Week Three in the State Capital

We have wrapped up our third week here in the State Capital. Things had seemed to have settled into a bit of a routine until Friday afternoon when the House Judiciary Committee, which I am on, had a hearing on a bill to Repeal the Death Penalty. Before I get into that, I want to share a few other highlights.

EVENTS

Monday and Tuesday the current class of Leadership Roswell was in Santa Fe. Leadership Roswell is a great program, and I strongly urge anyone living in the Roswell area to consider applying for next year’s class. On Tuesday afternoon I got to speak to Leadership Roswell about my journey about being a member of the class eight years earlier to being a member of the State Legislature today.

Thursday was Ruidoso Day in Santa Fe, and I got to visit with many friends from the Ruidoso area that evening. I did not get to spend much time with the folks from Ruidoso because of my committee schedule.

Friday morning we learned that Representative Gloria Vaughn’s husband was very ill, and she had been taken back home by the State Police Thursday night. Gloria and I share an office, and for those of you who do not know her, she is a very gracious and sweet lady. Please keep her and her family in your prayers.

AROUND THE ROUNDHOUSE

As many of you have heard, the Senate Judiciary Committee had a vote on SB12, the Domestic Partnership Bill. It was a tie vote with one Senator absent. This matter could still come up again, but I have been told that the House will not have hearings on HB 21 unless or until SB 12 passes the Senate.

While social issues rightly have much, if not all, of the attention of the media and concerned citizens, the budget quietly looms over everything. On Tuesday the Capital Outlay Subcommittees stopped meeting. A “Solvency Bill” was passed to (supposedly) deal with FY 2009 (the current year) problems. I believe (as do many others) that years of reckless spending have placed us in this position. Our current problem has been “fixed” by cutting out some Capital Outlay (pork) and now we move on to address FY 2010. That shortfall has been reported to be $464 million, however, we are all awaiting new revenue projections due out Friday, February 13th. The word around the Roundhouse is that it will be bad news with the FY2010 shortfall much larger and the “solvency bill” needing to redone.

COMMITTEE SNAPSHOT

HEALTH and GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS:

We meet on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays starting at 8AM. The Chairperson is Representative Mimi Stewart (D-21). I will not attempt to summarize the numerous bills over three days, but a few of them stick out.

On Tuesday we heard HB228 which deals with nurse advice lines for health insurance companies. All health insurance companies have toll-free numbers customers can call for health advice or information. These call centers are manned by nurses and different insurance companies have them in different places. Multi-state insurance companies will consolidate their call centers in one location. This bill would have required the call centers to be located in New Mexico. The problem is there is only one nurse help line currently functioning in the State of New Mexico. It is called NurseAdvice New Mexico. As a result of this bill, all insurance companies would have had to contract with NurseAdvice. Needless to say, this caused a lot of concern on my part and other individuals on the committee. It eliminates competition. This bill was tabled (I seconded the motion to table), and I expect it will not come back up again this session.

Another bill was HB296 which would increase the population threshold to require the establishment of a Metro Court from 200,000 to 350,000. This bill was presented because some individuals in Dona Ana County do not want the county to convert to the Metro Court arrangement currently in place in Albuquerque. This bill also was tabled.

Finally let me mention HB295 which established a commission to encourage relationships between the State of New Mexico and the Mexican State of Sonora. This commission would include the governor, several cabinet secretaries, and nine public members. While there are no salaries for the public members, there are per diem costs associated with this commission. I could not support this bill because there are only twelve miles of common border between New Mexico and Sonora, and there are no ports of entry directly connecting the two states. In these tight economic times, this just seemed frivolous. I was the only one in opposition.

JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

This meets Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons and is chaired by Representative Al Park (D-26). Representative Bill Rehm (R-31) presented HB28 which dealt with intimidation of criminal justice officials. Some of the Democrats on the committee were concerned about the scope of the bill, and Bill has been working with some committee members to get it resolved. I am hopeful that this bill will pass on Monday.

Most of the criminal justice bills have been fairly narrow in focus and not very controversial. On Wednesday, we had a joint meeting with the Senate Judiciary Committee that lasted about an hour and a half. The joint meeting was to hear a report from the Governor’s Commission on Prison Reform. This Commission had been meeting for over a year, and is comprised of twenty-one members. Much of the presentation was positive and informative, but I was concerned about the fact that the Commission was led by a former public defender, and had an additional public defender, a former inmate, and two prisoner advocates among its members. There were no victims’ advocates on this Commission.

Friday afternoon there were a number of bills presented in the Judiciary Committee. There was little controversy until we got to the one bill that we all knew would consume our energy and emotions.

DEATH PENALTY

Finally the Committee heard HB285 presented by Representative Gail Chasey which repeals the death penalty in the State of New Mexico. Currently the death penalty can only be sought in one of seven situations: if the victim is a police officer, a corrections officer, a prisoner, or a witness to a crime, or if the murder occurs in connection with a rape or kidnapping, or during an escape attempt. Also if it is a “murder for hire,” the death penalty is allowed. The committee room was the fullest I have ever seen it so far. The audience was overwhelmingly in support of repealing the death penalty. There were only two individuals in support of continuing the death penalty, and they were both district attorneys that I have gotten to know recently.

I was the third representative to speak, and I consumed the majority of the afternoon asking questions from Representative Chasey and her witnesses. I truly do not know how long this exchange lasted, somewhere between one and two hours, but I could not and did not keep track of the time. It would be impossible for me and boring for you if I tried to recap the entire presentation.

We finally got out around six o’clock, and the bill passed the committee. The four Republicans present, Representatives Bandy, Cook, Rehm, and myself all voted against the bill. Representative Vaughn was excused to be with her husband, and we were joined by Democrat Representative Cervantes. Truthfully I felt exhausted Friday night as if I had been in a titanic conflict with unseen forces. This was a struggle of emotion and deeply held convictions. I doubt if any minds were changed, but I could not (and will not) shrink from these types of battles.

Saturday morning, I checked my “askdennis@denniskintigh.com email” and found the following, humbling, note:

Dear Representative Kintigh:

I want to express my admiration to you for the questions you asked at this afternoon's hearing on the bill to repeal the death penalty. It was obvious that you had devoted considerable thought and research to the issue.

You hold very different opinions on the death penalty than I. I very strongly believe that the taking of a life ~ by an individual or governmental agency ~ is morally wrong. None-the-less, I respect your presentation and the points you expressed.

Thank you for the dedication you have shown to your elected position.

Sincerely,

xxxxx xxxxxxx
Santa Fe