{"id":3452,"date":"2008-07-11T15:47:00","date_gmt":"2008-07-11T21:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/07\/guv-expands-agenda-for-september-special-session\/"},"modified":"2008-07-11T15:47:00","modified_gmt":"2008-07-11T21:47:00","slug":"guv-expands-agenda-for-september-special-session","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/07\/guv-expands-agenda-for-september-special-session\/","title":{"rendered":"Guv expands agenda for September special session"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Gov. Bill Richardson<\/a> expanded today the agenda for a long-anticipated special session of the Legislature and said it will be held just after Democratic and Republican national presidential nominating conventions wrap up in early September. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In addition to health-care reform, Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> told The Associated Press<\/a> that the agenda for the special session will include \u201ca package of initiatives to help working families with the rising costs for food, gasoline and other household expenses.\u201d That may include tax relief, he told the news service, but specific proposals are still being developed.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> had previously said he would call a special session for health-care reform in August or September. He told the news service today that he settled on early September because he didn\u2019t want to interfere with the Democrats\u2019 convention being held Aug. 25-28 in Denver<\/st1:city> and the Republicans\u2019 convention being held Sept. 1-4 in St. Paul<\/st1:city>, Minn.<\/st1:state><\/st1:place><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s announcement comes two days after the state announced windfall oil and gas revenues<\/a> that will provide $392 million in new money for the upcoming budget year and another $1 billion for one-time spending projects. Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said earlier this week that would provide the money necessary for universal health care.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But the chairman of the Legislative Finance Committee, Sen. John Arthur Smith<\/a>, D-Deming, said earlier this week that the money should instead be used to provide a tax rebate to New Mexicans and to help cover a highway financing shortfall of at least $500 million. Smith and many other lawmakers contend that the state can\u2019t afford universal health care. Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>\u2019s expansion of the special session\u2019s agenda comes as many continue to doubt that he has the ability to push health-care reform through the Legislature.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> told The Associated Press today that he is \u201ctired of members of the Senate — some members of the Senate — constantly saying no to any kind of progress on education reform, on health care. I am tired of these \u2018Dr. No\u2019s.\u2019 Ever since I\u2019ve come into office … we\u2019ve had substantial progress despite their dire predictions, which continue unabated every year.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Smith told the news service that it\u2019s the Legislature\u2019s responsibility to say \u2018no.\u2019<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re the appropriating body. We have to make certain it\u2019s affordable and sustainable even when he\u2019s gone,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gov. Bill Richardson expanded today the agenda for a long-anticipated special session of the Legislature and said it will be held just after Democratic and Republican national presidential nominating conventions wrap up in early September. In addition to health-care reform, Richardson told The Associated Press that the agenda for the special session will include \u201ca […]<\/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-3452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3452","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=3452"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3452\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3452"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3452"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}