Area legislators weigh in on session

It wasn’t an easy 30 days, area legislators said. But nothing worth doing usually is.

The mostly Republican body said a moving-target budget and a ticking clock on a compromise on driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants were the two biggest challenges of the 2016 session, which ended at noon Thursday.

Senate Minority Leader Stuart Ingle, R-Portales could not be reached for comment. But Ingle did release a statement to the media at the close of the session, via the New Mexico Senate Republican Office.

“It was one of the toughest years in the legislature due to the dramatically falling state revenue,” Ingle said in the release. “We came together and we did the most important things that needed to get done. We compromised to fix the drivers’ license problem that has haunted us for five years and we have a scaled-back state budget that still meets the critical needs of our state despite the pressures on the budget because of falling revenue.”

Across the aisle, sentiments of bipartisanship through a murky financial picture was echoed.

“It was a productive session,” said Democratic Rep. George Dodge. “We did what we could with what we had.”

In addition to capital outlay dollars reported last week:

• The area also received $163,125 each for Curry Road I and Curry Roads 4/10/D/V.

• Voters can go to the polls during the general election and decide on general bonds that would provide $11 million for a Golden Library and student success center renovation at Eastern New Mexico University, $2 million for HVAC infrastructure at Clovis Community College, $269,100 for the Clovis senior center meal site, $40,000 Grady Senior Center vehicle, and $136,000 to improve the Melrose Senior Center and its parking lot.

Rep. Randy Crowder, R-Clovis, District 64

What are you happy about with the session? Primarily, I guess the outcome for my district was very healthy. There was the passage of House Bill 270, which dealt with New Mexico patients suing Texas doctors in New Mexico. The unemployment insurance issue, which capped what businesses pay, I thought was very healthy. It caps increases at 2 percent per year. We had a big spike one year.

What is one thing you wish went differently? No, I thought it was a fairly good session. It wasn’t as contentious as people thought it would be. It was productive. It’s an election year. There was more willingness to compromise, work together.

What was the biggest challenge, in your mind? I didn’t see a big challenge. There was a real hard-working effort in the House. The House hit the ground running, and went really hard. So at the end, there wasn’t a tremendous amount of work to be done.

Are you concerned about anything getting the veto pen? I don’t know that I’m concerned about it. I’m optimistic capital outlay and other things will stay as they are. Most of the bills that went through, they came with a message from the governor saying, ‘This is appropriate,’ so I don’t think there will be a lot of vetoes.

Rep. George Dodge, D-Santa Rosa, District 63

What are you happy about with the session? I guess the biggest thing is we did get a budget out. It’s a bare bones budget, but we got it sent out and that’s what we’re sent up there to do. We got a compromise on the driver’s licenses, so that was a win for everybody, I think.

What is one thing you wish went differently? As far as legislation, I had a production tax credit for renewable energy that stalled in the House. But I know how that goes with revenues the way they are.

What was the biggest challenge, in your mind? I think the biggest challenge was coming to some type of budget for the session. The way the oil prices are dropping, and the way the economy is in our state, that was the biggest challenge.

Are you concerned about anything getting the veto pen? At this point, no. I think the governor’s going to do a good job. We passed a lot of good bills. We passed some DWI bills. I think she’s going to be very fair to us.

Sen. Pat Woods, R-Broadview, District 7

What are you happy about with the session? I was very happy with the driver’s license fix, and I was happy with the fix for the out of state doctors, so our eastern New Mexico patients can go back to Texas doctors without worrying about being cut off.

What is one thing you wish went differently? I wished we would have got a legislative fix for the agriculture exemption for workman’s comp. That is still in front of the Supreme Court, which has issued a stay. We’re exempt at this moment, but they’re still going to hear it. So I’m still in the ballgame on that one.

What was the biggest challenge, in your mind? The budget, no doubt. We cut $300 million and I’m afraid it wasn’t enough. We gave public schools a little bit, we gave courts and corrections a little bit, and everybody else is going to be cut some.

Are you concerned about anything getting the veto pen? I’m concerned there may be some capital outlay that gets cut. Somehow, I‘m concerned they’ll find something in the budget they don’t like.

Rep. Dennis Roch, R-Logan, District 67

What are you happy about with the session? There are two big things I’m happy with. The driver’s license fix finally resolves the situation so New Mexico citizens will not be in jeopardy of having to present a passport to get into airports or federal facilities. It’s long overdue to get that fixed.

The other is what I’ve been working on five years. It’s a bill that reduces workman’s compensation benefits to somebody who’s injured while impaired by drugs or alcohol. It was a Senate version that got through, but the policy is going to be enacted when the governor signs it.

What is one thing you wish went differently? I was a little disappointed an independent ethics commission wasn’t sent to the voters. It passed the House, and the Senate really watered it down. I think voters know there’s been a handful of elected officials, Democrats and Republicans, who have strayed from their ethics. The system’s not set up to take care of that. An independent commission is needed, and it fell a little bit short.

What was the biggest challenge, in your mind? The volatility of the revenues. I’m on appropriations. In August, we were forecasted at $293 million over (the most recent fiscal year). By December, the forecast dropped to $232 million. By January, it dropped to $30 million.

After the House passed the budget, new revenue forecasts showed even less than that. It made it impossible to get a budget picture, because the revenue was changing. We’ve built in some authority for the governor to make some unilateral cuts if the budget doesn’t work. If it gets below the authority we’ve given, we’ll have to go back for a special session. I’m hopeful that doesn’t happen.

Are you concerned about anything getting the veto pen? I’m not. I think by nature of a balanced Legislature, where you’ve got one house controlled by one party and the other by another, it forces compromise. The things that get through generate not unanimous votes, but consensus. There’s nothing I’m on the edge of my seat about, except maybe capital outlay projects in my district because they’re priorities in the cities