{"id":4381,"date":"2009-03-20T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2009-03-20T06:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/03\/legislature-oks-open-conference-committees\/"},"modified":"2009-03-20T00:01:00","modified_gmt":"2009-03-20T06:01:00","slug":"legislature-oks-open-conference-committees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/03\/legislature-oks-open-conference-committees\/","title":{"rendered":"Legislature OKs open conference committees"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Senate\u2019<\/span>s 33-8 vote sends controversial proposal to Gov. Bill Richardson, who has said he will sign it<\/span><\/p>\n

This article has been updated.<\/span><\/p>\n

The New Mexico Senate voted late Thursday to open conference committees and other legislative meetings to the public. The bill now goes to Gov. Bill Richardson<\/a>, who has said he will sign it.<\/p>\n

Though the debate was heated, and at times emotional, in the end it wasn\u2019t even close. After twice killing the proposal by one vote in 2007, the Senate voted 33-8 late Thursday in favor of approving House Bill 393<\/a>, sponsored by Rep. Joseph Cervantes<\/a>, D-Las Cruces.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cI think that we need to do this for our constituents. I think they want it. I think they deserve it,\u201d Sen. Cynthia Nava<\/a>, D-Las Cruces, said in arguing for the bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a special obligation\u2026 to be open in what we do,\u201d said Sen. Rod Adair<\/a>, R-Roswell. \u201cThat\u2019s why they call it democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nava was one of several senators on both sides of the issue who couldn\u2019t hold back emotion while debating the proposal — one that has been polarizing for years. Nava\u2019s voice cracked as she spoke about the importance of the proposal and praised Sen. Dede Feldman<\/a>, D-Albuquerque, who has pushed the Senate for years to open conference committees.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The House has approved opening conference committees several times in recent years, but the proposal has always died in the Senate. Thursday\u2019s bucking of past precedent was largely due to seven newly elected members of the Senate who voted for the bill on Thursday. Five of them replaced former members who voted against the proposal in 2007.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it really does build confidence among our constituents,\u201d freshman Sen. Steve Fischmann<\/a>, D-Las Cruces, said in arguing for the bill.<\/p>\n

Also significant was the change of heart of Sen. Linda Lopez<\/a>, D-Albuquerque. After voting against the bill in 2007, she not only voted for it Thursday night, but also carried it on the Senate floor for Cervantes.<\/p>\n

Cervantes and <\/span>Feldman led the charge<\/span><\/p>\n

But it has been Cervantes and Feldman who have tirelessly led the push for years to open conference committees to the public.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the secrecy that breeds suspicion, and that is something that we can very easily end by sending this vote that we want to end these closed conference committees,\u201d Feldman said in arguing for Cervantes\u2019 bill.<\/p>\n

\n

Cervantes said after the vote that the more the public knows about what happens in Santa Fe, \u201cthe more they will understand the complex challenges we must meet and the hard work of my colleagues to meet those challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWith new transparency this session, the Legislature is showing important confidence in public participation and a willingness to change in response to that confidence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Conference committees are groups of usually of three House members and three Senate members who are tasked with reconciling differences between versions bills that have passed both chambers. They are quite powerful and, under current law, can significantly change bills without any public debate or scrutiny. Money can be appropriated and laws can be changed.<\/p>\n

And, as Cervantes has said, legislative leaders sometimes use conference committees to shut out other lawmakers in addition to the public. Only the lawmakers appointed to the committees are allowed into the secret meetings.<\/p>\n

The bill passed Thursday night would change that.<\/p>\n

In addition to opening conference committees to the public, the bill would open many other currently closed legislative meetings, including executive sessions of House and Senate finance committees. Exempt from having to be open under the bill are investigative or quasi-judicial meetings — such as impeachment proceedings — and political party caucus meetings.<\/p>\n

Senate leaders in minority opposing the bill<\/span><\/p>\n

Critics — including most Senate leaders — said on Thursday that opening conference committees would drive deliberations further underground. Minority Leader Stuart Ingle<\/a>, R-Portales, said some discussions can\u2019t be put on record because \u201cyou have to look at each other in an informal basis.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLike it or not, that\u2019s the way a lot of things work,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Other opponents, including Senate President Pro Tem Tim Jennings<\/a>, D-Roswell and Majority Leader Michael Sanchez<\/a>, D-Belen, said meetings of the governor\u2019s cabinet and department directors should also be open or the bill would not be fair.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere is the equality in only going after one branch of government?\u201d Jennings asked.<\/p>\n

But it became clear during the debate that opponents of the bill were in the minority as speaker after speaker talked about the importance of opening the legislative meetings to the public.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe public demands that we have transparency, and we need to do that,\u201d said Majority Whip Mary Jane Garcia<\/a>, D-Do\u00f1a Ana.<\/p>\n

Sen. Nancy Rodriguez<\/a>, D-Santa Fe, said when she joined the Legislature she found the Roundhouse to be an unfriendly, closed place.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s more than time that changes,\u201d Rodriguez said, adding that she wants her constituents to know the Roundhouse as \u201ctheir home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Following the vote, Common Cause New Mexico<\/a> Executive Director Steve Allen noted the emotional tone of the debate and said valid arguments \u201cwere presented on both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the end, though, our democracy will always require a bias in favor of openness, and it\u2019s nice to see such widespread bipartisan support in the Senate for this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The eight senators voting against the bill were Vernon Asbill<\/a>, R-Carlsbad; Sue Wilson Beffort<\/a>, R-Sandia Park; Kent Cravens<\/a>, R-Albuquerque; Phil Griego<\/a>, D-San Jose; Ingle; Jennings; Gay Kernan<\/a>, R-Hobbs; and Sanchez.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 9:10 a.m.<\/p>\n

KUNM-FM<\/a> has posted audio of the entire Senate conference committee debate online. You can listen by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

Update, 12 p.m.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> for the official list of how each member voted.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n

The New Mexico Independent\u2019s<\/a> Gwyneth Doland contributed to this report.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senate\u2019s 33-8 vote sends controversial proposal to Gov. Bill Richardson, who has said he will sign it This article has been updated. The New Mexico Senate voted late Thursday to open conference committees and other legislative meetings to the public. The bill now goes to Gov. Bill Richardson, who has said he will sign it. […]<\/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-4381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4381","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=4381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4381\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}