The 60-day legislative session ended Saturday, and New Mexico legislators narrowly passed a $5.4 billion budget just before time ran out.
Lawmakers allocated $730 million for higher education.
Nearly $43 million, or 6 percent, was cut from higher education
funds compared with last year. “Everybody expected, in part,
a lot worse,” said Marc Saavedra, UNM Government Relations spokesman. UNM’s main and north campus saw a total appropriation of
$274.6 million, roughly 36 percent of the overall higher education
budget. UNM received roughly a 3.1 percent decrease in state funds from last year and fared better than New Mexico State University, which received 3.9 percent in cuts.
UNM main campus was allocated roughly $164 million for instructional and general purposes, $2.5 million for Athletics and $1 million for education television purposes. The total was about $5.4 million less than last year, according to the UNM Office
of Planning, Budget and Analysis. UNM branches also saw a decline
in state money. UNM-Gallup was appropriated $8.3 million; UNM Valencia will receive $4.7 million; Taos branch was allocated $2.7 million; and UNM-Los Alamos was allocated $1.7 million from the
state. Each branch saw a nearly 6 percent decrease from last year.
The Health Sciences Center allocated $58.2 million for instructional and general purposes, more than any other state university other than NMSU. The Children’s Psychiatric Hospital received $6.5 million and Carrie Tingley Hospital was allocated $4.7 million.
Gov. Susana Martinez has until April 11 to review and sign the
budget bill.
Throughout the session, the House and Senate struggled to
compromise on a budget bill and found themselves bogged down
in late-night debates about the state’s film tax subsidies, state employee pensions and providing driver’s licenses to undocumented citizens, all while trying to trim more than $100 millionfrom the state’s budget.
In an effort to save $50 million, the House voted 35-34 to require
state employees and educators to pay an additional 1.5 percent of their paycheck this year and 1.75 percent next year into retirement
pensions.
“What it really amounts to is a 3.25 percent pay cut for workers,”
said Carter Bundy, an AFSCME union representative.
The film subsidy was capped at $50 million, an effort film advocates
said may kill the film program, but something Republicans
would not back down from. The effort to stop issuing driver’s
licenses to undocumented citizens was contested until the last hour, but eventually was killed in the legislative process.
The push to extend the Lottery Scholarship application time to
16 months was also defeated by time.
Rep. Bill O’Neill (D-Albuquerque) sponsored legislation to allow recent high school graduates a 16-month window before they have to enroll.
The bill was passed by the House and the Senate Judiciary Committee but was placed at the bottom of the agenda and never received a vote by the full Senate.
Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez said communication between Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration and the legislative body slowed the legislative process.
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“I don’t know that there was any willingness to negotiate on any issue,” Sanchez said. “With the budget, the film, you heard her statements.
They came out on a regular basis. What I got from the context of what I heard and read was, ‘You either do it my way or else.’” In a news conference to mark the end of the session, Martinez defended her positions.
“I don’t think you could ever say that putting our kids first is politics,” she said before children at a Santa Fe elementary
school. “To call it ‘politics’ is insensitive to the needs of our children.” Martinez was also adamant about pursuing
legislation to stop issuing driver’s licenses to undocumented workers.
“Regardless of whether the Senate refused to embrace this reform, I intend to continue to fight for what New Mexicans demand,” she said. “Although I am willing to work collaboratively to bring change, I was not sent to New Mexico to compromise my convictions or shrink in the face of conflict.” Sanchez disagreed with the governor’s view.
“I don’t think that’s the way the legislative process works,” he said. “Not that I’m any expert in it. I hope that in the future, she
will work with us more. She’ll understand what compromise means.”
From the beginning, Martinez made it clear that her priorities were to enhance education and strengthen law enforcement practices. In many ways she succeeded.
Legislators passed a bill that will grade public schools on an A-to-F scale based on student performances. Certain competency
tests were eliminated, including one required for high school juniors to graduate.
Legislators also passed a bill that will allow the state to help repay the loans of teachers who work in struggling schools in
high-poverty areas.
The tuition credit, a measure supported by many legislators but opposed at the University level, will continue next year. In
effect, the state instituted a 3.1 percent tuition increase, roughly $100 a student, on top of whatever tuition increases universities will pursue.
One of UNM’s legislative priorities was to eliminate the tuition credit, Government Relations Director Marc Saavedra said.
“We did everything we could to eliminate the tuition credit and explain to lawmakers it’s essentially a tax on students,” Saavedra said. “It’s disappointing it wasn’t eliminated.”
Regardless, Martinez said she was pleased many law and order measures passed during the session. Synthetic marijuana was banned. Palm prints are now required for all criminal arrests. Inmates will have to pay a fee to make telephone calls. Motorists must remain five feet away from cyclists. But Martinez’s effort to reinstate the death penalty got killed in committee.
She did, however, expand “Katie’s Law,” which will require DNA testing for felony arrests. Martinez lobbied legislators to pass
a similar law while she was a district attorney, but it only applied to certain crimes. “This is a victory for anyone who wants to make New Mexico’s communities safer for our children and families,” Martinez said. “‘Katie’s Law’ has gotten real results, but now we can do even more.”
