The tax package approved early this morning and headed for concurrence in the House before the noon adjournment today repeals the Social Security tax for middle income taxpayers, doles out some of the surplus with $250 tax rebates, a child tax credit and a quarter cent gross receipts tax cut that MLG pushed.

The Senate also sent over to the House a crime package in the final hours that was more of a fig leaf after the Guv's sternest tough on crime measures fell flat at the Roundhouse. Politically, the Governor is being advised to pivot away from the crime narrative and concentrate more on the recovering economy. 

(The House later Tuesday morning agreed on both the crime and tax packages and sent them to the Governor. However, the Clean Fuel Standard bill lobbied heavily by the energy industry, failed to get out of the House when it went down on a 33-33 tie vote.) 

For the public the session will mainly be remembered for the sizable pay raises awarded the state's teachers, the payday loan bill that lowered interest rates to 36 percent from 175 percent and the DWI arrest of State Rep. Georgene Louis. 

At the beginning of the session Senate Finance Committee Chairman George Munoz declared that "we have more money than we know what to do with." That led to the huge reserves and the modest tax cut package but it raised the question of what legislators will do if the surpluses repeat next year and the next as some experts predict. It's a good problem to have but it still begs for solutions. 

Rep. Louis

Santa Fe police video of the Sunday night DWI arrest of Dem State Rep. Georgene Louis shows her repeatedly being argumentative with the arresting officer, constantly complaining about the cold, saying she was tired from her work as a legislator, continually jumping up and down to ward off the chill and refusing to remove her glasses or take her hands out of her jacket pockets.  

During the video she repeatedly tells the officer. "I am cold! I am cold! It's 36 degrees!" She repeats a similar phrase throughout the testing phase of the video, often jumping up and down to demonstrate her alleged discomfort, although she is wearing a thick insulated jacket. 

After the officer looks at her eyes with the aid of a flashlight before she leaves the car for the tests, Louis tells him, "I'm not trying to say anything, but I am a legislator," explaining that the condition of her eyes was due to extended working hours. She then showed the officer her state issued legislative license plates that were in the the car. The officer responds that he is going "to treat her like any other citizen."

Louis admitted to having "a couple" vodka and sodas while watching the Super Bowl "at a friend's house" in Santa Fe.

The 26 minute video is potentially devastating to her political career and raises the question if the House leadership won't move to convince her to resign her ABQ Westside seat or simply not seek re-election. She is currently chair of the House government affairs committee. 

The video shows Louis often sighing in exasperation over the officer's efforts to administer the tests. He retains his poise and at the end of the argumentative session she refuses his offer to take a breath test. Later in custody she does take the breath test which shows her blowing a blood alcohol level of .17. That is over twice the legal limit and led to her being with aggravated DWI, a charge that carries mandatory jail time if convicted.

Bust is back to boom, so the booty is also back. Legislators this year approved a capital outlay bill, aka the pork bill, totaling $828 million that will be funded with oil and gas funds flowing into the Severance Tax Permanent Fund. The construction companies are joyous as there are hundreds and hundreds of projects approved. We combed through the lengthy bill and cherry picked items that caught our eye:

--$20 million new administration building for the Dept. of Public Safety in ABQ. This is one of many public safety buildings being funded in the pork bill. There's no "defunding" the police around here. 

--$20 million to update the Veterans' Home at T or C. MLG wanted $60 million but $20 million isn't pocket change.

--$4.5 million for state fair improvements. There's been talk of moving the Fairgrounds and transforming the area in ABQ into a new development. Meanwhile, the old buildings continued to get patched up. 

--$3,000,000 to plan, design and reconstruct the Paolo Soleri Amphitheater at the Santa Fe Indian School. New Mexico's aging hippies will rejoice at the return of the popular concert venue designed by the famed Italian architect in 1966 but closed in 2010. The last concert we took in there was a stand out show by Bonnie Raitt. An added bonus was watching actress Jane Fonda in the front row rocking out. (Don't worry, kids, we're sure the new Paolo Soleri will have your stuff.) 

--$75,000,000 is appropriated from the public school capital outlay fund to the public school facilities to make a distribution to each school district in fiscal year 2023 for the maintenance and repair of public school buildings. That's the big kahuna in the bill. Keeping the schools up to snuff isn't cheap.

--$3,280,000 to purchase and equip a helicopter for the sheriff's office in San Juan county. So that's what an eye on the sky costs these days. 

-- $25,000 to plan, design and construct a memorial commemorating lives lost to the coronavirus disease pandemic in Albuquerque. Future generations will take note. 

--$300,000 to plan, design and construct street improvements, including intersection safety improvements, pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure and traffic calming devices, throughout Senate Sistrict 16 in Albuquerque. This one even has a district number attached. It belongs to Dem Senator Antoinette Sedillo Lopez who is proudly bringing home the pork.

And that's not all. A separate bill funds $259 million in projects for higher education institutions, senior centers and libraries. 

That's nearly $1.1 billion in projects. Go ahead, check to see if you have a cousin or someone in the construction biz and then hit them up for at least a free lunch.

Monday is President's Day. Well be back in this space Tuesday. 

Thanks for tuning in.

Reporting from ABQ, I'm Joe Monahan, and this. . . 

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