Gov. Bill Richardson's assignment for the Legislature is to solve a problem that has vexed the state for decades: extending health coverage to uninsured New Mexicans.

Lawmakers return to work Tuesday for a 30-day session heavy on health care and politics.

All 112 House and Senate members stand for election this year. If that political backdrop isn't large enough, there's the looming election year in which the state's three U.S. House members decided to run for the Senate and leave their congressional seats open for challengers.

One political complication for the session disappeared as Richardson ended his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Richardson outlines his agenda to the Legislature in a State of the State address shortly after the session convenes. Had Richardson remained in the presidential race, he would have been absent for much of the session as he campaigned outside of New Mexico. Nevada holds a presidential caucus four days after the legislative session begins and more than 20 states, including New Mexico, have primaries or caucuses Feb. 5.

Senate Republican Whip Leonard Lee Rawson of Las Cruces expects election-year politics to sour the work of the Legislature.

"Anything that we do this session, besides the budget, is going to be done for the wrong motives, and the results are not going to be real good. There are just too many political interests this session," Rawson said.

His view isn't shared by Democratic leaders in the House and Senate, however.

They expect the Legislature to consider a host of issues: the governor's universal health care plan, ethics and campaign-finance reforms, revisions to a school finance formula and a domestic-partnership proposal to give unmarried couples — homosexual or heterosexual — the same rights and benefits as married couples.

A 30-day session is restricted to budget, tax and spending measures along with proposals placed on the agenda by the governor. Democratic leaders say Richardson has promised to limit the session to allow lawmakers to focus on his priorities such as health care.

The House will try to act quickly on a domestic-partnership proposal and send it to the Senate, says House Speaker Ben Luján, D-Nambé.

"We'd like to get it done within the first week or at the very least very early in the second week," Luján said.

The proposal ran into trouble last year in the Senate, and opponents portrayed it as an attempt by Richardson to gain political support in the gay community for his presidential bid.

Health care could dominate the session.

An estimated 400,000 New Mexicans — nearly 20 percent of the state's population — are uninsured, and 40 percent of New Mexico employers do not provide health insurance to their workers.

"I think what the most important issue is going to be is the governor's health care proposal," said Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez. "We're going to have to look at it very carefully. There is still some concern about the costs."

The governor's proposal would phase in a requirement that all New Mexicans have health care coverage either through private insurance, enrollment in a taxpayer-subsidized program or by showing they have the financial resources to cover their health care expenses.

Employers must contribute to a state-run fund to help pay for covering the uninsured, although that cost would be offset by amounts the employer paid for offering health benefits to their workers.

Some lawmakers question whether the 30-day session provides enough time for the Legislature to thoroughly debate and act on the governor's health care overhaul. Rawson said the governor was pushing the health coverage measure because of his national political ambitions and "just to show that we're making some movement toward socialized medicine."

Sen. Dede Feldman, an Albuquerque Democrat, said in a year-end letter to her constituents that the "upcoming session will be a health policy wonk's dream." But "this dream may turn into a nightmare of professional protectionism, bureaucratic infighting and paralysis brought on by special interests protecting their own purse," she cautioned.

Relations between the Democratic-controlled Senate and Richardson have been strained recently. The governor called a special legislative session last year and then left the state to campaign for president. Angry senators twice adjourned and went home without voting on bills. Senators eventually returned, but Richardson won approval of only a few of the measures he wanted. Domestic partnerships and several ethics measures were among the governor's proposals that failed.

Sanchez said he expected a good working relationship between Richardson and the Senate. The governor met with Democratic leaders recently to prepare for the session.

"His has a very limited agenda this time compared to what he has done in the past. I think he really wants to work with both houses. I don't think he wants to work with just one or the other. I think he wants to form some kind of a consensus between both houses. That makes for better legislating," Sanchez said.

ON THE WEB

• Legislature: http://legis.state.nm.us
• Governor's Office: www.gov.state.nm.us

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