Editorial: Welcome, legislators, to a demanding session

| The New Mexican

1/15/2008 - 1/15/08

So will this be another short-session case of the New Mexico Legislature convening amid stout resolution, then riding off in all directions?

Our state's 70 representatives and 42 senators convene in the Capitol today at noon for 30 days as the calendar flies, not the six weeks that would mean in workaday terms. At noon on Valentine's day, they'll be out of here, and held to judgment by their fellow New Mexicans: The two-year seats in the House and the four-year terms in the Senate all will be up for election in November.

Whether those lawmakers face serious opposition, or any opposition, at the polls, they want to keep their accomplishments fresh in voters' minds.

All that's expected from the every-other-year short session is a budget. But the process of spending most of our state's projected $6 billion in revenues should, if it's carried out well, be seen as one of investment — in education, in better health and social services, and in construction, maintenance, improvement and equipping of roads and buildings, among many other things.

In an ideal state this would mean decisionmaking for the good of everybody, not trading in pork for the sake of a senator's or representative's district. But no state we can think of meets that description — so the session, as usual, will be one of legislators hounded by their constituents to convert political power into state support for local projects.

Santa Fe seeks $4 million toward the Buckman Direct Diversion to bring water from the Río Grande, $1 million in Santa Fe River restoration work, and a bunch of building repairs, especially at police headquarters. The county wants $5 million for a pipeline to the Cañoncito area southeast of town, $3 million for work on County Road 42 between Cerrillos and Galisteo, and $2.3 million for improvements to the jail.

Add to that a bunch of smaller items, which add up, then multiply by 33 counties and more than 50 cities, towns and other bunches of people, and the clamor for money becomes bewildering to all but the keen minds of full-time Legislative Finance Committee staffers, whose knack for sorting it out is a wonder to behold.

Beyond the budget lie the items on the governor's "call" — which only he can put on the 30-day agenda. Bill Richardson remains a man in a hurry, so on his call is an item that might not even fit in a 60-day gathering: health care reform.

The governor might insist that it's easy, just adopt his plan: The 20 percent of uninsured New Mexicans would get coverage and the state would get a new care authority whose 11 members would be answerable to him. Employers would carry lots of the financial burden — as responsible bosses do already.

The devil, though, will be in the financial details. If any plan is railroaded through in the month to come — without our lawmakers listening closely to, and digesting, testimony — count on years of administrative and legislative tinkering before health care is delivered adequately and fairly to all.

Then there's ethics reform: In the wake of high-level scandals, featuring indictments and convictions, you'd think the Legislature would like to rid our state of even the appearance of impropriety. But it failed to approve reforms worthy of the name during last year's long session. Will it be any different during this election year? A ver ...

Water issues will continue to haunt our state in 2008 and long beyond — but can much be done in the course of a crammed agenda? At the very least, money can be put into mapping our state's aquifers — and, pegged to such spending, perhaps instructions for our courts and the State Engineer's Office to work harder — and closer — on water-rights adjudications.

It promises to be a demanding, downright dizzying, session. We wish the Legislature, the governor and their hundreds of support staffers a smooth and productive 30 days.