{"id":8454,"date":"2009-10-24T01:09:10","date_gmt":"2009-10-24T07:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=8454"},"modified":"2009-10-26T15:31:11","modified_gmt":"2009-10-26T21:31:11","slug":"guv-concerned-about-%e2%80%98excessive%e2%80%99-and-%e2%80%98dramatic%e2%80%99-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2009\/10\/guv-concerned-about-%e2%80%98excessive%e2%80%99-and-%e2%80%98dramatic%e2%80%99-cuts\/","title":{"rendered":"Guv concerned about \u2018excessive\u2019 budget cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Gov.

Heath Haussamen \/ NMPolitics.net<\/p>

Gov. Bill Richardson (Photo by Heath Haussamen)<\/p><\/div>\n

With the Legislature\u2019s work done for now, Richardson has 20 days to act on bills<\/h4>\n

A bill that would make deep cuts to state government is one of several in the hands of Gov. Bill Richardson<\/a> after the Legislature ended its special session Friday evening.<\/p>\n

And while Richardson says he\u2019ll carefully review the budget bills awaiting his action, he told the Albuquerque Journal<\/a> that he is concerned about \u201cexcessive cuts to state agencies\u201d and \u201cdramatic cuts to Medicaid and other services.\u201d He did say he was glad that education cuts \u201cwere kept to a minimum and kept out of the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, I am deeply concerned that protecting capital outlay projects seemed to take priority over protecting people,\u201d the Journal quoted Richardson as saying. \u201cThe drastic cuts to state agencies will likely lead to dramatically reduced critical services, such as Medicaid funding for behavioral health care, children\u2019s health care and programs for the elderly. Layoffs are also likely under the Legislature\u2019s plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Richardson has 20 days to act.<\/p>\n

According to the Journal, the package of bills provides $526 million to help the state deal with a projected budget shortfall of as much as $660 million. Cash reserves would be used to make up whatever remaining shortfall exists.<\/p>\n

The largest bill<\/a> in the package, approved Friday evening, would cut $206 million in recurring revenue. Provisions in the bill include making deep cuts of 7.6 percent to most state agencies, but smaller cuts to education, including trimming less than 1 percent from the budgets of K-12 schools.<\/p>\n

The bill would trim 4 percent from most areas in the budgets of higher education institutions. It would cut the budgets of the judiciary, district attorneys, public defender and attorney general by 2 percent, and the budgets of elected officials other than the AG and governor by 4 percent. It would cut Medicaid funding by $4 million.<\/p>\n

An amendment passed Friday would reduce cuts to the Department of Public Safety from 4 percent to 2 percent. Another would increase the number of political appointee jobs the government must trim \u2013 by reducing salaries and benefits \u2013 from 80 to 102<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2018More work to be done\u2019<\/h3>\n

Following the Legislature\u2019s adjournment, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish<\/a> said in a prepared statement that she is \u201cpleased that, after much debate, Democrats and Republicans were able to work together to address the current budget shortfall.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cImportant, short-term fixes were made during the special session, but there is more work to be done, and many difficult decisions lay ahead,\u201d Denish said. \u201cJust as all businesses and families do during tough times, government simply must find ways to stretch dollars further.\u00a0 And together, we must do it in a way consistent with our priorities and our values.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018More work to be done\u2019 was a common theme following the conclusion of the session, with lawmakers knowing they haven\u2019t yet fully addressed the state\u2019s financial woes. Many expect to have to deal with another massive shortfall<\/a> in January.<\/p>\n

The Senate GOP caucus warned in a news release following the conclusion of the session that the state \u201cfaces budget crisis next year despite vote on this year\u2019s budget correction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. John Arthur Smith<\/a>, D-Deming and Senate Finance Committee chairman, said the work accomplished during the special session \u201cis certainly not a perfect response to our budget crisis, but under the circumstances \u2013 the governor\u2019s limitations and the uncertainty of how much we will ultimately need to deal with this situation when we come back for the regular session in January \u2013 this is at least something that will get us through the next several months.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez<\/a>, D-Belen, agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the legislature returns this January, we will have to continue to look for other solutions to the continuing erosion of our state revenues,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This article has been updated for clarity.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While Gov. Bill Richardson says he\u2019ll carefully review the budget bills awaiting his action, he told the Albuquerque Journal that he is concerned about \u201cexcessive cuts to state agencies\u201d and \u201cdramatic cuts to Medicaid and other services.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[112,118,107],"class_list":["post-8454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","category-uncategorized","tag-bill-richardson","tag-economy","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8454","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=8454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8454\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}