Santa Fe – They’re coming back, but there remains a question of just how long they’ll stay.
The New Mexico Senate returns to the Capitol today for a special session that has stalled because senators have been unwilling to bend to Gov. Bill Richardson’s demands to pass a handful of measures that failed during the recently ended 60-day session.
Twice the Senate has convened, but quickly decided to adjourn without considering any of the bills Richardson sought, including a domestic partnership proposal, a $200 million local road financing package and limits on campaign contributions.
Last week, the House passed nearly all the measures – except for campaign contribution limits – and then recessed to wait to see what the Senate did.
So far, the Senate hasn’t budged.
“I guess we’re at a three-way impasse,” Senate President pro tem Ben Altamirano, D-Silver City, said Wednesday. “The Senate apparently doesn’t seem to want to change its stance. The governor, I don’t suppose, wants to call off the special session. And … the House doesn’t want to adjourn.” At least five of the Senate’s 24 Democrats won’t be able to attend today’s session, said Altamirano, which means there probably will be enough votes to adjourn again if senators want to do that. The House is not scheduled to meet.
Altamirano plans to talk with Richardson before the Senate session to see if a compromise is possible on any of the legislation, such as the road financing plan, that might clear the way for the Senate to debate and vote on some of the House-passed bills.
“Of course, everything is an if,” said Altamirano, “one big question.”
Senate Republican Whip Leonard Lee Rawson of Las Cruces said if the governor is “willing to moderate his position a little bit, then there might be some common ground” on certain legislation, potentially the “GRIP 2” road financing bill.
“The bills, the way they’re sitting, aren’t acceptable to the Senate. We voted them down during the session and the reason we haven’t done anything with them is we still don’t like them,” said Rawson. “So if he’s (Rich ardson) taking a position that’s the only way he’s going to take them, then there’s not a lot of sense to keep meeting.” The road package would dedicate about $50 million a year in state bond financing to help pay for more than 100 local and tribal projects costing $313 million. Local governments would have to pick up the tab for about $105 million of the cost.
Some lawmakers, such as Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, question whether it’s fiscally prudent to earmark part of the state’s severance tax bonding capacity for new road projects when a $1.6 billion transportation program enacted in 2003 – known as GRIP – is running short of money because of rising construction costs.
Rawson suggests that the proposed road building package might find more support in the Senate if Rich ardson agreed to cover its costs through the governor’s share of yearly capital outlay financing.
Opposition to the domestic partnership bill is strong in the Senate – and with potential Democratic supporters being absent from today’s session – the measure is in “deep trouble,” said Smith.
“Right now the Senate has the horsepower to sine die (adjourn) still. The Senate also has the horsepower to pick and choose what bills we want to look at,” said Smith.
Also unresolved is a question of how to pay for the special session. The House approved a bill allocating about $476,400 for session expenses, but the bill hasn’t passed the Senate.
