Gov., legislators work on salvaging public works deal
Brief special session remains possibility
SANTA FE — Gov. Susana Martinez and state Senate leaders met Tuesday in an ongoing effort to forge a deal to resurrect a public works package that died in the final hours of the recent legislative session.
“We still haven’t come to an agreement yet — but we haven’t agreed to disagree, either,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, summing up the meeting.
The talks are aimed at paving the way for a brief special legislative session — perhaps only a day — to revive hundreds of projects around the state that died with the $264 million capital outlay bill.
Smith, the negotiator for the Senate’s Democratic majority, said he and Republican Leader Stuart Ingle of Portales met with Martinez and her deputy chief of staff, Jeremiah Ritchie.
Earlier in the day, the Republican governor told reporters the parties were “continuing to meet and we are continuing to discuss the possibilities” but there was nothing definitive.
Smith said there is general con- sensus that funding for higher education and senior citizen centers should be restored in any agreement that would be reached on a new capital outlay bill.
“That’s sort of a no-brainer,” he said.
And there could be a compromise looming on the thorny issue of highway funding in the bill, with perhaps half of a proposed $55million
for highways financed by issuing bonds and the other half coming from cash reserves, Smith said.
Martinez and Senate Democrats have clashed over that issue, with the administration insisting paying for highway work with bonds is a better approach and lawmakers saying it made more sense to raise taxes or take the money out of reserves.
Smith said an agreement on capital outlay legislation could end up with a price tag closer to $275 million.
He said the second area under discussion for a possible special session is a $4.8 million tax cut package sought by the administration that died in the session that ended March 21.
Smith said the cost of the package after a few years could be around $12 million, and called it “a tough sell for me.”