A solid foundation was laid for what could indeed become transformative change in the years ahead but a foundation is not a home. So before too much celebratory champagne spills on to the floors of the Roundhouse, let's take a deeper dive.

--The big picture headline for the session is "New Mexico Starts To Catch Up."

--The minimum wage--outside of the three large cities--had not been raised for a decade, woefully languishing at $7.50 an hour. Now it will go to $9 an hour in 2020 and eventually to $12 in 2023. The increase to $9 is 20 percent over ten years ago. Catch up.

--The state's general fund budget first reached $6 billion in 2007-08. Flash forward to this year when it hit $7 billion for the first time. That's a rise of 17 percent over 12 years, or less than 1.5 percent annually. Catch-up.

--Back in '07 the public education budget rang in at $2.560 billion. This year it comes in at $3.2 billion. That represents increase of 25 percent over twelve years and basically tracks the rate of inflation. Catch up.

--State employees are getting a pay raise of 4 percent. They have had no pay raises or mostly tiny one percent increases the past ten years. That's catch up. Ditto for public schools teachers who this year received a pay boost of 6 percent.

--The state's financial foundation had been so chipped away at by the recession and eight years of budget austerity that promised a better economy but failed to deliver that even the GOP this year did not fight the education budget which is 16 percent more than last year's.

NEW MOOD

It was an optimistic and productive session but let's put it in the context of the deep financial black hole we fell into this last decade. The result included several years of historic depopulation, a crime epidemic, a drug epidemic; a wave of child abuse, a loss of manufacturing jobs and a transition to a low-wage economy. This constructive legislative session began a long awaited restoration--not yet a transformation.

There was significant legislation passed but from where we sit one of the more consequential changes was in the psychology. The Governor, House, Senate and members of both parties embraced, for the most part, the new order that features mammoth surpluses and the release of pent up frustration. After 8 years of do nothingism they went to work and a can-do spirit returned to the Capitol fueled by the Permian Basin energy boom that promises to fill state coffers for years.

THE PLAYERS

The Governor led ably, if at one moment wobbly. She overreacted to the blistering reaction she received from rural county sheriffs over her proposed gun laws (which passed). And those who wanted to see her move the conservative state Senate Dems more to the center were a tad disappointed.

But those proved minor detours on the way to a win. She helped craft a suitable compromise on the minimum wage, kept the controversial but precedent-setting Energy Transition Act on an even keel; failed on the constitutional amendment for early childhood but did so in a way that cues it up for another attempt; stayed the course on two gun control laws (despite the hectoring); presided over ground breaking legislation for at risk students; a needed increase in the public schools budget and warmed up the previously frosty gubernatorial relationship with legislators.

The Alligators said she banged heads behind closed doors, but that's what a Governor does. There was merit to her post session Fourth Floor celebration.

House Speaker Brian Egolf grew into the job more this year and right on schedule the Republicans grumbled that they were being shut out. Well, that's what happens when you are shut out at the polls.

He had an embarrassing moment when he misspoke on a campaign finance reform bill but otherwise ran a tight ship. The addition of so many new progressive faces made it easier. Gone were Reps. Rodella and Trujillo who had made his life difficult. Much of the nonsense of past sessions--useless memorials and pontificating over red or green chile and the like--were mostly gone. The House was more productive than it has been in years. The Senate conservatives were like a batter facing ten pitches at once as they swatted away at Egolf and company's often unwanted presents.

Sen. Smith

In the Senate it was still all Dr. No all the time. Senator John Arthur Smith, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, clung to his perch as the top Senate dog, but the pressure on him is now palpable. The new Governor joined the House in applying some.

The state's growing blue patches portend a coming to Jesus moment for the conservative Senate coalition that Smith has long presided over.

That may come at the June 2020 primary election when progressives hope to challenge some of the conservative Dems. They will also work to take out a couple of ABQ area GOP senators in the general election that would finally bust the coalition.

If the coalition does go, as we suspect it may, it would be the moderate Governor who would be the final check on any swing too far left. For now, the coalition stands but not as tall.

ALSO OF NOTE

That abortion bill that would have removed an antiquated statute from the books went down to defeat in the Senate, but it could spark campaign funding from national abortion rights groups who could seek revenge in the 2020 senate primary races. . .

Senator Peter Wirth's constitutional amendment to stop electing and have the Governor appoint members of the Public Regulation Commission (PRC) made it through and will be on the November 2020 ballot, That could be a close one. . .

Legalization of marijuana failed but a bill to decriminalize possession of up to half an ounce made it to the Governor. That seemed like a pitch-perfect compromise at this moment in history. Of course, the push for legal pot will be back next year. . .

Senate coalition watchers have their eyes peeled on Senate President Pro Tem Mary Kay Papen of Las Cruces. She turns 87 tomorrow and her election plans for 2020 have not yet been announced. If she opts out, the seat would could go to a Dem progressive, delivering a blow to the coalition. Watching her close things out at the end of the session did not leave the impression that she was packing it in. We'll see. Happy Birthday, Mary Kay.

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2019