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Monday, January 21, 2019

Time To Pay Legislators? Perennial Issue Surfaces Again, Plus: Debating Marijuana Safety and Legalization 

Is it time to pay our 112 legislators and keep them up in Santa Fe longer each year? In a mild surprise, it seems the number of New Mexicans believe so and their number is growing.

In a  Research and Polling survey conducted among 450 registered voters for Common Cause NM in December, it was found that. . .

Approximately two-thirds of voters (68%) say they either strongly support (41%) or somewhat support (27%) extending the length of the state legislative sessions to address the increase in the number of policy and budgetary issues. . . 

Two-thirds of voters also say they either strongly support (37%) or somewhat support (29%) paying state representatives and senators an annual salary equivalent to the average New Mexico household, so that they may focus more on issues in New Mexico rather than also trying to hold down a full-time job. In comparison, 24% of voters say they are opposed to the idea of paying state legislators an annual salary.

NM remains the only state that doesn't pay it lawmakers but they do receive a daily payment (per diem) of $161 for every legislative day they attend (in March it goes up to $184) as well as for each committee meeting they attend when the Legislature is not in session.

Paying the politicos and extending the legislative sessions would require voters to make the changes by voting for a constitutional amendment, which would have to be sent to them by the legislators. That's probably not going to happen in the 2020 cycle. And while the poll shows support for the measures, how would that support stand up against an intense negative campaign? Perhaps not as strong. GOP opposition against regular paychecks for the politicos has surfaced early in this session.

MARIJUANA MOOD


Voters (and legislators) have more pressing issues on their mind than longer sessions or regular paychecks. The CC poll also reported that only 36% of the respondents felt the state was going in the "right direction." And that was in the afterglow of the November election when Dems swept to victory. However, it does beat the meager 24% who felt we were headed in the right direction in last year's polling.
Another improbable item for this session is the legalization of recreational marijuana. We blogged of a perception that demand for that may be waning in light of skeptical articles like this one from the liberal New Yorker. But reader Peter Katel says not so:

Joe, I wouldn’t get too excited about that piece you cited from The New Yorker. The New York Times ran what amounted to a corrective to that article, and the book that was its source material, noting the shoddy statistical analysis and over-reliance on anecdotal evidence that characterize both. Note that the author, unlike Malcolm Gladwell and Alex Berenson of the New Yorker, is a physician. You may be correct that the Legislature won’t legalize cannabis. But your suggestion that this would reflect a change in national mood on the subject assumes way too much on the basis of far too little evidence - and questionable evidence at that.

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2019
 
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