Monday, March 23, 2020State's Leadership Preps For Special Mid-June Legislative Session; House Speaker Egolf Weighs In On What To Expect, Says NM Is "Not In A Fiscal Crisis." Is "Cautiously Optimistic" On Coronavirus Resolution House Speaker Brian Egolf tells us the session, which he would like to last "a day or two," would be a virtual meeting, unless the current health threat is greatly diminished. Think of the 70 House members and 42 senators in webinars, with plenty of avenues for the public to participate electronically. The Roundhouse is already known as a Petri dish during in-person sessions, sending colds and viruses quickly around the building. Many lawmakers are over 60 years old, the group most vulnerable to the virus.
Given current technology, Egolf says ensuring full public participation should not be a problem in a virtual session.
Egolf flatly states that New Mexico is not in a "fiscal crisis" thanks to the Governor and lawmakers setting aside reserves of $1.9 billion (an updated figure from the LFC that includes road money recently vetoed by MLG). House Dems, he declared, will not support budget cuts to recurring spending such as recent teacher pay hikes but could look for savings in "one-time" expenditures such as road projects that have been stalled or don't have enough money to get the go ahead. The worst thing we could do right now with all the chaos is to reduce or change the paychecks of educators, police officers, firefighters and state employees. No good comes from putting less money into New Mexico's people. As the largest employer in the state by far, we need to support our employees, just as the private sector makes a payroll. Egolf pointed to the ongoing Great Recession of the 2010's and presided over by GOP Governor Martinez who implemented austerity policies that dramatically cut state government. The last administration tried to to use budget cuts to get out of an economic crisis. The results are plain. They utterly failed. I am very, very confident that Gov. Lujan Grisham will learn from the mistake of her predecessor and we will not pursue austerity. The last time we did, Colorado and Arizona spent wisely and left us in the dust while it was a lost decade for New Mexico.
The Governor's decisions have been really difficult but she is getting nearly unanimous support among elected officials on both sides. It's been pretty remarkable. Look at Colorado or Washington and what happens when you delay the hard decisions She hasn't. I'm cautiously optimistic that in two weeks we will see the virus curve flattening.
The Guv’s public health emergency order expires April 10. If she has to extend it, the consequences to the economy could be a calamity. No wonder Egolf is emphasizing the positive case.
Egolf said Dem state reps are busy fielding calls from concerned constituents and troubleshooting issues such as unemployment and medical needs. He said a number of members of the caucus with specific expertise are offering suggestions to the administration on the coronavirus crisis. WHAT ELSE? We asked Egolf what other issues might be on the Governor's call for a brief special session, besides budget matters: The bill to strengthen absentee voting provisions that died in the last session is needed more than ever as we head toward something close to an all-mail election in November; a bill to ease professional licensing requirements so we can tap out of state medical talent to deal with emergencies like coronavirus and a bill to keep unemployment taxes on business from soaring because of the mass layoffs we're experiencing. House Republicans raised eyebrows when last week they called on the Governor to immediately call a special session. Besides the obvious health concerns that need to be addressed before lawmakers convene, Egolf and MLG pointed out that a massive relief package is under consideration in DC that could send significant money to the state. A June session, they said, would account for that as well as more reliable estimated revenues from oil and gas. Now in his fourth year as the House Speaker and with most of his foes within his own caucus gone, Egolf speaks with authority. He'll need it if he is to shoot down the budget hawks already circling the capitol and demanding a rollback of the MLG/Egolf agenda. This is the home of New Mexico politics. E-mail your news and comments. (newsguy@yahoo.com) Interested in reaching New Mexico's most informed audience? Advertise here.   (c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2020 |
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