Senate Minority Leader Said Senate Did Its Job- House Leadership Did Not Act

For Immediate Release Thursday, February 18, 2010 Contact: 505-986-4702 Senate Made Effort- House Leadership Did Not Act on Senate’s Budget Version -Special Session Coming-Minority Leader’s Video/Audio available at: www.newmexicorepublicansenators.blogspot.com And on Youtube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvCPiCuJ2O8 Santa Fe- There was nothing more the New Mexico Senate could do to avoid a special session which it expects to call for itself after first quarter revenue estimates are known. The Senate did its work on the budget. The House Leadership did not even consider the Senate’s version, failing to even have a chance at compromising. “The efforts were here. The Senate operated extremely well. Hopefully if we come back soon in a special session, we can agree to things,” Senate Minority Leader Stuart Ingle said at the close of the session. “Our revenues are fluctuating, we all know this is a real tough time for New Mexico.” The Senate passed its version of the budget early Sunday morning, giving the House five days to take action. But the House never took any action on the Senate’s version. It ignore it. The House Leadership never referred the Senate’s budget to House committees, it never brought it up before the full body for concurrence. The question is “why not?” The budget bill languished on the concurrence calendar for five days. Furthermore, the House failed to meet the Senate/House Joint Rule 9-1 which states the House needs to pass its own version of the budget on the 16th calendar day, it passed two days after that. “The Senate is not making excuses, it is just stating facts. We do not have a new budget because House Leadership sat on our budget version and never took action, it is as simple as that,” Senator Steven Neville (R-Farmington) said. Senator Neville is a member of the Senate Finance Committee that worked hard to craft the Senate’s version of the budget. The Senate expects to call itself into a special session after the revenue estimates for the first quarter of 2010 are known so it can base its next proposed budget on the latest, most accurate revenue information possible. While the governor has threatened calling a special session as early as next week, some Senators say that would not be wise because nothing is expected to change before then. “My constituents would prefer a special session with hopes of containing the cost of government than have a budget today with hundreds of millions in tax increases,” Senate Caucus Chair Dianna J. Duran (R-Tularosa) said. “The governor is blaming the legislature for not doing its job. If the governor were so concerned about a balanced budget during this financial crisis, why did he send down messages on over 200 issues in addition to the budget that he wanted passed this limited session. The governor sent down 131 Messages to the House and 78 Messages to the Senate on issues that were not budget-related. The governor did not give us a detailed budget, but clogged up the system by wanting us to pass 209 other issues like domestic partnership. Could this have been intentional to bog us down? I am not making excuses, just stating the facts,” Senator Bill Sharer (R-Farmington) said. “The governor is blaming that a compromised budget is not reached. Instead of blaming the legislature, why didn’t the governor supply a detailed budget that include areas that he wanted cut in the first place? He didn’t want to do the heavy lifting, he wanted the legislature to detail the cuts to state government so he would not be blamed for them. This is the first time I ever recall a governor not submitting a detailed budget,” Senator Neville said. There was concurrence on Senate Bill 182/a which will build reserves of up to $150 million dollars if the governor signs it. End