The arguments were much the same from both sides and the result — at least in committee — was the same: The latest incarnations of bills to rescind New Mexico’s law that grants driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants were tabled.
Late Tuesday afternoon (Jan. 29), all five of the Democrats on the House Labor and Human [...]

For more than two years, New Mexico legislators have debated, argued and sometimes hollered over rescinding the state law granting driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants.
The bills haven’t gone anywhere but a potential compromise bill based on the driver’s license model used by Utah is getting prepared by two influential state senators, including a Republican leader [...]

On Tuesday (Jan. 15), the 60-day legislative session begins but it will start without some familiar faces — most notably, Tim Jennings.
The Democrat and state senator from Roswell has been a fixture in Santa Fe for 34 years and has been the Senate Pro Tem since 2008. But he lost in a bitter and expensive [...]

New Mexico Speaker of the House Ben Luján was remembered in speeches given by some of the most powerful politicians in the state at a memorial service Thursday morning (Dec. 27) in the rotunda of the State Capitol but the most affecting words were delivered by those who worked with him.
“He would say, ‘we’re [...]

They squabbled in the legislature. They squabbled with the governor’s office. They squabbled in court. And the state Supreme Court squabbled with the retired judge they put in charge of reapportioning New Mexico’s voting districts before a final decision was reached.
Now, a breakdown of the costs of the 2011-2012 redistricting battle — the once-every-10-years process [...]

Rancher Pat Woods, who won one of the most hotly-contested races in all of the New Mexico primary races this month, was introduced to Roundhouse members Wednesday (June 27) at the end of a committee meeting hearing.
“Pat’s a good man, ” Sen. Stuart Ingle (R-Portales) told Republicans and Democrats assembled at the end of a [...]

A wise old Cowboy — a Dallas Cowboy — once said, “It’s not whether you win or lose … it’s who gets the blame.”
Those words can apply as the New Mexico legislature’s 30-day session ended Thursday (Feb. 16) with a furious sprint to the tape that saw some bills reach the finish line, some fall [...]

Democrats on the Legislative Finance Committee on Thursday (Dec. 8th) gave a cautious thumbs-up on a $17 million early reading initiative that Republican Gov. Susana Martinez and Public Education Department secretary-designate Hanna Skandera announced the day before, aimed at boosting New Mexico’s laggard performance in public education.
The initiative calls for $11.5 million early reading [...]

Taxpayers in New Mexico paid nearly $5.3 million for the total costs of the special session in 2001 that tackled redistricting — and $3.5 of that amount went strictly to settle legal challenges after the legislature and then-Gov. Gary Johnson could not reach an agreement on how to draw up state and congressional boundaries.
As [...]

It looks like there’s going to be a court fight between the legislature and the Governor’s Office after the head of the non-partisan body that advises New Mexico lawmakers on legislation told members of the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) Thursday (May 19) that in his opinion two line-item vetoes made by Gov. Susana Martinez violate [...]