On the deadline for making decisions on legislative bills on her desk, Gov. Susana Martinez signed off on a $5.4 billion budget deal Friday (April 8th) that trims 3 percent from the New Mexico budget while using line-item vetoes on a number of specific spending measures that cut $1.9 million on annual spending and $2.6 million on specific, one-time spending.
Here’s Associated Press with more specifics:
The governor’s reductions included $100,000 that lawmakers had provided for a committee to handle redistricting, $50,000 for pre-session expenses before next year’s 30-day legislative session, $200,000 for state centennial activities next year, $250,000 for the Administrative Office of the Courts to avoid furloughs or layoffs in courts, $450,000 for the Commission on the Status of Women and $349,300 for operating the African American performing arts center and exhibit hall at the state fair…
Also signed were other measures critical for balancing the budget. One bill will limit film production tax rebates to $50 million a year, which frees up an estimated $23 million that was used in the budget to pay for programs. The governor said the subsidy cap was “the key to protecting our core priorities” in the budget. (You can read the entire AP story by clicking here.)
“What I’m most proud of, No. 1, is that [the budget] is balanced,” Martinez said at a news conference Friday afternoon. “And No. 2, we did it without furloughing state employees and we did it without decreasing salaries of state employees, and we did it — especially — without raising taxes.”
But she did raise some hackles with some of the bills she vetoed.
For example, Martinez used a line-item veto on a bill designed to shore up the state’s unemployment fund, which is running low due to the recession and to Congress extending unemployment benefits up to 99 weeks in some cases. House Bill 59 would have pumped in dollars to the fund, which the state’s Workforce Solutions Department says is projected to go insolvent in March of 2012 ,by raising taxes on employers.
But the Governor is loathe to raise taxes and says she’ll work with lawmakers to address the unemployment fund issue when the legislature meets during its special session in September. Critics say the Governor is gambling that the economy will quickly improve and if it doesn’t, it will cost the state more than if she had signed HB59 in its entirety, but the Governor stuck to her anti-tax pledge Friday:
The line-item veto would have increased average payments by a business to each of its employees to about $370 during 2012, according to Associated Press. That’s an increase of about 72 percent. Gov. Martinez kept intact a provision that reduces benefits by nearly $80 million.
Another veto that drew attention came when Gov. Martinez shot down Senate Bill 17, which would have changed the way the State Investment Council (SIC) board is structured — most dramatically, by removing the Governor’s position from the SIC, which was harshly criticized during the administration of former Gov. Bill Richardson as being a political plaything.
SB17 breezed through both chambers during the legislative session with bipartisan support and sponsorship but the Governor had some issues with the bill, especially its proviso that removed the Governor’s position but kept the State Treasurer and the State Land Commissioner on the SIC board:
The bill’s Democratic co-sponsor, Sen. Tim Keller (D-Albuquerque), complained bitterly after the veto, saying an amendment to the bill looking to remove the Land Commissioner was defeated 36-0. “This veto puts us back at the status quo when it comes to the SIC and that’s just unacceptable,” Keller said.
The bill’s Republican co-sponsor, Sen. Steve Neville (R-Aztec) had hoped to speak to the Governor or her staff in the final days before Friday’s deadline but said he was not contacted. In fact, Neville said he didn’t know the bill was officially vetoed until Capitol Report New Mexico called him Friday to get his reaction.
“I’m very concerned about the legislative part of the bill because that’s critical,” Neville said, referring to a provision calling for the majority and minority leaders of each party to determine four members of the SIC board. As it stands, the Legislative Council Service makes those decisions, with input from legislative leaders.
“Those decisions can be essentially controlled by the political strongman at the legislature at the time,” Neville said. “We need to have more eyes on the ball.”
For details on another veto from Friday — a bill that would have established a state health care exchange – click here.
