The state House of Representatives subcommittee looking into possible impeachment of Public Regulation Commissioner Jerome Block Jr. spent nearly two hours Tuesday discussing who should be allowed to attend closed-door meetings and other procedural matters.

The subcommittee had hoped to have a lawyer hired by Tuesday's meeting, but its co-chairman, Rep. Joe Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, said about six attorneys are under consideration. When asked by a reporter, Cervantes declined to name them, saying some on the list hadn't yet been contacted.

Cervantes said he hopes that he, co-chairman Zach Cook, R-Ruidoso, and Legislative Council staff will have an attorney to recommend by the panel's next meeting on Thursday.

The Legislature has set aside as much as $1 million for the impeachment process.

Block, who represents a Northern New Mexico district that includes most of Santa Fe, is under investigation by the Attorney General's Office over matters including possible misuse of a state-issued gasoline card and driving a state vehicle with a suspended driver's license.

The first-term member of the elected regulatory body also has been indicted on criminal charges related to public campaign funds during his 2008 PRC race.

Block, who recently admitted that he had struggled with addiction to prescription drugs, has said he won't resign from his $90,000-a-year post.

If the subcommittee should find evidence to support impeachment charges, the House would then vote on articles of impeachment. If a majority of House members votes to impeach, the Senate will hold a trial. Two-thirds of senators would have to vote to convict Block in order to remove him from office.

Some members of the subcommittee of the House Rules and Order of Business Committee expressed concern about letting fellow House members and senators attend its meeting for fear it could create a bias.

However, most agreed that barring legislators from the meetings would be useless because audio from the meetings is available via webcast on the Legislature's website.

The panel reserved the right to close some meetings to the public. In 2005, when a similar panel looked into the possible impeachment of State Treasurer Robert Vigil, the only closed-door meeting was at the end of the process. During that meeting, Vigil announced his resignation.

The Block panel's next meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday.

Contact Steve Terrell at 986-3037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com. Read his political blog at roundhouseroundup.com.