New Mexico State Senator Dede Feldman's Blog

Opening day at the legislature & My Constituent Survey

     

New session.  Big new financial challenges.  Same Governor. Same Senate leadership.   That about sums up the first few days of the 2009 legislative session for me.   It's a long session and a steep uphill climb.  But I have confidence that, with your survey results to guide me, we can make it. I've already introduced nine bills, with more to come.  The Governor and the Legislature are now hashing out a solvency plan for the current fiscal year, where we have come up $450 million short.  This must be accomplished before we can go on to tackle ethics reform, health care, the education funding formula, next year's budget or any of the other issues that you've been seeing in the media.

Results are still coming in from the survey I sent out to 6,000 of my constituents in late December.  So far, I've gotten about 530 returns-a great response.  Many of you took the time to write detailed messages as well as filling out the form.  Thank you so much.  I am humbled by your participation and ideas.

When it came to balancing the budget in this time of shortfall, your first choice was using money from unspent capital projects.  The second choice was raising income taxes on the highest brackets, and the third choice was tapping into the tobacco tax permanent fund.  You are not averse to raising taxes, with 53% of you saying you were not the "No New Taxes" type.  In fact, 92% want to increase cigarette taxes, 90% favor increased local option alcohol taxes, and a slim majority (52%) favor a 1% increase in gross receipts taxes for a boost to the public school funding formula.

If it comes to temporarily cutting programs (and it will) you identified cultural affairs as the first choice, roads and buildings second, and water projects third.  Last choice for cuts was public education, and programs for poor people. 
 
My first priority-- when it comes to the budget-- will be protecting funding and access to quality heath care and public education.   It will be a tall order.  I am glad to hear that you would give up a little of the capital outlay money that I've been able to bring back.  That will probably be necessary.

With the help of the Attorney General, I am sponsoring a bill to limit campaign contributions, and one to establish an independent Ethics Commission.  I am also trying to strengthen the one pay-to-play bill that we have on the books, which I passed in 2006, and open up legislative conference committees to the light of day.  Maybe this is the year.

When it comes to health care, 96% of you wanted to mandate that hospitals report hospital-acquired infections; 92% want insurance companies to allow patients to choose their own doctor by contracting with any qualified provider; 92% want to maintain Medicaid funding levels, 89% want pharmaceutical companies to disclose the value of gifts given to doctors and other providers, and 74% want a Medicare-style universal insurance coverage pan for all. 

Last week I introduced a bill to require insurance companies to contract with qualified providers so that patients can maintain their doctors even if they have to change plans.  About 12 other states have this plan. I also introduced a bill to require pharmaceutical companies report gifts over $25 (except for free samples) made to doctors.  UNM Health Sciences Center has already banned these gifts.  I plan to sponsor another bill on hospital-acquired infections as well.  Meanwhile, the administration this year is taking a more incremental approach to expanding health care coverage, including some important insurance reforms and consolidations that I support.

Among other survey results: 
 *94% want stronger enforcement and increased penalties for Off-Highway Vehicle operators who damage public and private property.  Sen. Phil Griego and I will introduce a bill this week to address this problem.
 *90% want the state engineer to license deep wells drilled on the West Side
 *77% oppose Tax Increment Development Districts on the West Side
 *64% favor replacing the death penalty with life without parole
 *54.5% oppose election-day registration
 *61% feel they are receiving inadequate services from the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District
 *77% want modest improvement of trails along ditches.   This week I will be introducing a bill to dedicate a small portion of property tax revenues collected by the Conservancy in Bernalillo County to a trails program on selected ditches and drains.  Bernalillo County taxpayers account for 68% of the assessments paid to the District, although most do not irrigate.

Here's an opening day picture of me with newly elected Senator Steve Fischmann who defeated Republican Whip Leonard Lee Rawson.

Thanks again for sharing your views.  Please contact me while I'm in Santa Fe at 1-505-986-4300, e-mail me at [email protected]. or drop by my office in Room 300.  Information on various bills, schedules and committees is available at www.legis.state.nm.us.  I'll be sending out periodic e-newsletters and I'll continue to post new as often as I can on my blog at http://senatorfeldman.typepad.com. 

