Nathan Small was elevated from vice-chair to chairman of the House Appropriations and Finance Committee, which is charged with writing the first draft of the state budget each year, always House Bill 2. House Bill 1 is the so-called “feed bill,” which pays for the Legislature’s own expenses.
The change came from the spoils of the battle for speaker between former Finance Committee Chairwoman Rep. Patricia Lundstrom, and the eventual victor, Rep. Javier Martinez. House Democrats counter that this was one of several changes made by the new speaker.
Those changes included local Reps. Doreen Gallegos taking over as chair of the Commerce and Economic Development Committee and Joanne Ferrary taking over the Consumer and Public Affairs Committee. Gallegos had earlier been moved out of her position as majority whip. In the Senate, Joseph Cervantes returns as chairman of Judiciary, and Bill Soules as chairman of the Education Committee. The committees are where the work gets done in the New Mexico Legislature. Some bills are weeded out immediately. Others are amended or rolled into companion bills. The vast majority of bills introduced each year never make it out of committee, and almost nothing makes it through without changes. The two most important committees are Finance and Judiciary. Every bill dealing with money goes through Finance; every bill dealing with law goes through Judiciary. The fact that Las Cruces now has chairmen heading those committees in both the House and the Senate is a big deal. Especially given the lack of representation we have throughout the remainder of state government. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has consistently shown a bias toward her Albuquerque home, and her new home of Santa Fe, when selecting for positions that do not have specific geographic requirements. Karen Trujillo and Bill McCamley both had short stints on the governor’s cabinet before being unceremoniously dismissed. Jeff Witte remains on the cabinet as agriculture secretary, but that’s only because he’s based at New Mexico State University. Lt. Gov. Howie Morales is from Silver City, but he was elected by the voters, not appointed by the governor. No judges or attorneys from Las Cruces have been appointed by Lujan Grisham to the Appeals Courts or the Supreme Court. The new members of the now-appointed Public Regulations Commission include one from Albuquerque, one who was raised in southern New Mexico but has been living in Washington, D.C, and one who came to the Legislature from Clayton but has been working in Santa Fe. The fact that we are four hours from the state capital means we will always be at a geographic disadvantage. Governors typically only come down here for disasters and photo ops. That’s especially true for second-term governors who have no concerns for re-election. And so, we need to look to the Legislature to make sure our interests are not being ignored. Having strong committee leaders will help protect our interests, Walter Rubel can be reached at [email protected]. |
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