Legislative roundup.

Days remaining in session: 9 Apples, pears, cider, taxes: State senators on Tuesday voted 40-0 to lower the tax on cider made by small-yield winegrowers in New Mexico.

The tax rate would fall from 41 cents a gallon to 8 cents a gallon on the first 10,000 barrels. Then it would be 28 cents a gallon for all sales above 10,000 barrels but fewer than 15,000 barrels.

The proposal, Senate Bill 32, also would alter the definition of cider. It would include cider made from pears as well as from apples. Lastly, the measure would increase the allowable percentage of alcohol by volume to 8.5 percent from 7 percent.

Sen. Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, is sponsoring the bill. It next moves to the House of Representatives.

Hoop totals: The annual basketball game between the Senate and the House of Representatives raised $32,255 for The University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Senators won the game, 33-24. It was the Senate’s fifth consecutive victory in the series, leading to a good deal of speechifying about how smoothly Republicans and Democrats worked together on the court.

County by county: State law caps the salaries of county sheriffs, commissioners and other local officials.

This year, some legislators are arguing they should get a raise — or at least a chance at one.

On Tuesday, a legislative committee approved House Bill 69, which would lift the maximum salaries for elected officials in some counties by 15 percent.

In Santa Fe, for example, that could mean a boost from $78,555 to $90,338 for the sheriff and $75,327 to $86,626 for the treasurer.

The Legislature raised these maximum salaries in 2013. But it is still be up to local governments to approve salaries for elected officials.

The measure, sponsored by Rep. Bob Wooley, R-Roswell, heads next to the House Judiciary Committee.

Quote of the day: “It’s that part of the process where they rip your heart out and feed it to you for lunch.”— Sen. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces, smarting a day after a Senate committee killed his proposal to use nominating commissions to help select university regents. The governor now has unilateral power to appoint regents.