Legislature Halfway Home: New Speaker Has Smooth Sailing In First Month, Plus: Some Tax Talk And More On A US Senate Fantasy

We're halfway through the 2023 60 day legislative session and it's been a good month for new House Speaker Javier Martinez. 

Fears that he would be too green for the top post have been swept away with his rapid move to replace conservative Patricia Lundstorm, chair of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, with the more liberal Rep. Nathan Small. And then there's the big House vote Thursday approving a $9.4 billion state budget. A Dem consultant notes:

Joe, not a single Democrat bolted and the budget was approved 52-17. That shows Speaker Martinez has control of his caucus and also that the appropriations committee continues to reassert itself in financial policy after years of Senate Finance Committee domination. 

There's still a month for trouble to develop but we'll be early and predict there will be no special session. 

TAXING MATTERS

The Governor appears to be on the right path when it comes to the onerous NM gross receipts tax. She won an eighth of a cent cut in the rate last year but this year is going for a further quarter cent reduction and is running into opposition. HB 367 has ben temporarily tabled in the House tax committee after city officials from across the state told the committee their locales could not afford the cut.

Some Roundhouse wall-leaners think MLG would be better off doing a work around, such as cutting the gross receipts tax for medical doctors who have been drifting away in part because of the GRT which neighboring states don't have. Such a cut has political potency, a targeted outcome, the cost is less and more clear. 

The GRT is now well north of 8 percent in such rural NM communities as Española, Farmington and Deming and where the doctor shortage is most severe. 

R LEFT BEHIND

About the Thursday blog reporting on the new generation of state leaders taking power--all Democrats--Republican Abraham Keyvan-Chavez writes:

 Joe: I have been in Arizona for 2 years and out of the GOP since I moved here. I noticed in the 10 years of being involved in NM politics how the Democrats not only groom the next generation but give them the resources they need to succeed in their careers professionally and politically. Hence some young Democrats around my age (e.g. Zack Quintero, Victor Reyes) have made attempts to run for high profile offices. While they were not successful, they are well-known in the party and the community and I'm sure they will be quite successful in a future run for office. If New Mexico Republicans are serious about winning they need to be in touch with the issues and our communities, identify and groom successors that can actually win in areas like Dona Ana County and Bernalillo County and also be a resource for younger politicians to secure a future in New Mexico. 

SENATE FANTASY

Bingaman

A reader spun a fantasy last week in which Sen. Heinrich is elected Governor in 2026, resigns his Senate seat a couple of hours before being sworn in as Governor and Gov. Lujan Grisham appoints herself to the Heinrich vacancy making her a senator "for four years." But former US Senator Jeff Bingaman points out that would not be quite the case: 

Joe, If the Governor appoints someone (or herself) to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate, that person has to win in the next general election to hold on to that seat. No one can get a free ride for 4 years. Jeff

Thanks, Jeff. You would know having served in the Senate for 30 years--1983-2013. 

If that reader fantasy did come to fruition MLG would have to run in a special senate election in Nov. 2028 to fill out the remainder of Heinrich's six year term. The point should also be made that there are other politicos who would be higher on Heinrich's list to take his senate seat and he could make the appointment himself after becoming Governor.

By the way, Sen. Bingaman has been making the rounds discussing his new book, "Breakdown: Lessons for a Congress in Crisis. He is now 79 and lives in Santa Fe.  

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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2023