With hope and warmest regards,
Senator Dede Feldman

For more on Ethics Reform Possibilities... see today's Albuquerque Journal

Earlier ethics reform efforts have helped set the stage for ethics reform in 2009.

 

You can access the trial online version of the Albuquerque Journal to see today's article on ethics reform efforts in New Mexico by Jeff Jones.

Upcoming NM Legislature, 2009 Constituent Survey & the APS School Board Race

Conflict of Interest Takes Center Stage

 Whoa!  Ever since Gov. Bill Richardson has withdrawn his name for consideration for Commerce Secretary, my phone has been ringing off the hook.  I've gotten calls from the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, among others about what our current contracting laws permit and what they forbid when it comes to contributions - and what we're going to do about it now.  This week, there was an editorial in the NYT about it, too. The Sunday's New York Times, ( Download Inquiry Highlights New Mexico’s Few Ethics Laws ) quoted me in their article on ethics reform. 
 
My own constituents have been weighing in on several related ethics questions too, in my annual survey.  I've gotten about 450 responses so far and here are the results:

92%  want to limit campaign contributions
83.6%   favor an independent ethics commission
65.8%   favor public financing of political campaigns
95.6%   favor additional lobbyist disclosures
91.7%   favor strengthened oversight over state contractors
86%   favor open legislative conference committees

Bills, Bills, We Got Bills

I'm working with the Attorney General on a bill to limit campaign contributions and set up an independent ethics commission, and I plan on introducing both next week.  Many of you know the history here:  the Senate has killed both measures in the past, albeit narrowly.  This year, with a new crop of Senators, many of whom were elected on a reform platform, I'm hoping that we'll get better results.
 
I'm also working on trying to broaden a bill proposed by Governor Richardson (yes, he has been a supporter of ethics reform!)  we passed in 2006 which bans campaign contributions during the procurement period from prospective contractors to the applicable public official. I'm hoping to address the perception (remember, there are no indictments yet) of a pay-to-play atmosphere in our state.   I expect there will be other bills to do this as well, including one from Senator-elect Tim Keller to ban all contributions from state contractors.
 
Another conflict of interest bill that I'm proposing has to do with gifts to doctors and health care providers from pharmaceutical companies.  This goes beyond the pens and mugs with the company logo.  There's been much coverage of the fact that PHARMA, the association of pharmaceutical companies, recently decided to give up doling out goodies with their logo on them.  But they haven't cut back on the tens of thousands of drug reps in doctors' offices offering more than just a mug.  There are tons of trips, studies, seminars, lunches, and other more substantial gifts that affect prescribing practices.  The pharmaceutical industry spends $7 billion each year on this kind of direct marketing to physicians.  The UNM Health Sciences Center, acting on proposals from medical students, this year banned this kind of marketing.  My bill "The Prescription Drug Ethical Marketing Act" requires the drug companies to report gifts they give to physicians over $25.  It does not ban or affect free samples.  There was recently a great article about this topic in the New Mexico Independent .

APS School Board Race Going on Right Now:  Lorenzo Garcia's my Man
 
I've often said that APS school board members  are some of the most powerful officials we have.  Yet right now, the  contested school board race in the North Valley and West Side  is slipping beneath the radar, almost undetected.    I'm  supporting Leonard Garcia.  Click Download Lorenzo_garcia for more information.  I served with him on the Albuquerque Citizens Advisory Board back in the late 1980s and know that his commitment to kids just won't quit.  Don't forget to vote on February 3.

A Look Back at 2008 and Welcome to 2009

A Look Back at 2008

It has been a watershed year. I have never seen anything like it, not just in my 12 years as a public official-- but also in my lifetime. The level of political engagement and expectation is at an all time high, yet the economic crisis we face is huge.  Sometime in the next few months we will have a new Governor, Diane Denish. Until then, we're not really sure who is in charge on the 4th floor of the Roundhouse.  In addition, this year's elections have swept a new group of Senators into the legislature on the coattails of hope and the promise of change.  We will need their energy-and yours--to address the nearly $500 million shortfall in this year's budget and another tough budget next year.

