Legislators discuss accomplishments and frustrations of 2018 legislative session in New Mexico
Three state legislators representing Lincoln County in New Mexico reviewed their accomplishments and frustrations in the 2018 legislative session.
Legislators discuss accomplishments and frustrations of 2018 legislative session in New Mexico Three state legislators representing Lincoln County in New Mexico reviewed their accomplishments and frustrations in the 2018 legislative session. Check out this story on ruidosonews.com: https://www.ruidosonews.com/story/news/local/community/2018/03/19/legislators-discuss-accomplishments-and-frustrations-2018-legislative-session-new-mexico/439593002/
Dianne L Stallings, Ruidoso News Published 4:48 p.m. MT March 19, 2018
Crime package one of session's highlights
Speaking to the audience at the Republican Party of Lincoln County meeting were from left, State Sen. Bill Burt, State Rep. Greg Nibert and State Rep. Zach Cook.(Photo: Courtesy Photo/Republican Party of Lincoln County)
Republicans lament losing the House majority two years ago
Three Republican state legislators expressed their frustration recently of trying to move bills in a New Mexico Legislature where their political party is in the minority.
Speaking to members of the Lincoln County Republican Party, they recounted successes and failure of the recent 60-day legislative session that ended last month. While they included a package of crime bills as one of the successes, State Rep. Greg Nibert from Roswell, who represents District 59, said the bills that passed "were smaller bills that basically everybody could agree on. The tougher crime bills put forward by Republicans didn't get traction, the tax reform bill didn't get traction and the budget bill was a compromise between the governor, senate and house. It went though, maybe not easily, but without a lot of consternation."
State Rep. Zach Cook, who is from Ruidoso and represents District 56, began by noting that his wife just passed her citizenship test with no wrong answers and took the oath to become a citizen of the United States.
A member of the House Judiciary Committee, he said the passage of the omnibus crime bill was helped by Albuquerque crime constantly being in the news and the legislature being a "reactive" body.
"We talk tough about crime and got some bills passed with bipartisan effort," he said. "I'm just a bit leery about how much the legislature can affect crime and criminals. There are some cultural problems going on in Albuquerque and New Mexico in general, and I don't the know the legislature can fix that."
The package contained five bills that increased the penalty for felons in possession of a firearm; allowed local governments to access funds to retain police officers; helped the Human Services Division gain access to inmates by expanding Medicaid for drug assessment, prevention and treatment services; and changed the status of some offenses with the option of pleading guilty and paying a fine, aimed at reducing the caseload of public defenders and the courts.
"I think that's good," Cook said of the increased penalty for felons with weapons. "I doubt criminals are paying attention to what we're doing and will change their ways, but this was a big one to me. Felons committing violent crimes and possessing a firearm, we should throw the book at them and lock them up for longer than we are doing."
House Bill 266, also part of the package, makes it more difficult to remove interlock devices on cars for those convicted of driving while intoxicated, "a crime that continues to be a problem in New Mexico," Cook said. "In fact, looking at recap of the session today, 33 percent of the driving fatalities in New Mexico are alcohol-related. When I started (in the legislature), there were always big DWI bills with stiffer penalties, but it continues to be a problem. I agree with continuing to make it tougher for people to drink and drive in New Mexico. I think we all agree."
The Democrat majority blocked passage of a bill that would have raised the age definition of "child" for the imposition of life imprisonment for conviction of abuse that leads to death, he said. Another bill that called for the reinstatement of the death penalty, eliminated in 2009, never was heard, and a bill died that would have imposed enhancements for the three strikes rule on certain crimes.
Nibert, an attorney from Roswell serving his first term in the legislature, was a new addition to the judiciary committee in the 2018 session and thanked incumbents for their mentorship. "Being the new guy is a daunting process and I'm trying to learn everything going on in the Round House," he said.
State Sen. Bill Burt, whose District 33 includes the southern portion of Lincoln County, said, "A big part of our job is protecting against bad bills. We're fighting for you every day, but we don't have enough voices."
"What a difference a year makes," he said. "A year ago, the state had less than 1 percent reserves and we were taking money back from different agencies so we could build a budget. And that budget turned out to be about a half a billion dollars less than the year before. That probably was the toughest chore I've had since I've been in the legislature eight years.
"Fast forward 13 months and oil and gas is clicking along. By the end of November, the state increased its coffers by about $200 million and Jan. 24, before we started working on the budget, the House already had built it, but we didn't have the final report. Another $93 million from (gross receipts taxes) from the oil and gas patch had come in. That's phenomenal. I want to say upfront, don't expect that to happen again. That was all because of the ramp-up. It has pretty much leveled off now. We're going to see consistent income, give or take, over the next months and years, and it's going to be at a much higher level."
A "brine" well sinkhole near Carlsbad running under major infrastructure received $35 million to fill and correct, Burt said. Nibert said the funding source for remediation was the vehicle excise tax.
"The state has raised it for years and put (the money) in the general fund and it has not been used for roads," he said. "It will pay for the brine well remediation. We anticipate that to take three years to fully complete. After the third year, the vehicle excise tax money will go into the road fund and not the general fund. It was a mechanism to accomplish that (dedication annually) of tens of millions of dollars. Long-term, it was a stroke of genius, whoever thought it up."
One of the Ruidoso capital outlay projects approved was the renovation of the Horton Complex for a judicial complex among other uses. John Sugg, 12th Judicial District Attorney, saw a bill defeated that he supported and that would have imposed two to three more years on someone, if they committed a crime while they were out of jail on a release.
The budget ended up being $6.3 billion, Burt said. Public safety and education saw a chunk of the increase to boost salaries in the district attorneys' offices, the judicial system and for teachers.
Roads also saw some financial infusion, Burt said.
"This is rural New Mexico," he said. "Everybody has to travel somewhere to get anywhere. And the roads are not always in the best shape, especially the Permian Basin, where they are using heavy trucks. You also have a 16-mile gap (on U.S. 54) north of Carrizozo" that should be constructed in separate projects over the next five years.
Burt said he also was able to guide three of his bills to passage dealing with allowing expanded private use of the SpacePort, expediting the transfer of license military personnel and reserves by fast-tracking credential recognition, and a bill to make New Mexico more competitive with Arizona and Texas by removing the gross receipts taxes for construction on Holloman Air Force Base, which is trying to double the size of its F16 pilot training.
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