Mid-Session Update: Saturday, February 2, 2008
New Mexico Conference of Churches Legislative Priorities
OUR TOP PRIORITIES THIS SESSION INCLUDE:
HEALTH CARE:
There are three major health care bills this session:
Health Solutions - HB 62: This is the Governor’s bill. It promises to reform health
care but keeps insurance companies on the Authority and mandates purchase of coverage by business and families.
Health Care Authority Act - HB 147: This is the bill supported by HEALTH CARE
FOR ALL coalition of which the NMCC is a member. It promises to accomplish the following:
- Calls for an independent and impartial Authority.
- It will avoid repeating the Massachusetts debacle that former Governor Mitt Romney now repudiates it and for which he blames the legislature.
- It calls for a comprehensive, evidence-based legislation developed in time for the 2009 Session.
***The good news is that HB 147 has survived, is gaining support and has moved on to Senate Finance Committee where it may be heard as early as Monday.
Health Security Act - SB 3: This bill calls for a single-payer plan. It has strong
grassroots support but equally strong opposition among legislators. The Governor has promised to veto a single-payer plan.
*****The House Judiciary Committee will hear the Health Security Act and HB 62 after the floor session on Monday Feb 4 in Room 309.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING:
The Housing Trust Fund provides funds for affordable housing. It is a constant battle. This session we asked for $15 million and will be lucky if we get $2 million. We need over $1 billion in New Mexico. The city of Santa Fe, where affordable housing is desperately needed, is considering ways to raise funds for affordable housing. One possible means is a Real Estate Transfer Tax that has been used in municipalities across the country.
Senate Bill 160, PROHIBIT MUNICIPAL PROPERTY TRANSFER TAX is sponsored for the second year by John Grubesic, of Santa Fe.
WE OPPOSE THIS BILL FOR TWO REASONS:
1. This bill would preempt the right of any municipality in the state of New Mexico to
pass a real estate transfer tax, thereby preempting Local Control: "The ability of a jurisdiction to adopt and enforce its own rules, policies, and procedures related to carrying out its functions."
2. This bill would prevent the Santa Fe City Council from considering a real estate
transfer tax as a means of raising money for affordable housing desperately needed in our community.
Such a tax would not be imposed by the city council. It would be put on the fall ballot and left up to the voters.
****This bill was passed on the Senate floor with only 3 votes against it. It moves on to the House and has been assigned by Speaker Ben Lujan to only two committees: Business and Industry, and Tax and Revenue. This does not bode well for our efforts to defeat this bill.
WE NEED YOUR HELP CONTACTING MEMBERS OF THESE TWO COMMITTEES AND YOUR OWN HOUSE REPRESENTATIVES.
HUMAN RIGHTS:
SB 71- CREATE OFFENSE OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING received a unanimous Do Pass in Senate Judiciary after a great deal of negotiating which secured the victims’ rights and services we’ve been fighting for since last session.
SB 71 is scheduled to be heard in Senate Finance on Monday, February 4 in Room 322.
Our thanks to Senator Cisco McSorley, Chair of the Senate Judiciary, Attorney General Gary King and Senator Mary Jane Garcia who sponsored the bill last and this year.
THE ENVIORMENT:
OPPOSE TAX CREDIT FOR THE DESERT ROCK COAL POWER PLANT:
January 30 was the last day that bills could be dropped for this session. (“dropped” means submitted.) We have been watching for any bills related to the Desert Rock dirty coal power plant. It appears that no bills were dropped. However, it is possible that the tax credit is buried in other legislation. Robb Thomson and other environmental advocates are searching for any evidence.
The bad news is that Sythe Global Energy is expected to seek a tax credit from the Arizona legislature. Arizona will receive much of the electricity generated by Desert Rock. New Mexico will receive no power….only the deadly toxic fumes.
REPEAL THE DEATH PENALTY:
HB104 - MURDER VICTIM FAMILY MEMBER REPARATIONS sponsored by Representative Gail Chasey passed House Judiciary and is scheduled to be heard in House Appropriations & Finance Committee next.
1. House Bill 104 permits the Crime Victims Reparation Commission to order payment of reparation in the amount of $10,000 to a deceased victim’s dependents or children for the loss of a parent to murder when a child is less than 26 years of age at the time of the loss.
2. House Bill 104 creates the Murder Victim Family Services Fund to allow for the awarding of grants to nonprofits for the provision of cost-effective services, victim advocacy, support and educational programs to children and adults who have lost a person within their family relationship group to murder.
ECONOMIC JUSTICE:
HB51 - CORPORATE INCOME TAX TO PUBLIC SCHOOL FUND sponsored by Representative Peter Wirth was heard and tabled in the House Tax and Revenue Committee.
1. House Bill 51 seeks to correct the tax loophole that benefits out of state corporations that do business in New Mexico. Requiring mandatory reporting (also known as Combined Reporting) would generate an additional 20 percent in corporate income tax (CIT) collections. Using the December 2007 projection of CIT revenue, the fiscal impact would be $90 million all of which would go to the general fund.
The Reverend Holly A. Beaumont, D. Min.
Legislative Advocate
New Mexico Conference of Churches
27 Old Galisteo Way
Santa Fe NM 87508
505-471-2962
habeaumont@aol.com
New Mexico Conference of Churches Joins 78 Other Religious Groups Opposed to Nuclear Bomb Plant
Seventy-nine Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim groups, including the New Mexico Conference of Churches, have joined together to reject administration plans to reactivate the U.S. nuclear weapons infrastructure and build new nuclear bomb plant facilities, Faithful Security announced today. In a formal letter to the Energy Department, religious organizations from across the country called instead for the United States to end new nuclear weapons production and commit to multilateral disarmament.
"We call on our political leaders to show the moral and political courage necessary to bring about a shift in our nation’s nuclear weapons posture. Today we have a historic opportunity to begin the journey out from under the shadow of nuclear weapons," stressed the religious groups.
The letter was submitted to the Energy Department as part of a public comment period required to assess the environmental impact of Complex Transformation, the proposed plan to rebuild the U.S. nuclear weapons complex. The centerpiece of this proposal is a new nuclear weapons facility at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, located 25 miles northwest of Santa Fe, NM. The new bomb plant facility would enable the mass production of plutonium pits, the primary detonators in modern nuclear weapons.
The statement’s signers expressed concern that the new and upgraded facilities would be used in the development of a new generation of nuclear warheads, despite the moral and legal obligations of the United States to reduce its weapons arsenal.
“The best and brightest minds in America make their home in Los Alamos,” explained the Rev. Dr. Barbara E. Dua, Executive Director of the New Mexico Conference of Churches. “We appeal to the scientists there to partner with us to help Los Alamos move away from nuclear weapons production and toward an alternative and life-sustaining mission.”
Faithful Security organized the coalition letter in cooperation with The Friends Committee on National Legislation. Read the full text (PDF) of the statement and see a list of signers.
Faithful Security, the National Religious Partnership on the Nuclear Weapons Danger, is a multi-faith coalition dedicated to lifting the moral voice of U.S. religious communities toward a world free of nuclear weapons. Learn more at www.faithfulsecurity.org.
