Thursday, January 27, 2022MLG: Optics Improve But Policies Lag At Session; Her Educator Pay Boost Does Get Warm First Committee Greeting, Plus: Pretrial Detention Debate Again Heats Up The Blog And Social Security Tax Repeal Does The Same
Her hyped hydrogen hub plan is on hold at the Roundhouse, the key bill of her "tough on crime" package appears headed for defeat and the proposal to repeal the Social Security tax lives, but looks shaky. So it must have come as welcome news that one of her most important bills started with a very smooth sail through the capitol corridors Wednesday, with the Senate Education Committee giving their blessing to the largest teacher pay raises in memory. The committee approved taking Level 1 teachers from a starting salary of $40,000 a year to $50,000. That's a 25 percent jump. Level 2 goes to $60K from 50K, a 20 percent bump and Level 3 goes to $70K from $60K, a nearly 17 percent increase. Then throw in the 7 percent hike the Guv is proposing on top of those base increases for the educators. That's how you get the highest paid teachers in the region. Talk about beating inflation. That the first positive vote for the increases came the same day MLG was on the tube with her day of volunteer teaching was extra cheese on her enchiladas. Given the teacher shortage and the travails of leading a classroom during Covid, opposition to the king-sized hikes is nearly nonexistent, even among Republicans who like to hold tight to the purse. The education panel approved the level increases on an 8 to zip vote. But it will be the Democratic Governor who will be rewarded by the politically active teacher unions come election time and with sizable campaign contributions before then. This teacher pay chapter is nothing like one back in the 90's when GOP Governor Gary Johnson tangled with teachers over their paychecks. At the end of that bloody battle that ended with a teacher victory, Lou Gallegos, Gary's chief of staff, threw his hands in the air and exclaimed: "Okay, you can stop the bitchin' and start the teachin'!" Good 'ol Lou. They don't make them like him anymore. PRE-D DEBATE HEAT
That would be pretrial detention, otherwise known as making alleged violent bad guys prove they should be released from jail while awaiting trial instead of making the DA make the case. The bill is in such bad shape the sponsor pulled it from a House committee Wednesday for reworking. Veteran attorney and public defender Jeff Rein says it's the BernCo DA's office in need of change in order to keep more violent offenders in pretrial detention, not a change in state law: Joe, The vast majority of my cases involve violent felonies. The one factor that doesn't get attention around bail reform is the actual performance of the D.A.'s office. It is unacceptable that the success rate for preventive detention by this DA's office is around 50%. This is not a judge problem or a rule problem. The other judicial districts in New Mexico have much higher success rates and do not seem to have the same concerns as DA Raul Torrez. I believe there are three reasons for this sad record. 1. The State's motion for preventive detention is prepared and filed by a supervisor based primarily on the charges upon arrest. There is almost no attention given to the unique characteristics of the defendant or the crime such as the number and reliability of any witnesses, date of prior arrests and convictions, job status, family ties, etc. The motion for detention is then passed to another attorney to actually prepare and argue the motion in court. 2. The DA has a real staffing issue. There are few courtroom attorneys with more than 5 years experience in the office. Inexperienced attorneys either don't have the time or the experience to pull together a compelling presentation to the judge on questionable cases. 3. They almost never bring a witness; not the arresting officer, not the victim, not a bystander. They present a criminal complaint, the defendant's criminal history if they have one, the risk assessment prepared by pretrial services, and sometimes court documents from prior cases - that may or may not have been dismissed pretrial - to show that the defendant is a terrible person.
Most of the judges want to do the right thing but the DA has to bring a compelling case and prove by clear and convincing evidence that this particular defendant poses a risk to the safety of the community. A live witness can usually make the case more compelling and real for a judge. This really is just an Albuquerque problem that other parts of the state have solved. Raul can't figure out how to play the game so he wants to change the rules. Wrong approach. The DA came with a 19 page letter to the Legislature defending his record: Torrez said his data shows that the conviction rate for violent felonies increased from 67.2% in 2017 to 78.5% in 2020. That is contrary to the LFC report, which said an analysis from the 2nd Judicial District Court found that the conviction rate for violent felonies had declined over the past decade and was 59% in 2020. Torrez said the LFC analysts did not take into account cases that were dismissed in state court to be refiled in federal court or were dismissed so that defendants with multiple pending felonies could resolve their cases with a consolidated plea agreement. Torrez disputed that his office declines 50% of violent felonies and dismisses 40% of the remaining violent felony cases. He said that, in 2021, approximately 37% were declined and that, in two thirds of those instances, it was due to a lack of cooperation by victims or witnesses.
SS TAX REPEAL PANNED
Joe, the Social Security exemption from NM personal income tax is no better this year than last year. Senator Michael Padilla’s SB-108 is expensive, not targeted and is not necessary. The annual cost is $118 million. These funds could be used for the State Engineer’s office, additional enforcement of methane leaks, senior child tax credits or other necessary state needs. Perhaps the worst portion of the bill is the fact that 66% of the exemption value goes to the top fifth of household income. This is simply a gift to higher income seniors who need no assistance. Currently, targeted exemptions to low income seniors and the low income tax credit reduce or eliminate the impact to lower income senior households. If one wants to construct a better income tax system for the middle percentiles 20-80, then increase the number of marginal tax brackets to prevent any cliff effect from a minor increase in income. It is poor tax policy to reduce State income streams and increase reliance on the oil and gas industry. We did this twice, during the high revenue years of 2003 and 2013, and the bad effects remain still. Poor tax policy never seems to be corrected. To sum, an exemption from the personal income tax for Social Security should be voted down again. Well argued, Karl. We wonder if you and other foes of the repeal might support a compromise that placed an income cap on those eligible for the repeal so the well-off would not get an unneeded break. Will Sen. Padilla and the Guv go down that road? Thanks for the strong stuff from our readers today. We're not kidding when we say. . . 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 2022 |
  
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