 more instructional days.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>\u2022\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nmlegis.gov\/Legislation\/Legislation?Chamber=S&amp;LegType=B&amp;LegNo=75&amp;year=17\" target=\"_blank\">Senate Bill 75<\/a>, sponsored by Sen. James White, R-Albuquerque, and Rep. Bobby Gonzales, D-Taos. The bill allows the use of electronic fund transitions for members of the Public Employees Retirement Association.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nmlegis.gov\/Legislation\/Legislation?Chamber=S&amp;LegType=B&amp;LegNo=103&amp;year=17\" target=\"_blank\">Senate Bill 103<\/a>, also sponsored by Kernan, which aims to ease the transfer of college credits when a student moves from one college or university to another. Martinez <a href=\"http:\/\/www.governor.state.nm.us\/uploads\/files\/SEM20.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">wrote<\/a> in signing the bill that it was the result of a partnership between her administration and the state&#8217;s colleges and universities.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;SB 103 codifies a higher education transfer and articulation system that will help students maintain their momentum as they work to earn their degree or certificate,&#8221; Martinez wrote. &#8220;The first of its kind in the nation, SB 103 will help our institutions coordinate to ensure our students&#8217; coursework transfers when they do&#8230; Senate Bill 103 positions our students for greater success as they work toward graduation, and it gets our communities qualified, fulfilled graduates faster.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Martinez didn&#8217;t act Friday on any bills with Democratic Senate sponsors.<\/p>\n<p>The session ends at noon on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Three Senate bills the governor signed late Friday have the same sponsor &#8212; Gay Kernan, R-Hobbs.<\/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":[3329,125,107],"class_list":["post-308154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2017-legislative-session","tag-education","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308154","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=308154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308154\/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=308154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}