The New Mexico House of Representatives narrowly approved a $5.4 billion budget bill, 35-34, on Tuesday evening.
The spending bill includes appropriations of $742 million for higher education, $1.5 billion for health, hospitals and human services, $2.4 billion for public schools and $362 million for public safety. The bill now goes to Senate for consideration.
Rep. Tom Jackson (R-Farmington) was one of several Republicans who criticized the process. He said Democrats stalled debate on amending the bill, including on an amendment that would cap state film subsidies at $40 million.
“The people of New Mexico would be disappointed in this behavior, and so are we,” Taylor said. “The fact a single member of the majority easily took up over an hour of time in debate is completely unfortunate.”
New Mexicans have been starving for legislation that can protect their economic interest and fund schools and public safety measures. Through 37 days of debate, the New Mexico Legislature had only managed to feed itself.
HB 1, or the Feed Bill, sponsored by Rep. W. Ken Martinez (D-Grants), is the only piece of legislation that has passed both chambers and was signed by the governor.
Martinez said laws couldn’t be passed until the House approved a state operating budget.
“There is no money,” Martinez said. “That’s why legislation is less than it is and moving a little slower than it should be.”
The Feed Bill is the only legislation signed by Gov. Susana Martinez.
Essentially, the bill is an $8.3 million check signed by Martinez to pay for the legislative session.
The bill includes appropriations of $5.4 million for benefits and salary for all legislative staff, $1.5 million for expenses related to redistricting, $400,000 on information services and more than $900,000 to cover daily expenses for representatives during the 60-day session.
House Majority Council Dennis Hazlett, a former deputy treasurer during the previous administration, said this year’s debate surrounding the budget bill is contentious.
“Normally by this time we would have the general appropriations act out of the House,” Hazlett said last week. “Which means the bill is very much behind schedule.”
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So far, the House has passed 112 out of 655 bills introduced during the legislative session. The Senate passed 73 out of 628 bills. Both the House and the Senate must approve a bill before it can be sent to the governor’s office where, if signed, the bill becomes law.
Representatives said the process is slower than usual because of the new administration and economic forces.
“This is happening in an economy where there is no more money, and we are not making or adding on government. We are looking at subtracting,” Rep. Martinez said.
Party politics is also stalling the process.
During the 2010 election, Republicans gained eight seats in the House. That narrowed the Democrats’ majority to 37-33. As a result, Republican legislators have a strong voice to drive funding for the governor’s legislative agenda.
“The governor told us to fund corrections, education and create long-term goals to permanently fund those programs,” Rep. Larry Larrañaga said.
Larrañaga (R-Bernallillo) said his party will fight for drastic cuts to the state’s film subsidies program.
Martinez said she wanted to decrease the film tax subsidy from 25 percent to 15 percent of overall production costs from the state, a measure House Republicans refuse to back down from.
Democrats are opposed to changes they say could affect job creation from film productions in New Mexico.
No bill intended to reduce the film subsidy has passed any committee, and the debate had stalled the House budget from being approved.
Senate leaders from both political parties might compromise with a cap between $45 million and $60 million, plus tighter regulations for state spending on film productions.
However, legislators have not supported a broad compromise.
“I do not support the $40 million cap,” Larrañaga said. “We need to ensure that money spent on the film program is accountable.”
As the budget bill faces contentious debate in the Senate, other pieces of legislation were killed during a split committee’s party-line vote.
“You can stop practically anything,” Hazlett said. “Because if you put forth a motion and you get a tie vote, the motion fails on the tie vote. There have been a lot bills that have already gone down the tubes this session because of that phenomenon.”
In an effort to protect checks and balances, the Senate and the House stipulated a joint resolution that requires approval of a budget bill by the 36th day of the session. The measure is intended to give legislators 72 hours to debate budget vetoes or recommendations Gov. Martinez makes during the 20 days she is allowed to review the budget bill.
If legislators do not get the chance to review the governor’s budget recommendations, they will most likely call for a special session, in addition to the 60-day legislative session.
Although a budget was passed, the Legislature is still behind schedule, and a special session will most likely take place, Hazlett said.
“In that case if she (Gov. Martinez) line-item vetoes something, there is a pretty good chance there will be a special session,” he said.
