Legislature Roundup — Jan. 30

• Days remaining in session: 50

• Open contract negotiations: Senate Minority Leader Bill Payne, R-Albuquerque, wants contract negotiations involving state employee unions to be open to the public.

“The secrecy surrounding the negotiations between the public government entity and the union representatives should end,” Payne said in a news release Thursday. “All other financial discussions in state government are open to the public. The public has the right to know how their tax dollars are invested, how and why certain decisions are made about their tax dollars.”

Besides wages, other items decided in contract negotiations include employee hours, terms and conditions of employment, paid holidays, paid sick leave and paid vacation days.

Payne’s Senate Bill 264 would make it state law that collective bargaining sessions are open to the public at all times. The measure would require reasonable notice of those meetings, published on the website of the appropriate state agency prior to the meeting.

• New regs for taxi competitors: Companies like Uber and Lyft would be subject to new regulations under a bill introduced in the House this week by Rep. Monica Youngblood, R-Albuquerque. House Bill 272, co-sponsored by Sen. Phil Griego, D-San Jose, would apply to companies that are paid to supply rides in drivers’ personal cars for customers who usually arrange for a ride through a smartphone application.

Such companies have begun operations in Santa Fe and Albuquerque over the past year.

“Ride-sharing services provide a safe ride home and good jobs,” Youngblood said in a news release. “Putting this law on the books will not only expand ridesharing services -- it will give New Mexicans better transportation options and help reduce drunken driving.”

The news release from the House Republican office says such businesses “have expanded safe, reliable transportation options for New Mexicans. In addition, they provide valuable economic opportunities.”

Taxi companies and their employees are far less enthusiastic, arguing that Uber and Lyft represent unfair competition because, unlike other transportation companies, they are not regulated.

The bill would require the businesses to provide insurance and conduct rigorous background checks on drivers.

• Outdoor enthusiasts rally: Hundreds of outdoor enthusiasts converged on the Capitol on Thursday in an effort to persuade lawmakers to drop efforts to transfer federal public lands to state control.

So far, only one measure on the issue has been introduced, which would ask the state Department of Finance and Administration to study the revenues earned on federal lands. But more bills are expected.

Proponents of transferring federal lands say the state would do a better job of managing the lands. But sportsmen fear state control would mean loss of public access to those lands. Some lands would be sold to pay for the transfer, they say, and other lands would be used to generate revenue from logging, grazing, oil and gas royalties and other uses.

More than a third of New Mexico's 77.5 million acres are managed by federal agencies.

• Looking ahead: HB 20, a bill that would raise the state minimum wage to $10.10 from $7.50 an hour, is scheduled to be heard at 1:30 p.m. Friday by the House Regulatory and Public Affairs Committee in Room 315 of the Capitol. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Luciano “Lucky” Varela, D-Santa Fe.

• Quote of the day: “One time I handed Andy Nuñez a check for $500. He didn’t say anything about right-to-work then.” -- Bob Maldonado, a retired union member referring to Rep. Andy Nuñez, R-Hatch, a sponsor of HB 75, a “right-to-work” bill that got a favorable vote Thursday by the House Business and Employment Committee. Nuñez is a former Democrat.

— The Santa Fe New Mexican