Lawmakers avoid fool’s errand of extra session
New Mexico has 112 state legislators. Almost all of them want to pass at least one bill every year, even if it’s not worth the paper it’s printed on.
And so they make a habit of wasting time and money by sponsoring measures that are unimportant or half-baked.
In the midst of a budget crisis last year, Democratic Sen. Pete Campos of Las Vegas proposed legislation to designate “Gracias New Mexico ”as the “official state winter holiday song.”
Campos’ bill to enshrine the song in state law cleared two committees of the Senate before it finally died. Nobody cared except maybe Campos and those who realized that drafting and printing the bill had squandered public money.
This year, Democratic Reps. Bobby Gonzales of Taos and Debbie Rodella of Española introduced a bill to station three state police officers on the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. The officers’ job would be to deter suicidal jumpers.
Most legislators said the bill was a bad idea. Police can’t be everywhere, so someone intent on suicide could always find an open spot on the bridge.
But one committee of the House of Representatives still supported the bill in hopes that someone might amend it into a coherent plan. Nobody could.
In rare moments, though, even legislators learn from history.
They proved it recently when they rejected an expensive proposal to call themselves into an extraordinary session.
The idea for the session came from Sen. George Muñoz, D-Gallup. He said lawmakers should convene to discuss how to improve security in schools. This has become a national topic since a gunman killed 17 people in February at a Florida high school.
Muñoz is running for state land commissioner in a contested primary election. Any publicity he receives about stopping shooters before they get inside a school might help his campaign.
He pushed for an extraordinary session knowing that neither he nor other lawmakers had a cogent bill on how to make campuses safer.
Extra legislative sessions cost taxpayers more than $50,000 a day. That is a heavy price when lawmakers are prepared to do nothing except talk a bill to death.
Just last year, legislators could not agree on how to tighten security at the state Capitol, a problem less challenging than keeping more than 800 schools safe.
People regularly carry pistols and even long guns into the Capitol. Those bearing rifles are most likely to show up when a gun control bill is being debated.
Many say the sight of gunmen roaming Capitol corridors is intimidating. At least some legislators agree with them.
A bill sponsored by a Republican and a Democrat in the Senate would have outlawed most guns in the Capitol. Police officers would have remained armed, as would people with permits to carry concealed firearms.
Muñoz was one of three Democratic senators to vote against the bill. It cleared the Senate on a 29-12 vote but then died in the House of Representatives.
As a result, New Mexico’s Capitol remains among the most open in the country. No guards or metal detectors stop visitors at entrances. Hearing rooms are accessible to everyone. The House and Senate chambers require passes for entry, but heavily armed visitors can and do sit in galleries above the lawmakers.
This easy access to the Capitol is inspiring in a way. People can walk right into the seat of government and meet with their elected representatives.
But it also serves as a reminder that legislators are unsure about how to keep the Capitol safe. They are less prepared to proceed on the more complicated matter of improving security in schools.
The next legislative session starts in January. Lawmakers have nine months to do the necessary spadework to draft a meaningful bill.
Muñoz can go back to the campaign trail knowing fellow legislators bailed him out this time.
The extraordinary session he called for would have been extraordinarily wasteful.