{"id":3440,"date":"2008-07-09T11:02:00","date_gmt":"2008-07-09T17:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/07\/lfc-releases-information-about-funding-requests\/"},"modified":"2008-07-09T11:02:00","modified_gmt":"2008-07-09T17:02:00","slug":"lfc-releases-information-about-funding-requests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/07\/lfc-releases-information-about-funding-requests\/","title":{"rendered":"LFC releases information about funding requests"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MsoNormal\">The <a href=\"http:\/\/legis.state.nm.us\/lcs\/lfc\/lfcdefault.asp\" target=\"_blank\">Legislative Finance Committee<\/a> has decided to make available on the Internet years of data about who requested funding that ended up in the state\u2019s so-called \u201cjunior budget\u201d bill.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">It\u2019s a smart move toward increased transparency at a time when many accuse the state Senate of blocking ethics-reform and transparency proposals. In light of recent controversies over <a href=\"http:\/\/haussamen.blogspot.com\/2008\/05\/another-lawmaker-proves-need-for-ethics.html\">rugby<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/haussamen.blogspot.com\/2008\/04\/heres-another-only-in-new-mexico-story.html\">trash-can<\/a> funding, it\u2019s a way for the public to know who originated funding requests, which could pressure lawmakers to act more ethically.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">The move comes at the direction of Sen. <a href=\"http:\/\/legis.state.nm.us\/lcs\/legdetails.asp?Name=288&amp;Submit=Search\" target=\"_blank\">John Arthur Smith<\/a>, D-Deming and chair of the LFC. The last four years of appropriations requested by senators and the governor to be included in the junior budget are included on the site, which you can find by clicking <a href=\"http:\/\/legis.state.nm.us\/lcs\/lfc\/lfcjunapprop.asp\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>. Information about appropriations that originated in the House aren\u2019t included, said LFC Director David Abbey, because Smith \u201cdidn\u2019t want to speak for the House.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\u201cWe\u2019re trying to adopt a policy of being more open,\u201d Abbey said. \u201cIt\u2019s about transparency and disclosure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">The move comes as the LFC is beginning to discuss next year\u2019s budget. Kathy Fernandez, LFC deputy director, said the information provided on the Web site is \u201cprobably 95 percent accurate.\u201d She said there are a few instances where changes were made to the bill but not reported to staffers who would have updated the spreadsheets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Abbey said the LFC felt confident enough in the accuracy of the spreadsheets to post them on the Internet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Legislative Finance Committee has decided to make available on the Internet years of data about who requested funding that ended up in the state\u2019s so-called \u201cjunior budget\u201d bill. It\u2019s a smart move toward increased transparency at a time when many accuse the state Senate of blocking ethics-reform and transparency proposals. In light of recent [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3440","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=3440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3440\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}