Morning Word: Lawmakers Return to Santa Fe on Friday

Special Session Set for Friday

Lawmakers are headed back to Santa Fe on Friday for a special session to

and to consider the governor’s crime legislation, including a proposal to reinstate the death penalty in New Mexico.

Funding Cutbacks

Santa Fe Community College, like other higher education institutions, is

up to $750,000.

Insurance Firms on Hook for Back Taxes

John Franchini, the state insurance superintendent, told lawmakers on Wednesday that he

of the $193 million insurance companies owe in back taxes, which would go a long way toward lowering the state budget deficit.

PRC Approves PNM Rate Increase

On Wednesday, Public Regulation Commissioners

for the Public Service Company of New Mexico. The approved rate hike was a little more than half of PNM’s requested increase of $123.5 million in annual revenue, but higher than the $41.3 million recommended by a PRC hearing officer. Parties on both sides of the issue say they’ll appeal the decision. PNM says it will file another rate increase request at the PRC by the end of the year.

State Drug Spending Increases

The Associated Press reports that state agencies

on prescription medication for everyone from prison inmates to retired state workers, a 54 percent increase from two years ago.

Happy Talk 'Encourages Complacency'

New Mexico Political Report editor Matthew Reichbach has inked a commentary and says that state leaders and economic development executives

and should stop the happy talk about New Mexico’s economy, saying it encourages complacency and fails to deal with things like New Mexico’s high unemployment, small hourly wage increases and lack of private sector development.

Defense Secretary Praises Lab Workers During Tour

US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter toured Los Alamos National Laboratory on Wednesday and

, the plutonium core of a nuclear weapon. “A strong plutonium science and manufacturing capability is essential to the US nuclear deterrent and cannot be underestimated," Carter said. "I want to express my sincere appreciation for the difficult and vitally important work done at Los Alamos to help assure the development, assessment and security of the nuclear triad.”

APD Officers Still Face Murder Charges

“State District Judge Alisa Hadfield on Wednesday

was presented during the prosecution’s eight days of testimony to support the third-degree felony charge of voluntary manslaughter against two former Albuquerque police officers on trial in the on-duty shooting death of a homeless camper in 2014,” reports Colleen Heild. “While Hadfield decided to throw out the manslaughter charge on a defense motion, she found 'enough evidence' to support the charge of second-degree murder and continue the trial."

Santa Fe Reporter