There's still about a month to go until the 2009 Legislative session kicks off at the Capitol.

Already, though, Rep.-elect Brian Egolf has been at the Roundhouse, attending meetings, drafting bills and sending questionnaires to his constituents.

The new Democratic representative from Santa Fe is not only the youngest lawmaker, he might just be the busiest. And that seems to be OK with him.

"I want to do everything I can to make sure my kids can raise their family in Santa Fe and now I have that opportunity," he said in a recent interview.

Egolf, 32, is taking the seat of Rep. Peter Wirth, who is moving to the Senate and replacing Sen. John Grubesic.

A 1999 graduate of Georgetown University, Egolf has worked for former President Bill Clinton and U.S. Sen.-elect Tom Udall.

He earned a law degree from the University of New Mexico in 2005.

He's a water lawyer and father of a 1-year old — two factors influencing some of the first bills he'll introduce.

Among Egolf's bills is a push to give more power to New Mexico landowners who hold rights to a surface property but not the mineral rights underneath.

The measure as drafted would require an oil and gas producer to give the surface owner notice of their desire to lease the minerals as well as information about who owns the minerals before a lease could be signed.

Under the measure, the surface owner would have 45 days to contact the mineral owner and negotiate a purchase of the minerals, if they wished.

"The idea is to give notice to surface owners and the option to buy those rights," Egolf said. "It puts the power in the hands of the people who own the surface."

Hearings on the idea, which hits on a hot topic for people in the Galisteo Basin in particular, is sure to attract crowds at the Roundhouse.

"It's not going to sail through without opposition, but it's important to at least start the conversation," Egolf said. He said drilling was a big topic he heard about on the campaign trail.

Egolf also is working on a bill that would prohibit the sale of alcohol to anyone with an ignition interlock installed on their car. Those convicted offenders must have a special driver's license that shows they are only allowed to drive a vehicle with the alcohol-detecting device installed.

Egolf is one of 10 freshman in the House this year, while there are eight newbies to the Senate.

Many of the new Democratic lawmakers have been painted as progressives riding the wave of change inspired by President-elect Barack Obama.

Sen.-elect Eric Griego, an Albuquerque Democrat, said he expects several freshmen to be busy tackling big issues that some may want the federal government to handle.

"I don't think a lot of people are willing to defer to the federal government on health care reform, on immigration reform, on education," he said. "Although there's optimism there will be change by the federal government, while they get their ducks in a line, we have to work away, creating state models."

Along with working with other lawmakers — the freshmen and the more seasoned — Egolf said he plans to be in constant contact with his constituents.

He's beefing up his Web site (www.brianforsantafe.com) now.

He, along with Wirth, will host a meeting with constituents about Santa Fe capital outlay from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Jan. 12 in Room 307 of the Capitol. Egolf is asking people to RSVP on his Web site.

During his work at the Roundhouse so far, Egolf has keyed into who some of the most important people are in the Roundhouse: staffers for the committees on which lawmakers serve.

"The committee staff tends to be very influential to members in terms to learning the substance of the issues and the procedural ways to tackle things," he said. "And I didn't understand before how important their role was," he said.

Contact Kate Nash at 986-3036 or knash@sfnewmexican.com. Read her blog at greenchilechatter.com.