![\"Susana](\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Martinez-Susana-336x196.jpg\")
Heath Haussamen \/ NMPolitics.net<\/p>
Gov. Susana Martinez<\/p><\/div>\n
Martinez’s office announced the plan\u00a0Wednesday with few details and no support from Democrats in the Legislature or Senate Republicans, so it may be a non-starter. Still, Martinez touted the support of House Minority Leader Nate Gentry, R-Albuquerque, in calling the proposal an “agreement.”<\/p>\n
“I\u2019m grateful for the work of legislative leaders like Rep. Nate Gentry and others to help come to this agreement,” Martinez, a Republican, said in a statement released by her office.<\/p>\n
Who the “others” are isn’t clear. Martinez’s announcement mentioned only Gentry and didn’t indicate whether the plan has the support of the House Republican caucus Gentry leads. Even if it had such support, the proposal\u00a0would also need the backing of some\u00a0Democrats in the House, who hold the majority in that chamber, and approval in the Senate.<\/p>\n
House Speaker Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, was quoted by The Santa Fe New Mexican<\/a> as saying\u00a0he’s spoken informally with the governor’s staff but “negotiations have not occurred.” And Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, was quoted as saying Senate leaders “have not seen the governor\u2019s plan so cannot comment.”<\/p>\n Many lawmakers were likely to see the governor’s proposal\u00a0as another assault on them, as they did when Martinez vetoed all funding for the Legislature several weeks ago<\/a>. The Legislative Council is suing the governor<\/a>, arguing that her vetoes of funding for the Legislature and higher education for the fiscal year that begins July 1 are unconstitutional. The N.M. Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case\u00a0on May 15.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a little leery of where she\u2019s at, and I\u2019m patient enough to let the courts resolve this,” Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, was quoted by the Albuquerque Journal<\/a> as saying after Martinez announced her plan. Winning support from Smith, the chair of the Senate Finance Committee, is key to any budget deal.<\/p>\n Martinez’s office said her\u00a0plan would be proposed in an upcoming special legislative session. She hasn’t yet set a date, but she may be seeking a deal before the Supreme Court hearing.<\/p>\n Martinez\u00a0also plans to add reform of the state’s gross receipts tax (GRT) to the session’s agenda. While that proposal could\u00a0eliminate a number of loopholes in the GRT, including some for hospitals and internet purchases, it could\u00a0also lower the overall rate. Whether the result would bring in any additional revenue to help the state’s ailing budget isn’t clear. Martinez continued her pledge to not raise taxes on Wednesday.<\/p>\n She has also vetoed a tax-hike bill that would have raised\u00a0an estimated $350 million per year with new taxes and fees on fuel\u00a0and vehicle purchases, among other things. The bill passed the Senate with bipartisan support but had no Republican support in the House. Without that bill or other tax increases, if lawmakers successfully undo Martinez’s vetoes of legislative and higher education funding in court the state’s budget wouldn’t\u00a0be balanced.<\/p>\n The proposal to reform the state’s GRT has bipartisan support, at least conceptually, but navigating the web of hundreds of exemptions, and deciding which to eliminate, while also considering how much to lower the overall rate, is complicated. Some doubt such legislation can pass during a special session with little\u00a0public scrutiny and debate.<\/p>\n There are also questions about whether taking money from lawmakers’ retirement fund, which is managed by the Public Employees Retirement Association, is constitutional.<\/p>\n The fund sweeps Martinez is proposing would be another temporary fix that doesn’t address the state’s long-term financial situation. State government is largely dependent on fluctuating oil and gas prices and federal aid that has been decreasing in recent years.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Martinez’s\u00a0vetoes have put the state\u2019s colleges and universities in the difficult position of not being able to plan for the fiscal year that begins in a few weeks \u2014 and come at a time when high-school seniors are deciding whether to attend college in state or out of state. Several university presidents<\/a> and student body presidents<\/a>\u00a0from around New Mexico\u00a0have spoken out against the veto<\/a>.<\/p>\n The governor appears to be trying to sell her plan in part by proposing\u00a0funding increases in two areas. She said\u00a0her proposal would boost\u00a0funding for the UNM Comprehensive Cancer Center by $1 million\u00a0and the higher education financial aid fund by $2 million.<\/p>\n “Anybody would be crazy to oppose it,”\u00a0Gentry was quoted by the Journal as saying about the governor’s proposal.<\/p>\n Martinez\u00a0didn’t release any other numbers or details about her plan, even as she asked for bipartisan support.<\/p>\n “I hope that Democratic lawmakers will join us in this plan to come together and put New Mexicans first,” Martinez said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Many lawmakers were likely to see the governor’s new proposal as another assault on them, as they did when she vetoed all funding for the Legislature.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":60345,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[3329,196,125,133,107,3276],"class_list":["post-340414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2017-legislative-session","tag-budget","tag-education","tag-nmsu","tag-roundhouse","tag-unm"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340414","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=340414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340414\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}