Gov. Richardson's State of the State Address
Fresh off the campaign trail, Governor Bill Richardson gave his State of the State address before the combined assembly of the New Mexico State House and Senate this week. Newly unemployed campaign staff were in attendance as well to hear what their erstwhile candidate would say.
He urged the legislature to support bills on energy, healthcare, domestic violence and domestic partnership as well as the proposals of his Ethics Task Force (public campaign financing of statwide offices, an ethics commission and contribution limits).
He has budgeted funds for the public financing proposal and a coalition of citizen advocacy groups, including Common Cause New Mexico, are engaging citizens to urge their legislators to support these reforms.
Steve Allen, Executive Director of Common Cause NM said in an Albuquerque Journal Op-Ed on Monday:
During the 2007 session, the Legislature wisely voted to pass public campaign financing for statewide judicial races. It is time to extend this crucial reform to all statewide offices.
Legislators will introduce a bill to provide public campaign financing for statewide offices, as well as for an ethics commission and contribution limits, in the coming days of the short 30 day session. The House will likely pass the bills. We trust they will hear the voice of the people. It is vital that citizens across the state let their Senators know how important this is to them by emailing, calling and writing to them.
An overwhelming majority of Colorado voters last fall approved Amendment 41, wanting to ban lobbyist gifts to lawmakers and policymakers. They approved the measure to raise the ethics standards in our state. Previous ethics-reform measures never made it out of the legislature.
Earlier this week, the Denver Post editorialized in favor of implementation. "There's still time for lawmakers to act. Otherwise, citizens will again have to the do their job for them." - The Denver Post, 4/20/07,
"Ethics Reform Effort is on Shaky Ground."Just when we thought it was never going to happen. FINALLY. The Colorado General Assembly passed Senate Bill 210, the compromise ethics implementation bill and it is now headed for the Governor's desk. This is no small feat, it has taken months to get this far. After a lot of feet dragging, the Colorado legislature is finally going to uphold the will of the voters.
Amendment 41, the Ethics in Government Initiative, was passed in November with over 62% of the vote. Higher than any other initiative on the ballot (and to be fair, there were 12 all together). Since its passage, it has become the talk of the town...literally. Opponents made wild claims that children of government employees would no longer receive college scholarships, and ranchers in southern Colorado couldn't receive disaster aid in the wake of giant snow storms. These claims caught on in the news, and the media storm that followed was something that none of us could have predicted. But, finally, Senate Bill 210 makes serious strides toward implementing the law the right way.
Louisiana, SB486, Jackson, expected to come up on Senate Calendar next week, requires that significant changes to the budget be detailed in policy terms. A better connection between policy and funding will improve debate of budget issues in the legislature and also allow the public to enter that discussion more easily.
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