Legislative roundup

| The New Mexican and wire services

1/21/2008 - 1/22/08

Days remaining in session: 23

GOP ethics package: Democrats in the Legislature have yet to introduce any of the bills recommended by the governor's task force on ethics. Because of this delay, as well as the fact Gov. Bill Richardson barely mentioned ethics in his State of the State address last week, some reform backers privately are fearing the push for ethics legislation might not be strong this year.

Meanwhile, Senate Minority Whip Leonard Lee Rawson, R-Las Cruces, is pushing an ethics agenda of his own. He announced Monday that he will introduce a proposed constitutional amendment to create a state ethics commission, appointed by the Legislature, which would draft a code of ethics for all state officials and could investigate charges of wrongdoing and remove officials from office.

Rawson also has introduced Senate Bill 73, which would require lobbyists who work for government entities to report their compensation. "The public has the right to easily know how much these lobbyists are being paid with the taxpayers' dollars," he said in a written statement.

He's also sponsoring House Joint Resolution 2, a proposed constitutional amendment to pay legislators salaries. This idea was studied but ultimately not endorsed by the ethics task force. He said he also will introduce measures to impose term limits on certain legislative leadership positions and to tighten campaign finance reporting laws. His bill would require quarterly filing of finance reports.

Domestic partners: A proposal to allow for domestic partnerships cleared another hurdle Monday, the House Judiciary Committee, and is heading to the House floor.

Richardson supports House Bill 9, which would give unmarried couples — homosexual or heterosexual — the same legal protections and benefits as married couples. Last year, the House passed a similar measure, but it was killed in the Senate.

The legislation cleared the judiciary panel on a mostly party-line 9-4 vote. All but one of the committee's Republicans, Rep. Eric Youngberg of Albuquerque, opposed the bill.

The state Republican Party issued an alert urging members to call their legislators to vote against what they call an "assault on marriage."

The proposal will allow county clerks to issue certificates of domestic partnership to couples who register with them.

Behavioral health: Monday was Behavioral Health Day at the Legislature. But the effort to get more behavioral-health-related care to New Mexicans will stretch into the next years.

For the 2009 fiscal year, Richardson's budget includes nearly $10 million in funding for behavioral-health-related items. Among others, the programs include mental-health and drug courts for youth and adults as well as post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.

Looking ahead:

The New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops is celebrating a Day of Unity today and will hold a rosary procession from the Plaza to the Roundhouse starting at 1:30 p.m.
The conference is happy it was able last year to block a measure allowing embryonic stem-cell research, an issue it will have to fight again this year at the Capitol. The group will ask Sen. John Ryan, R-Albuquerque, to withdraw a measure he introduced to allow stem-cell research at The University of New Mexico.

At 2:30, the group has scheduled a prayer rally at the Roundhouse.

Richardson's Health Care Solutions Act — HB 62, sponsored by Rep. John Heaton, D-Carlsbad — makes its first stop in committee Wednesday at the House Health and Government Affairs Committee. Also on the agenda, a key competing bill, Rep. Danice Health Care Authority Act, HB 147. The meeting, in Room 309 at 8 a.m., might be one of the more exciting of the session so far.

Today is City of Santa Fe Day, Tourism Day, Boys & Girls Club of New Mexico Day, Pre-Kindergarten Advocacy Day and Culture Day at the Legislature.

Quote of the day: "That is in serious, serious, serious shape."  — Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, on the state's Retiree Health Care Authority.