The Legislature will send a question to New Mexico voters this November that could begin the breakup of the troubled Public Regulation Commission.

After a lengthy debate, the Senate on Wednesday night voted 40-0 to pass House Joint Resolution 16, a measure that will ask New Mexicans to change the New Mexico Constitution to place the oversight of corporations with the Secretary of State's Office instead of with the Public Regulation Commission.

It was one of three constitutional resolutions targeting the PRC that were up for consideration in the Senate. The other two measures were on the Senate floor schedule, but it was unclear when, or if, they would be heard. Such resolutions don't require the governor's signature.

The Legislature's 30-day session ends at noon Thursday, when bills that haven't passed both the Senate and House will die.

One of those PRC resolutions would set up the Insurance Division as an independent agency, while another would give the Legislature authority to establish minimum qualifications for members of the elected regulatory body. Currently, the Insurance Division falls under the PRC's purview.

Asking voters to transfer oversight of corporations to the Secretary of State's Office was the easiest fix for state lawmakers to embrace, judging by the comments on the Senate floor.

"I think this is the easiest of all the PRC constitutional amendments we are looking at," Sen. Minority Whip William Payne, R-Albuquerque, said of HJR 16. "I think this is a common-sense proposal."

Not all lawmakers were as optimistic.

"I've said I think there will be additional cost," Sen. Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, said of the proposed change.

The PRC has limped from scandal to scandal in recent years, but reforming the agency emerged as a priority after former commissioner Jerome Block Jr. resigned and pleaded guilty to felony charges last fall. Block's admission to fraudulently using a state-issued gasoline card and embezzlement, among other things, left another black mark on an agency already known for its share of scandals since it came into being in 1999.

"We're pleased voters will have an opportunity to vote on one of three reform measures," said Fred Nathan, director of Think New Mexico, a Santa Fe think tank that suggested several reforms in a report published last fall.

Wednesday night's vote on HJR 16 came with only about 15 hours left in the legislative session. While the New Mexico Legislature has achieved its primary goal -- passing a $5.6 billion state budget -- many important bills remained tied up in legislative committees or on the House or Senate floor Wednesday evening.

The so-called capital-outlay bill was working its way through the Legislature. House Bill 191, a $130 million piece of legislation that pays for brick-and-mortar projects across New Mexico, would inject more than $14 million into Santa Fe County. It was headed to the House floor Wednesday night after the House Appropriations and Finance Committee approved the bill, but not before members added $20 million to a project meant to rebuild the Paseo del Norte interchange with Interstate 25 on Albuquerque's north side. Lawmakers found the $20 million by removing capital money earmarked for the state's six transportation districts, legislative staff said.

That bill must clear both the House and the Senate before noon Thursday. But Rep. Jim Trujillo, D-Santa Fe, the sponsor of the capital-outlay bill, predicted the legislation would face little, if any, opposition on the House floor or in the Senate. That doesn't guarantee the bill will become law, however. Gov. Susana Martinez has said she might veto HB 191 because it funnels too much money to small projects in lawmakers' districts instead of to statewide needs.

One of the governor's priorities, meanwhile, passed the House on Wednesday. By a 47-23 vote, state lawmakers in that chamber approved a bill that would improve student achievement by holding back third-graders if they can't read proficiently.

HB 69 faces an uncertain future in the Senate, however. Sen. Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, said he believed it probably wouldn't pass that chamber.

Senate Bill 9, sponsored by Santa Fe Democratic Sen. Peter Wirth, squeaked through the House late Wednesday on a 36-33 vote. The vote sends the legislation to the first-term Republican governor, who has said she would veto Wirth's legislation. The Democratically controlled Legislature will now force her to live up to her word.

Wirth has sponsored similar legislation in each of the past eight sessions, but it has never gotten this far. This year's version would would require out-of-state big-box retailers with stores 30,000 square feet or larger to file state corporate income-tax returns the same way as their in-state counterparts.

Wirth's original bill would have required all out-of-state corporations to file returns like their in-state counterparts.

Currently, out-of-state corporations have a choice when filing a state corporate tax return. They can either file a combined report that separates out how much profit was earned in New Mexico versus what was earned in other states, or they can file a separate return that allows them to expense profits to states that don't have a corporate income tax, such as Delaware.

Gov. Susana Martinez has said she would veto Wirth's bill if it made it to her desk.

Another high-profile priority appeared threatened Wednesday night.

New Mexico's two public retirement systems -- Public Employees Retirement Association and the Educational Retirement Board -- are dealing with a $10 billion gap between cash on hand and what is required to pay both current and future retirees.

Many lawmakers have said reforming both funds is a must. And going into the 30-day session, some viewed the educational retirement system as the easier fix. But with hours to go, two pieces of legislation that would make changes were stuck in legislative committees, decreasing their chances of survival.

Reporter Steve Terrell contributed to this story.

Contact Trip Jennings at 986-3050 or at tjennings@sfnewmexican.com.