New Mexico In Depth (https://nmindepth.com/series/people-power-and-democracy/page/4/)
This project is a reporting partnership between New Mexico In Depth, KUNM, NMPBS and the New Mexico News Port that attempts to pull back the curtain on how the New Mexico Legislature works and, in some cases, doesn’t. This project is supported by The Thornburg Foundation. Click here to read NMID’s 2016 Legislative Session Special edition.
Lobbyists and their employers spent $236,828 on gifts, wining and dining for elected officials, their guests and staff during the 2016 legislative session. And that’s only a portion of what was spent during the 30-day session because it captures only those times lobbyists spent $500 or more on a single event.
Capital outlay appropriations are a little bit like that Rolling Stones song – you can’t always get what you want.
Sometimes, you might get what you need.
In most instances, you get way less than what you requested.
The 2016 legislative session closed with a whimper yesterday, with many lawmakers twiddling their thumbs waiting for the clock to hit noon so they could go home. In the end, Governor Martinez will receive this year around half the number of bills passed in the previous three 30-day sessions. High expectations that the state legislature would pass significant ethics and transparency measures were dashed. State lawmakers largely sat on their hands.
A bill allowing New Mexicans to see where some ‘dark political money’ comes from died in the House of Representatives Wednesday, the next-to-last day of the 30-day legislative session.
New Mexico’s campaign finance reporting system would become more user-friendly and require more donor information under a bill headed to Gov. Susana Martinez’s desk.
Some state lawmakers fear that making public how they divvy up money each year for public infrastructure projects might harm their re-election chances.
The White House released the President’s budget in an open source format, meaning citizens can explore an interactive, visual budget online. Although several other states do this, New Mexico does not.
In less than an hour Tuesday morning, the Senate Rules Committee killed two good-government proposals, helping cement the Senate’s reputation as the place where ethics and transparency legislation goes to die. One proposal, HJR 5, would have asked voters in November to create a state ethics commission, an idea the New Mexico Legislature has contemplated since 2007. The other, HB 137, would have required lobbyists to report in more detail what they spend on state lawmakers and other public officials. There was not much debate on that legislation before its quick death. There was more back-and-forth on the ethics commission proposal.
A plan to amend the state Constitution to let independents vote in primaries was tabled Monday by the House Judiciary Committee. A plan to amend the state Constitution to let independents vote in primaries was tabled Monday by the House Judiciary Committee.
A national constitutional convention could have produced an amendment to the U.S. Constitution limiting corporate donations in American politics.