McDonald: Capital expenditure needs reform

March 9 was a deadline for Gov. Susana Martinez. That was her last day to either sign into law measures passed in the recently adjourned legislative session or kill them off with a veto.

According to nmpoliticalreport.com, 101 bills were passed during the session that ended a month ago. Among the meatier measures to make it to the governor’s desk for her signature:

Tom McDonald

• A $6.4 billion state budget, trimmed down because of a serious drop in oil and gas tax revenues.

• Compromise legislation that creates a bifurcated approach to the issuing of state driver’s licenses, which finally puts the state in compliance with REAL ID standards.

• Three bills providing nearly $385 million in capital project funding around the state — most but not all of which was approved by the stroke of a gubernatorial pen. (We’ll back to that one shortly.”

I think those were the three most significant accomplishments for the session, but of course a lot of other bills didn’t make it this session. Anti-crime bills and job-creating proposals in particular fell by the wayside, leading to a lot of partisan crossfire that will surely resurface in this year’s legislative races around the state.

Then there were the gubernatorial vetoes. Two in particular especially drew the ire of state Democrats. One was Senate Bill 36, which would have required the state health department to publish a report at the end of each year how many New Mexicans with disabilities are waiting for services.

That seems simple and straightforward, and it sailed through both the House and Senate, before Martinez vetoed it. She said that since the health department is already able to provide this information, “mandating yet another annual report in state law is unnecessary.”

Another veto the Democrats blasted was regarding SB 210, which would have created a fund to pay for Spanish-English interpreters in court. The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Mimi Stewart, said the fund is needed to ensure that “everyone, regardless of language spoken, has equal access to the courts,” but Martinez nixed the bill, saying such funds should continue to come out of the Administrative Office of the Courts general operating budget.

In the end, it was the governor’s line-item vetoes that really stirred things up. In all, she cut about $20 million in proposed funding, from projects as large as $8 million, for a new health education building at the University of New Mexico’s Rio Rancho campus, and as small as a $5,000 request for band instruments at Robertson High School in Las Vegas.

Her executive message was scathingly critical of the lawmakers’ process of selecting its capital expenditures.

Two things about Martinez’s scathing criticism: One is, she’s right. Two: Martinez’s diatribe against the current process being used is setting the stage for another round, in next year’s legislative session. Expect the issue to resurface at that time, with an even louder call for reform.

Tom McDonald is editor of the New Mexico Community News Exchange. Contact him at:

[email protected]