Days remaining in session: 14

Look at them bills: Wednesday was the last day to introduce bills in this session of the Legislature. In the Senate, there are 535 actual bills plus 49 blank "dummy" bills that can be used to introduce last-minute legislation. House members introduced 635 actual bills plus 49 dummy bills. (Few dummy bills become legislation.) According to one staffer in the House Clerk's Office, there are nearly 250 fewer bills on the House side than in the last 30-day session. "That's because the governor sent down a lot fewer messages," the staffer said. Gov. Bill Richardson promised in his State of the State address that he would push fewer bills.

Become a doctor and save $400: The Senate has approved a bill that supporters say would encourage New Mexico medical students to stay in the state when they become doctors by giving them a license for free.

The measure, Senate Bill 127, could also help recruit new doctors to the state by waiving the $400 license fee.

Sen. Steve Komadina, R-Corrales, is sponsoring the measure. "This bill will greatly help the shortage of medical doctors practicing in New Mexico," he said in a statement. "We only retain a third of the medical interns who study in the state now. We could improve those numbers by making it easier for them to begin their medical practice immediately upon graduation by providing free medical licenses."

Read this resolution — no new taxes: Property taxes couldn't be more than 1 percent of a property's current value under a measure introduced by Sen. Bill Payne, R-Albuquerque.

"Local government needs an appetite suppressant to stop it from overeating at the property tax trough," he said in a statement. His measure, Senate Joint Resolution 14, would provide constitutional limits on property taxes.

"As it stands now with the complicated assessments and tax mill levies, property owners of homes and businesses have a difficult time understanding if they are being taxed fairly, making it difficult to challenge the tax assessors," he said. "We need tax policies people can understand, not ones only assessors comprehend."

Quote of the day: "I'd veto it so fast, ... it would tremble, the veto. I'd put my hand on it so hard it would start trembling in this chair." — Gov. Bill Richardson, on his bill to insure all New Mexicans by 2010. The governor was commenting on changes made to his measure by members of the House Health and Government Affairs Committee.

On our Web site: Follow legislative coverage on the Web at www.santafenewmexican.com/legislature/ with updates throughout the day, reader comments, a resource guide with essential links, and blogs by Kate Nash and Steve Terrell.