Click to access my annual constituent survey here ( Download FeldmanSurvey-2009 ), which reflects this economic dilemma. I hope you will download it, fill it out, and mail it back to me at Sen. Feldman, 1821 Meadow View NW,  Albuquerque, NM 87104.  I need your opinion to guide me in Santa Fe.

First the Bad News

I guess our state is not in the worst shape economically, compared to others.  But over the holiday I was reading about some of the proposals to come up with over $500 in revenue to balance this year's budget.  They included things like reducing funding for schools and colleges, as well as cutting benefits for the elderly, handicapped and their caregivers. No one dare mention the idea of increasing taxes or eliminating loopholes in this time of recession.  Instead we hear of proposals to reduce payments to health care providers, cut prescriptions, dental, vision, and podiatry services for Medicaid recipients. It's almost taken as a given that we should enroll no one new in any of the state's insurance programs, or, if they are enrolled already, make them pay more in premiums and co-pays. 
That's ironic, because this is when people need it the most. But now there's no money.

One hope (remember Hope?) is that our new President Barack Obama will come to the states' aide with an economic stimulus plan of between $550-700 billion.  The money would support state programs as well as putting people to work rebuilding schools, libraries, roads and bridges.  One of our now-senior Senator Jeff Bingaman's aides, testified before the interim Health and Human Services Committee in December that one distinct possibility is that as part of a stimulus package, Congress will increase the federal matching funds for the Medicaid program, thus enabling New Mexico to continue the progress we've made in enrolling people through the state coverage initiative (SCI) and other programs.  But that is later.  This is now.  

Now the Good News

Every year at this time as I prepare to send out my constituent questionnaire, I update my voter list from the Bernalillo County Clerk.  This year, the mark of real change was clear.  There are 3,871 new voters since last year!  This is the work of scores of volunteers who registered people who had never voted before, both young and old, Democrat and Republican.  I had several friends who registered 100 + students at the Jobs Corps over the course of a couple of days.  Others sat outside supermarkets, and worked at special events.  Of those newly registered, 2,606 actually voted. 1431 of these were Democrats; 630 were Republicans and 545 were people who declined to state which party they preferred.  Empowering more people is what it's all about in a democracy.  I am proud to have had a part in this historic election year-yes, I'm a voter registrar, and yes, I continued to walk the neighborhoods for my favorite candidates, even after I won my own race in June with 80%.  Thank you registrars, and thanks to my strike force of volunteer walkers who covered neighborhoods from the far Northeast heights to the lanes of Duranes.  Things will never be the same.                        

Wrapping up 2008
During the interim I have been busy as the Chairperson of the Health and Human Services Committee, examining problems (and potential solutions) to this state's health care crisis.  Except for the two bills I was able to pass last session, health care reform failed.  But the crisis persists, with even more people joining the 420,000 who have no insurance, and costs continuing to escalate. In spite of the current economic crisis, I will not give up, and I hope you won't either.  There will be several bills introduced this session, and Washington will soon weigh in.  Stay tuned.

In retrospect, this past summer's special session was a mixed blessing.  Working families got some help in the form of increased health care coverage for more children, day care assistance, and increased low-income tax credits. Yet the legislature acceded to the Governor's request for $56 million in tax rebates, which we sure could use now to address our shortfall.

The legislature will also take up some unfinished ethics and campaign finance business in January, following on the high profile conviction of the Senate's former President Pro Tempore, Manny Aragon.  The most prominent issues this time will be the establishment of an independent Ethics Commission and a limit on campaign contributions.  I will be introducing several bills and fighting for others to set our house in order.  

 
Students from Los Puentes Charter School visiting Sen. Feldman during the 08 session.  Students are always welcome. It's a great learning experience.  Call Sen. Feldman's secretary at 505-986-4300 during the legislative session to arrange for your child to be a page, or to schedule school trips.