NEW MEXICO More Wins and a Look Ahead at the Weekend

NEW MEXICO More Wins and a Look Ahead at the Weekend

Common Cause New Mexico passes Public Financing of Campaigns Fixes through House Local Government Committee

SB 97, Public Financing of Campaign Fixes, sponsored by Sen. Peter Wirth, passed the House Local Government, Elections, Land Grant & Cultural Affairs Committee unanimously today!

Our huge thanks to Rep. Daymon Ely for presenting the bill on Senator Wirth’s behalf and the support from NM’s Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Olive and the League of Women Voters of NM today in committee. And thanks to the committee for a great conversation. Now we are off to the House Judiciary Committee!

SB 393, Lobbyist Reporting Requirements, sponsored by Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto and Rep. James Smith, passed by the Senate Rules Committee on Wednesday.  This bill amends the Lobbyist Regulation Act changing the reporting threshold to require cumulative reporting of expenses incurred under $100, in addition to the existing requirement for reporting single transactions over $100. 

Lobby Reform bills scheduled for Friday, March 3 in Senate Rules Committee

SB 225, Estimated Lobbyist Expense Report Filing, sponsored by Sen. Jeff Steinborn – this bill adds a requirement for lobbyists’ employers to make an estimated lobbying expense report with the Secretary of State (SOS) no later than January 15th and May 1st of each year and outlines the contents of the required reports. The reports are required to also contain the actual expenses incurred by lobbyists’ employers for the previous reporting period.

SB 228, Post- Session Lobbyist Reports, sponsored by Sen. Jeff Steinborn – this bill would require each lobbyist or lobbyist employer who is required to file an expenditure report, to file a report with the Secretary of State (SOS) within one week following a legislative session. Each lobbyist or lobbyist employer would be required to disclose which legislation was advocated for or against by the lobbyist and their employer, and whether the lobbyist or lobbyist employer supported or opposed that piece of legislation.

Also, one bill we oppose

SJR 12, Fair Election Constitutional Convention, sponsored by Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino, would call a Constitutional Convention to address Money in Politics. While CCNM obviously supports fighting big money in politics, we steadfastly oppose a Constitutional Convention. You can read our report, The Dangerous Path: Big Money’s Plan to Shred the Constitution and also review our fact sheet on the Con Con.

We have been told that there will be House and Senate committees meeting over the weekend and hopefully more of our priority bills scheduled for those agendas! 

Please check in for an update from the Common Cause New Mexico team tomorrow so see what other bills may be added to committee calendars on the Democracy Wire page of our website!

Follow us on Twitter @commoncausenm & like us on Facebook for mid-day updates and remember to CALL YOUR LEGISLATORS!