NM needs to modernize Legislature
Unpaid lawmakers, short sessions cannot solve our state’s big issues
From mid-January to mid-March of 2021, many more New Mexicans than ever before watched our legislative hearings, assisted by the ease of participating online and by the COVID concerns that kept many at home. We participated in hopes of getting solutions to issues that we cared about passed into law. For me, it was bills to address climate change; for others, it was help for the homeless or disaster funding, or literacy or LGBTQ rights and more. But, what we saw were hearings dragged out by questions from opposing legislators (and) designed to delay, followed by more delays and filibusters when the few bills that survived came up for a vote on the House or Senate floors. And then, on March 20, the 60-day session expired, with many dozens of bills that so many cared deeply about left to die as the clock ran out. Behind those bills there were hundreds more bottled up in committee, starved by the lack of time to hear them.
This is what passes for standard practice in the New Mexico Legislature and it is long past time to fix it. New Mexico has the only unsalaried state legislature left in the country, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, and its sessions are also some of the shortest. It was designed that way in the 1912 state Constitution for the benefit of the wealthy ranchers and landowners that ran the state. That, along with the short 30- and 60-day sessions, kept law-making power in the hands of those who did not need a salary, but could afford to travel to Santa Fe once a year to complete their business.
It is long past time that this system was changed, as every other state has done. New Mexico faces big issues and needs a modern legislature with better representation from its diverse cultures and communities, not weighted toward those who can afford to serve without a salary. Yes, many good legislators also hold down jobs, from which they need to request time off to serve. But why should we force them into that? We need to step up and pay the legislators we elect to represent us. A salaried legislature would attract a more diverse and representative set of elected officials because more could afford to serve. And they would pass better laws to benefit New Mexicans of all income levels and communities. They could also afford to stay in session for longer, perhaps 60 and 90 days, to get through the logjam of bills that die every year. We get the legislature we pay for. If we the people don’t pay for it, someone else does, and their interests may not be our interests. Let’s support a bill to set salaries for our legislators and join the 21st century.