{"id":4420,"date":"2009-03-31T13:16:00","date_gmt":"2009-03-31T19:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/03\/guv-signs-housing-authority-overhaul-bill\/"},"modified":"2009-03-31T13:16:00","modified_gmt":"2009-03-31T19:16:00","slug":"guv-signs-housing-authority-overhaul-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/03\/guv-signs-housing-authority-overhaul-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"Guv signs housing authority overhaul bill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a onblur=\"try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}\" href=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_IabUCQmoheQ\/SdJsO1Vth5I\/AAAAAAAALTo\/dFV-tpdQm6A\/s1600-h\/Richardson,+Bill.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 120px; height: 160px;\" src=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_IabUCQmoheQ\/SdJsO1Vth5I\/AAAAAAAALTo\/dFV-tpdQm6A\/s200\/Richardson,+Bill.jpg\" alt=\"\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5319433111970088850\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Gov. <a href=\"http:\/\/governor.state.nm.us\/\" target=\"_blank\">Bill Richardson<\/a> signed today a bill that will reform the state\u2019s scandal-plagued affordable housing system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">There was no ceremony to celebrate the signing of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmlegis.gov\/lcs\/_session.aspx?chamber=S&amp;legtype=B&amp;legno=%20%2020&amp;year=09\" target=\"_blank\">Senate Bill 20<\/a>, sponsored by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmlegis.gov\/lcs\/legdetails.aspx?SPONCODE=SPAPE\" target=\"_blank\">Mary Kay Papen<\/a>, D-Las Cruces. It was listed in a news release along with a number of other bills the governor signed today.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Among the reforms in the bill are the consolidation of the seven regional authorities into three, the designation of an oversight agency to oversee regional operations, the strengthening of conflict-of-interest language, the permanent elimination of the authorities\u2019 ability to issue bonds and the requirement that transactions of over $100,000 be reviewed and approved by the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.housingnm.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">mortgage finance authority<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">That builds on reforms approved in 2007 that included temporarily stripping the housing authorities\u2019 bonding authority and giving the Department of Finance and Administration and state treasurer roles in administering the agencies\u2019 finances. The bill approved that year also funded <a href=\"http:\/\/haussamen.blogspot.com\/2009\/01\/read-housing-authority-audits-right.html\">audits the state auditor recently completed<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Most of the housing authority system collapsed in 2006 when the Albuquerque-based Region III Housing Authority defaulted on $5 million in bonds it owed the state. Soon thereafter, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sic.state.nm.us\/\" target=\"_blank\">State Investment Council<\/a> released <a href=\"http:\/\/www.haussamen.com\/FinalSICReport.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">a report<\/a> that found widespread misuse of the bond money, which was supposed to be spent on houses. In January, the state auditor released his office\u2019s long-awaited reports.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Attorney General <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nmag.gov\/office\/Divisions\/EO\/kingbio.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">Gary King<\/a> is investigating.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\n<p style=\"font-weight: bold;\" class=\"MsoNormal\">Update, 4:50 p.m.<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">Lt. Gov. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ltgovernor.state.nm.us\/\" target=\"_blank\">Diane Denish<\/a>, a champion of the reform bill, released this statement:<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\">\u201cI think this legislation will help tremendously with transparency and accountability for our regional <span class=\"yshortcuts\"><span id=\"lw_1238539328_0\">affordable housing system<\/span><\/span>,\u201d Denish said. \u201cNow I hope problems with Region 3 are brought to timely closure by the <span class=\"yshortcuts\"><span id=\"lw_1238539328_1\">attorney general<\/span><\/span> following this important reform effort on which Sen. Papen and I have worked aggressively.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gov. Bill Richardson signed today a bill that will reform the state\u2019s scandal-plagued affordable housing system. There was no ceremony to celebrate the signing of Senate Bill 20, sponsored by Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces. It was listed in a news release along with a number of other bills the governor signed today. Among the [&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-4420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4420","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=4420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4420\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}