Committee's late start affects ethics reform

Posted 2/03/2009 12:21:00 AM

Here’s an interesting point when considering whether the New Mexico Senate will be more open to ethics reform this year than it has been in the past.

The Senate Rules Committee finally held its organizational meeting yesterday.

Yesterday. Feb. 2. Nearly two weeks after the Legislature convened for a 60-day session, the Rules Committee finally got organized so it can begin doing its work. Nearly one-fourth of the session is already gone.

To make matters worse for ethics reform proposals, the committee’s chairwoman, Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, has indicated that confirmation hearings will come before consideration of legislation.

Many high-profile ethics reform bills were given what some call the “kiss of death” because they were assigned to be considered by three committees instead of two, and must pass all three before being considered on the Senate floor. Now, some of the ethics bills, including one that would create a state ethics commission, start their long journey in one of the busier committees in the Legislature, one that is getting organized later than most, and one in which they may not get a hearing for quite awhile.

That’s a pretty bleak assessment of the chances of ethics reform in this year’s Legislature. But it appears, once again, to be the reality.