Second Week at the Round House

We have finished our first complete week of the sixty day session of the 49th Legislature of the State of New Mexico. Once again I’d like to say how very honored I am to have been chosen to be the representative of District 57.

We have settled into a routine that will be probably relatively stable. I have been assigned to the judiciary committee and to the health and government affairs committee. The Judiciary Committee meets in the afternoon on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays. The Health and Government Affairs Committee meets at 8AM on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. Both of these committees meet in Room 309 in the Round House. We have meetings of the House of Representatives everyday. At this point they begin around 10:30AM and they go through the lunch hour. This means my free times are Monday and Friday mornings, and Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.

My office is located in the Capitol North Building also referred to as the Annex. There is a covered walkway connecting the Annex with the Round House. My office is in Room 203I. I share an office with Representative Gloria Vaughn from Alamogordo. Our secretary is Whitney Hobson from Roswell. She’s part of the Hobson farming family. To call my office, the number is 505-986-4453. Anyone coming to Santa Fe is welcome to come visit.

This last week I introduced my first bill, House Bill 454, titled “An Act Relating to Public Access to Budget Information; Requiring Creation of a Searchable Budget Database with Public Access; Enacting the Budget Transparency Act.” This is a companion bill to one introduced in the Senate by Senator Sander Rue who is a freshman senator from Albuquerque. Briefly, the purpose of the bill is to require the state government to put all expenditures of state money on line in a format which is searchable through the Internet. In other words, you would be able to find out if a certain individual or company has received any payments from the state and how much those payments were, and when they were paid. To see an example of this in action, go to the State of Missouri website, http://www.mapyourtaxes.mo.gov/. The State of Missouri did this a couple of years ago and numerous other states are following suit.

Over the years, New Mexico has had its reputation harmed because of the numerous scandals involving public officials. Recently we were the butt of a joke by a late night talk show host, David Letterman. I believe, as does Senator Rue and many others, that the way to turn our reputation around is to bring transparency to state government. The bright light of day needs to shine into every corner of our state’s financial transactions. I believe this will go a long way towards accomplishing that objective.