New Mexico In Depth (https://nmindepth.com/author/gwynethdoland/page/5/)
A fund New Mexico uses to lure economic development was allocated $3 million for 2014, but the just-passed budget, which is headed to Gov. Susana Martinez’s desk, would put $37.5 million toward the fund.
Not all governmental bodies in New Mexico have public comment periods where people attending meetings can address their elected representatives. A proposal moving through the Legislature would make such comment periods state law.
Thirty-three counties and more than 100 municipalities in New Mexico have passed restrictions on mining, oil and gas that go beyond state laws. A controversial bill that would limit that local control passed the House Tuesday.
The New Mexico House on Saturday passed a proposal requiring more transparency from lobbyists, although gone are provisions requiring them to say how much money they make and exactly how much they spend on public officials and others.
A bill scheduled to be heard this week at the Roundhouse could weaken New Mexico’s Whistleblower Protection Act by making it harder for public employees to file such a claim, critics say.
Three-quarters of New Mexico business leaders want the state to have an independent ethics commission, according to a recent poll. Even though more than 40 other states have such a commission the state’s lawmakers have been slow to embrace the idea.
Posting original documents would give New Mexicans a bigger window into state contracts, something that’s important to business owners, says one sponsor of a bill that would put all state contracts on New Mexico’s Sunshine Portal, .
Healthcare eats up 17 cents of every dollar New Mexicans earn. Advocates in Santa Fe want a website to list how much things cost at hospitals across the state.
A few dozen members of conservation groups fanned out across the Roundhouse on Wednesday after a short training session on how to lobby state lawmaker in striking contrast to how the corps of the Roundhouse’s corps of paid lobbyists usually works.
Skeptical lawmakers rejected a proposal Monday that would have required lobbyists to divulge their salaries, file reports of their estimated and actual lobbying expenses, and list the issues—but not the exact bills—they are working on.