Jan. 16—State legislators go to work Tuesday, but already there are winners, losers and chronic wasters of time and money.
The best evidence of who’s onto something important and who’s squandering resources can be found in proposals already filed for the 60-day session.
Republican Sens. Pat Woods and Crystal Brantley get demerits for saddling a bill-drafter with a useless measure. They have filed a joint resolution requesting Congress call a constitutional convention to impose fiscal restraints on the federal government and term limits on federal officials.
The proposal by Brantley and Woods does not yet have a tracking number, though that doesn’t matter. Their resolution is bound for a legislative graveyard. Whether its final resting place is in Santa Fe or Washington is the only question.
Woods, Brantley and other Republicans who complain about overspending in Washington always ignore the reality that no presidential administration or Congress wants to cut the defense budget. That’s fine with most residents of New Mexico. They covet the paychecks military installations and national laboratories provide.
As for term limits, state legislators have always rejected bills to cap their own time in office. The gang in Washington is even more tenacious in guarding its power.
Members of Congress say seniority positions them to deliver for their districts. They love pork as much Jimmy Dean did.
Sen. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces, has also taken a wayward path on legislation. His failure is minimizing the role of his legislative chamber in a financial scandal at Western New Mexico University.
Western’s Board of Regents paid then-President Joseph Shepard $1.9 million to resign from office. In a second act of campus welfare for a wealthy pal, the regents handed Shepard a full professorship in the school of business. He will receive $200,000 a year for teaching two online classes per semester, deal-making sure to demoralize Western’s faculty.
Four of the five reckless regents have resigned, but their ineptitude inspired Steinborn. He’s filed a bill proposing 10 hours of mandatory training for regents of all state schools. They would study weighty matters such as ethics and money management.
Steinborn should introduce a companion bill requiring training for himself and the other 41 state senators. The Senate confirmed Western’s free-spending regents in familiar fashion. No hard questions were asked. Platitudes were plentiful.
Only once in the last decade have senators rejected a governor’s nominee for any university board of regents. The hapless candidate was Matt Chandler, chosen by then-Gov. Susana Martinez for a seat on the board governing the University of New Mexico.
Chandler, a Republican, was treasurer of a political committee that circulated false advertisements about Democratic candidates. His tactics energized a Senate that seldom scrutinizes nominees for regent seats.
For every dozen bad or unnecessary bills, a couple of measures for good government can be found.
At some point during the session, many of the 112 legislators will lecture one committee or another on the value of transparency. Rep. Matthew McQueen, D-Galisteo, continues to do more than talk.
He again has filed a proposed constitutional amendment to end the practice of pocket vetoes by the governor. Pocket vetoes by definition are secretive. They enable the governor to kill a bill by refusing to acknowledge it.
Under McQueen’s House Joint Resolution 2, every bill approved by the Legislature but ignored by the governor would become law. That approach makes sense. If the executive can’t be bothered to decide on a bill, the legislative branch should have its way.
Members of the House of Representatives last year had time to debate McQueen’s resolution to end pocket vetoes, but they avoided the issue. At least some lawmakers in the majority party didn’t want to rile a fellow Democrat, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.
As McQueen’s proposal died, House members turned their attention to a bill for a specialty license plate recognizing Smokey Bear. Both the House and the Senate in the final 12 hours of the session rushed to approve the measure on Smokey.
Rep. Art De La Cruz, D-Albuquerque, was among the lawmakers who took up for Smokey Bear. He is back this year with a proposal for another specialty license plate.
De La Cruz’s House Bill 23 would create an Iron Horse plate for motorcycles at least 35 years old and rated as collectors’ items.
New Mexico already has a Horseless Carriage plate for other classic vehicles, such as De La Cruz’s 1959 GMC truck.
“I also own an older motorcycle. Why one [specialty plate] for cars and trucks but not for motorcycles?” De La Cruz said. Creating the Iron Horse license plate “incentivizes people to protect these classics.”
At least De La Cruz’s proposal isn’t as bad as a bill that called for a specialty license plate for West Las Vegas High School. Martinez used a pocket veto to kill that one.
Another of De La Cruz’s early filings looks out for people who usually aren’t wealthy enough to own collectors’ items.
House Bill 22 would amend the state’s minimum wage law to ensure that workers receive all tips paid through credit cards. Employers could not use any portion of tips to cover credit-card processing fees or other costs.
The bill emulates wage laws in other states. “I look for best practices in legislation,” De La Cruz said.
Put that on a bumper sticker or even a license plate, Mr. Representative.
Ringside Seat is an opinion column about people, politics and news. Contact Milan Simonich at msimonich@sfnewmexican.com or 505-986-3080.