URGENT: Call your NM Senator to OPPOSE SB 619

Ethics legislation needs your help – call your Senator tomorrow (yes, Saturday) morning.

Senate Bill 619 will be heard in Senate Rules committee tomorrow, and the Senators on that committee and on the Senate Judiciary committee (who will hear it soon after) need to hear from you.

Senate Bill 619 contains some chilling provisions, and Common Cause New Mexico, along with the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government, the League of Women Voters New Mexico, New Mexico Ethics Watch and many others, oppose this legislation. You can read about the scary parts of the bill in this Albuquerque Journal article.

75% of the voters in last November’s election voted for an Independent Ethics Commission in New Mexico – and many of the 25% who voted against it did so because they feared the above – a weak commission, with no oversight, no open meetings, not releasing the complaints – all continued secrecy. Let’s stop that right now and demand a good bill!

The 75% who voted for an ethics commission expected to see one with subpoena power, open meetings, released complaints, and no penalties for whistleblowers. And that is what another competing bill (House Bill 4) actually does.

By advocating for openness, we are working to rebuild trust in our political system and have efficient accountability in our state government. Tell your Senator NO on SB 619 and YES on HB 4!

Don’t know who your Senator is? Easy! Just click here and find them.

And then you can find the committee members for the Senate Rules committee here (scroll to the bottom of the page for the list), and for the Senate Judiciary committee here (again, scroll to the bottom).

This is an all hands-on deck moment for our state. It took us more than four decades to pass an ethics commission, let’s make sure it is strong! Please call, email and pass this along!