The New Mexico legislature passed the first measure of its 60-day session in the usual way, by approving a feed bill that functions as the invoice for the legislative session itself, along with other legislative expenses.
The $11.4 million measure, called House Bill One, or HB-1, generally moves through the early moments of a legislative session in almost perfunctory fashion.
But this time there was one “no” vote in the House, from Republican representative Alan Martinez, and several questions from GOP state senators before that chamber asked members to cast their votes.
One line of inquiry was supplied by Senator Pat Woods, who had questions about the fact that HB-1 allocated money to reimburse legislative aids for travel without specifying how differing travel expenses in rural vs. urban areas would be viewed.
”I just want the group to know that even though we're gonna pass a bill here, it's not all written out in black and white," said Woods.
"It's usually not a good thing to pass a bill like that. This particular one, either we turn the lights off or we pass it. So we're gonna have to pass it.”
Senate minority leader Bill Sharer raised a similar question, but in the end the Senate approve HB-1 unanimously.
The meatiest committee meeting of the day was a nearly three-hour hearing in the House Appropriations and Finance committee.
Three panelists provided committee members with a breakdown of the state’s financial picture.
One of them, secretary of finance and administration Wayne Propst, underscored a point often talked about by state officials and elected leaders.
That is, thanks to the robust tax-revenue generating production of its oil and gas industry, New Mexico is one of the most solvent states in the country.
But Propst also noted the challenge that lies ahead for state lawmakers, as traditional energy revenue continues to flatten or go down in the future while renewable energy production continues to grow.
Legislators across the board are likely to bring up that budgetary dynamic many times over the next two months.
