Legislature Ends Session With No Capital Outlay Bill

This year's general state Legislative session ended today with one big task incomplete: a capital outlay bill, which is usually passed every session and funds several public works projects across the state.

It was just one example of the gridlock and dysfunction that characterized this session, which featured a divided government with a Republican-controlled House of Representatives for the first time in more than 60 years, a Democratic-controlled state Senate and a Republican governor.

The disagreement over a capital outlay blew up yesterday—on the last full day of the session—when a key House committee stripped $45 million in severance tax bonds from a Senate-approved capital outlay bill. The House Ways and Means Committee voted Friday to cut $45 million in the bill that went to senior citizen centers, community colleges and tribes across the state (including places like Santa Fe's Mary Esther Gonzales Community Center) to put toward roads.

In total, the House amended $80 million from the Senate-approved capital outlay bill.

That afternoon, state Sens. John Arthur Smith, D-Bernalillo, and Carlos Cisneros, D-Los Alamos, held a press conference denouncing the changes and stating that they wanted work a compromise with the governor and the House leadership.

Despite staying in session past 2 am, the House never got around to debating the capital outlay changes until Saturday morning, with just hours to go before the noon Legislature's adjournment. At one point during debate, House Minority Leader Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, offered a 149-page amendment that restored much of the funding for senior centers, community colleges and tribes but also drew $45 million from the general fund to pay for roads.

"The time for marksmanship, brinksmanship is over," argued state Rep. Jeff Steinborn, D-Doña Ana, when pleading the House to vote for the amendment. "The time is to act now. Otherwise this capital outlay goes down in flames."

Egolf's amendment failed on party lines. He largely blamed the gridlock on Gov. Susana Martinez and hinted that the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, state Rep. Jason Harper, R-Sandoval, was "carrying water" for her.

"The executive failed in its negotiation of this budget," Egolf said on the floor. "People were stubborn, people put their foot down."

Harper, on the other hand, argued that the Senate was "holding this roads bill hostage" by forcing the House to accept a gas tax raise, an idea championed by Smith this year that also didn't come to fruition.

State Rep. Monica Youngblood, R-Bernalillo, argued that the GOP-sponsored capital outlay bill still featured $22.5 million to help senior citizens.

"I want to thank our colleagues on the left for hurting our committees," she said.

In the end, the House passed the capital outlay bill on party lines with just 15 minutes to go in the session. The Senate, in return, didn't hear it.

Several other pet project bills failed this session. These include Republican-backed efforts to pass a "right to work" law, restrict abortion access, hold back third graders who can't read, ban driver's license from undocumented immigrants, require photo IDs to vote, among others. Democratic-backed efforts to raise the minimum wage, decriminalize marijuana, obtain funding for early childhood education through the Permanent Fund and others also failed.

Yet some measures, such as allowing for research of industrial hemp, tightening penalties on child predators and establishing a statewide Rio Grande Trail for recreational purposes are now before the governor's desk.

Look for SFR to provide a comprehensive recap of this year's Legislative session in the coming days.

Santa Fe Reporter