{"id":669535,"date":"2019-01-19T09:00:41","date_gmt":"2019-01-19T16:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=669535"},"modified":"2019-01-22T07:10:00","modified_gmt":"2019-01-22T14:10:00","slug":"gop-blasts-idea-of-paying-new-mexico-legislators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2019\/01\/gop-blasts-idea-of-paying-new-mexico-legislators\/","title":{"rendered":"GOP blasts idea of paying New Mexico legislators"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_405938\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-405938\" src=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Roundhouse-1-771x471.jpg\" alt=\"Roundhouse\" width=\"771\" height=\"471\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Roundhouse-1-771x471.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Roundhouse-1-336x205.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Roundhouse-1-768x469.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Roundhouse-1-1170x714.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Roundhouse-1.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Heath Haussamen \/ NMPolitics.net<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Roundhouse in Santa Fe.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Republicans in the state House of Representatives are blasting a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow legislators to receive a salary.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nmlegis.gov\/Legislation\/Legislation?Chamber=H&amp;LegType=JR&amp;LegNo=5&amp;year=19\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">House Joint Resolution 5<\/a> would ask voters to create a commission that would set pay for statewide elected officials and lawmakers, who currently receive a daily stipend but no annual salary.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article comes from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.santafenewmexican.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Santa Fe New Mexican<\/a>. NMPolitics.net is paying for the rights to publish articles about the 2019 legislative session from the newspaper. Help us cover the cost by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/donate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">making a donation to NMPolitics.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>In a statement, House GOP leaders signaled they would not support the measure in the face of proposals by Democrats to raise taxes.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;House Republicans are standing against the Democrat plan to raise taxes on all New Mexicans including needy families to possibly help pay for salaries for Legislators,&#8221; a statement from caucus leaders said.<\/p>\n<p>The statement pointed to proposals in <a href=\"https:\/\/nmlegis.gov\/Legislation\/Legislation?Chamber=H&amp;LegType=B&amp;LegNo=6&amp;year=19\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">House Bill 6<\/a> that would raise the tax on gasoline by 10 cents a gallon and raise personal income tax rates.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;While we&#8217;re in the midst of a huge budget surplus, any plan to raise taxes on New Mexico families is unacceptable,&#8221; said House Minority Leader Jim Townsend, R-Artesia.<\/p>\n<p>Though the proposed commission would not start work until 2023 if voters approve it, tying near-term tax increases to the constitutional amendment suggests opposition to the latter is hardening among House Republicans.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Voters have repeatedly shot down proposals over the last several decades to pay legislators.<\/p>\n<p>But it has not necessarily been a partisan issue. Former Rep. Terry McMillan, R-Las Cruces, sponsored an unsuccessful resolution in 2013 to ask that voters set a salary for legislators equivalent to the state&#8217;s median income.<\/p>\n<p>And some Republicans have expressed support for the idea, acknowledging the current system of doling out a per diem means many people simply cannot afford to take time off work to serve in the Legislature.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Republicans in the state House of Representatives are blasting a proposal that would allow legislators to receive a salary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":405938,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[3671,107],"class_list":["post-669535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2019-legislative-session","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669535","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=669535"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":669541,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669535\/revisions\/669541"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=669535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}