New Mexico State Senator Dede Feldman's Blog

Ask the Governor to Sign My Bills

        This week I’m asking everyone to contact the Governor’s office by mail (Office of the Governor, 490 Old Santa Fe Trail, Room 400, Santa Fe, NM 87501) or  phone (505-476-2200) or via fax ( ask for the number)  with a request that he sign the bills that I was able to pass during the regular session, especially:

SB 165 & 448: The Credit Security Freeze sponsored by Sen. Sharer and Sen. Feldman to allow consumers to protect themselves vs. identity theft

            SB 407:  Mandate HPV Vaccine Insurance Coverage

SB 428:  Small Employer Health Coverage Wait Period  to allow small non-profits to join a state insurance program without a period of no insurance

SB 486: Conservancy District Liability Immunity to enable Ditches with Trails and other trail projects along conservancy ditches

They really do count the phone calls!

“Sine Die” is Getting a Real Workout This Year

            Just how many times can the Senate Sine Die?  That’s the question of the hour, and it’s ironic, because the Latin phrase “Sine Die,” pronounced in the New Mexico roundhouse as “ Sign-EEE-dye,” means to adjourn without a day certain to meet again.

            Except we do have a date certain this coming week (Thursday), just as we had one last week (Saturday).  That’s because when the other chamber declines to adjourn, the Senate must come back within 72 hours.   Maybe we should change Sine Die to Hasta Luego.  It sure would be more appropriate, since we seem to be caught in an endless war of wills between the Republicans (and a few key Democrats) in the Senate and the Governor that has no end in sight. 

            Caught in the crossfire are some important issues for which the Governor called weary legislators back into session.  They include campaign contribution caps, an ethics commission, public financing for statewide judicial elections, Grip II, domestic partner rights, an increase in penalties for domestic violence, and a registry for methamphetamine houses.

Standoff at the OK Corral - NM style (with audio)

With the special session set to begin tomorrow, legislation important to people across New Mexico waits to be acted upon.  Click to hear me discuss the special session --> Dede032307.mp3 .  Please contact your State Senator and urge him or her to stick with it until the important remaining legislation is acted upon.

Go to the following site for contact information for your State Senator the New Mexico Legislature Website .

Ethics Bills, Domestic Partners at Stake in Iffy Special Session

Call your Senator to Stick in Session if These Matter to You


For me, the Senate’s decision Tuesday to Sine Die reflected more than
exhaustion, more than a fit of pique with the Governor and the House.
It reflected a continued dismissal of ethics reform as urgent business
that the state must deal with one way or the other. As many of you
know these were major, contested issues for me during the regular
session. And, for the most part, I lost. But the Special Session
represents another opportunity to pass some meaningful reforms.

...

To recap what you’ve already seen in the news – the enactment of
campaign contribution limits, public financing for judicial campaigns,
an ethics commission were included in the Governor’s proclamation for
the special, along with GRIP II, domestic partners, and an increase in
domestic violence penalties.

In what seemed like a final blow, my bill to limit campaign
contributions was defeated by one vote in the final seconds of the
session when Sen. Joe Carraro changed his vote, and one Democrat whom
I thought was voting for the measure (Sen. John Arthur Smith) voted
no. Sen. Linda Lopez, Sen. Tim Jennings and Sen. Shannon Robinson
were the other Democrats who voted no.  All  —and I
mean all—of the Republicans voted against the caps—the same measure
that they had moved (unsuccessfully) to push back until 3007.

We still have a chance to pass some of these measures, but first you
have to convince your Senator that ethics reform is an emergency.
That’s certainly what the task force felt; it’s what the Governor
wants, and, I believe it’s what the public wants, too.

But only a massive outpouring from you can help. Contact:

Sen. Lopez [email protected]  phone:986-4737
Sen. Pinto [email protected] phone: 986-4835
Sen. John Arthur Smith [email protected] phone:986-4363
Sen. Michael Sanchez [email protected] phone: 986-4727
Sen. James Taylor [email protected] phone: 986-4862
Sen. Bernadette Sanchez, especially. [email protected] phone: 986-4267

More on this later—but for your amusement, I’ve attached a photo of
the inbox I returned to after the session adjourned on Saturday. I’ve
spent most of the week digging out., and figuring out how to get back
to my business.

Hooray, Hooray…

I always worry that my bills will be caught in the last minute crossfire between the House and the Senate or killed at the last minute on some technicality. So I’m breathing a giant sign of relief as two of my bills have now cleared the House. This morning the House voted 66 to 0 for SB 165 & 448, the Credit Report Security Freeze that will help consumers combat identity theft. The bill still has to come back to the Senate for concurrence, but it looks good. Many thanks to all who helped -- especially the AARP, the AG’s office and my co-sponsor, Sen. Bill Sharer. We got all the opposing parties -- including the big credit reporting agencies, the car dealers, et al., together on a compromise. We couldn’t have done it without the great work of Maha Koury who did the research and drafted the bill’s many amendments and revisions. I may need help later to get the Governor to sign the bill. In my catalog of bills I’ve passed, I put this second only to the Do Not Call Bill we worked so hard on in 2002.

