{"id":3477,"date":"2008-07-21T13:31:00","date_gmt":"2008-07-21T19:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/07\/richardson-sets-aug-15-special-session-date\/"},"modified":"2008-07-21T13:31:00","modified_gmt":"2008-07-21T19:31:00","slug":"richardson-sets-aug-15-special-session-date","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/07\/richardson-sets-aug-15-special-session-date\/","title":{"rendered":"Richardson sets Aug. 15 special session date"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a onblur=\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href=\"http:\/\/bp3.blogger.com\/_IabUCQmoheQ\/SITkJVMIzVI\/AAAAAAAAGO0\/Mv9uA94hjS0\/s1600-h\/Richardson,+Bill.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;\" src=\"http:\/\/bp3.blogger.com\/_IabUCQmoheQ\/SITkJVMIzVI\/AAAAAAAAGO0\/Mv9uA94hjS0\/s200\/Richardson,+Bill.jpg\" alt=\"\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5225552316614626642\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a>Gov. <a href=\"http:\/\/governor.state.nm.us\/\" target=\"_blank\">Bill Richardson<\/a> announced today that he will call lawmakers into a special session for health-care reform, tax relief and road funding on Aug. 15.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">That\u2019s 10 days before Democrats gather in <st1:city st=\"on\"><st1:place st=\"on\">Denver<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> for their presidential nominating convention. The Republicans\u2019 convention is a week later in <st1:state st=\"on\"><st1:place st=\"on\">Minnesota<\/st1:place><\/st1:state>. The governor wants lawmakers to approve his universal health care plan, a $211 million relief package and a $200 million road-funding package.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\u201cNew Mexicans need relief now,\u201d <st1:city st=\"on\"><st1:place st=\"on\">Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said in a news release. \u201cI am working with legislators to move forward with a special session so we can address health care and put money in people\u2019s pockets before the holiday season.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Though many lawmakers say there isn\u2019t support for universal health care, and <st1:city st=\"on\"><st1:place st=\"on\">Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> has focused more on his relief package in recent days, he said in the release that health-care reform is still a priority for the special session.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\u201cWe are ready to move forward with health-care reform and cover more New Mexicans,\u201d <st1:city st=\"on\"><st1:place st=\"on\">Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said. \u201cThere is adequate room in the budget to get this done now. We can\u2019t afford not to act.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Richardson had been saying for months that the session would deal only with health-care reform, but recently added the relief and road-funding packages after Legislative Finance Committee Chairman <a href=\"http:\/\/legis.state.nm.us\/lcs\/legdetails.asp?Name=288&amp;Submit=Search\" target=\"_blank\">John Arthur Smith<\/a>, D-Deming, publicly called for both.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><o:p> <\/o:p><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Windfall oil and gas revenues have the state in a good financial position, but Smith and others say that isn\u2019t money the state can count on in future budget years, so it should not be spent on costly health-care reform. <st1:city st=\"on\"><st1:place st=\"on\">Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> maintains that the state can afford universal health care, road funding and tax rebates and other relief.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gov. Bill Richardson announced today that he will call lawmakers into a special session for health-care reform, tax relief and road funding on Aug. 15. That\u2019s 10 days before Democrats gather in Denver for their presidential nominating convention. The Republicans\u2019 convention is a week later in Minnesota. The governor wants lawmakers to approve his universal [&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-3477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3477","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=3477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3477\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}