Senate Bill 486, which will allow more rapid development of ditches and trails, passed the House as well. It will remove liability from the MRGCD and other irrigation districts and shift it to the people actually managing the trail. It was rocky going with this bill almost all the way, (the lawyers just couldn’t resist) but we finally made it. This one’s dedicated to all you ditch walkers, riders and runners out there in the North and South Valley.  Special thanks to the Ditches with Trails folks and, especially to Dave Simon, NM State Parks Director.

Truth is Stranger than Fiction Department

I was on my feet for two and half hours last night debating the Campaign Contribution Limits Bill I was carrying for the Governor’s Task Force on Ethics and Campaign Finance Reform.  The bill finally passed, but not before multiple amendments were offered by Republicans.  KUNM radio this morning ran a great story by Jim Williams which really gave the flavor of the debate. One amendment, which initially succeeded, would have rolled the enactment date back to 3007.  Yes, that’s a thousand years from now -- at which time the Senate might begin to consider campaign finance reform, I guess. It’s hard not to become cynical. At another point in the debate one Senator admitted that her best “buds” were corporate lobbyists; at other times, I was the lone Democrat on the floor -- except for my valiant expert witness (and role model) Stuart Bluestone from the Attorney General’s office. 

With Friends in High Places….

In one of the quickest reversals I’ve seen here in a long time, the House passed the Medical Marijuana measure that it narrowly defeated a few days ago. The Governor apparently was instrumental in changing minds in the House, but the Senate did some fancy footwork to get a new bill over to the House in record time.  It just so happened we had another medical marijuana measure, sponsored by Sen. Shannon Robinson, on the floor awaiting hearing. We quickly substituted Sen. Ortiz y Pino’s bill for it and voted it up, thus breathing life into the long awaited measure. The initial measure failed in part because Rep. Al Park was helping present his Indoor Clean Air Act in the Senate that day and he didn’t make it back in time for the vote. But, he got a chance to redeem himself. Al’s doubly lucky because at the same time that medical marijuana bill passed his Indoor Clean Air Act was signed by the Governor, despite some last minute pen rattling by the Governor.

Crunch Time in The Legislature Begins!

Impeachment Drive Ends, Not with a Bang, but a Whimper

Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino’s resolution to have the state ask Congress to start impeachment proceedings against President Bush and VP Cheney died on the Senate floor about an hour ago. The quiet death came on a dull procedural vote to approve the Republicans’ opposition to the “do-pass” Judiciary committee report. The bill had passed through three Senate committees, but when it came to a floor vote it failed -- with 13 voting to keep the measure alive and 26 voting to kill it. There were several Democrats who voted to kill it, some of them probably because they didn’t want to spend 2 or more hours talking about the controversial measure. Thanks to all the people who came up repeatedly for this, gave heartfelt testimony, and tried to put a little fire into the proceedings here.

Hope Still Alive for Ethics Reform

It’s been frustrating for ethics reformers like me in the Senate, but with the help of the Senate Judiciary Committee Chair and the Majority leader we are finally moving. At the suggestion of the Sen. Michael Sanchez, Sen. John Grubesic and I are working on an omnibus bill. The bill will be heard tomorrow before the Judiciary Committee. Hope it’s not too late. Meanwhile, the Speaker of the House has a bill for public financing of state and judicial campaigns (HB 818) in Senate Rules. Please call the Chair of the Rules Committee Linda Lopez, the Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, and Sen. John Arthur Smith, the Chair of the Finance Committee, to move Speaker Lujan’s bill to Senate Finance to be heard along with mine (SB 799) which has been there for two weeks without a hearing. The Capitol’switchboard is 505-986-4300.

Conference Committee Still Meeting on the Budget

Somewhere out there, in secret, the conference committee is meeting on the budget. We haven’t heard anything yet, and probably won’t until the very last minute, when we’ll be presented with a 500 page document to go through frantically to see whether the items we value are still in it, have been cut out, or maybe we’ll see some surprises that have not even been discussed by the Senate. Then we go to an immediate vote. So it goes without an open process. Meanwhile, the House has passed a version of the open conference committee bill that I sponsored here only to see it loose by one vote.

I hate to cede the high ground to the House on these good government issues. But, they’re better than us in basketball, too, and have been for several years. It’s times like these that I miss Sen. Richard Romero, a great basketball player, and an even better proponent of campaign finance reform.

Death Penalty Ban Done For in Senate Judiciary

Unexpectedly, the ban on the death penalty, wherein the death penalty would have been replaced by life without parole, was defeated in Senate Judiciary last night. The two wildcards were Sen. Richard Martinez, who was celebrating his birthday, and Sen. Lidio Rainaldi, who unexpectedly voted against the measure. In spite of the defeat, I’ve got to give the grand award for moxy, perseverance and grace to Rep. Gail Beam Chasey, a great lady whom I really admire. You have no idea what it’s like to suffer a defeat like that after so many years of efforts…. Thank her if you get a chance.

Cue the Mariachis

As we enter the crunch and have almost no time to breathe, there’s always something around here to bring relief -- like the huge group of mariachis that came in for Sen. Richard Martinez and Lt. Governor Diane Denish’s birthday yesterday. They were both 49 again, I understand. My birthday’s coming up too -- and I hope to bring in the cleaning crew, if I’m lucky.