Conference committee to be open to the public

Posted 3/21/2009 10:34:00 AM

This article has been updated.

The New Mexico Legislature is about to hold a conference committee meeting that is open to the public.

Yes, really. Though a bill approved earlier this week that would require open conference committees hasn’t been acted on by the governor and, even if it had been, wouldn’t take effect for months, lawmakers are voluntarily opening to the public a conference committee that’s about to be held on Senate Bill 584, sponsored by Gerald Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque.

“It might be a historical event,” Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, said moments ago in announcing the open meeting on the Senate floor. Smith has always opposed opening conference committees to the public in the past.

The meeting is about to be held in Room 322 at the Roundhouse. At least two journalists are on their way to the meeting.

The Ortiz y Pino bill would allow the issuance of state bonds for renewable energy transmission and storage projects. I’m not sure right now what the dispute between the House and Senate is about.

Update, 11:10 a.m.

This conference committee is over. I’m not in Santa Fe, so I can’t yet tell you what happened. Legislative leaders just appointed members to a second conference committee -- on Senate Bill 201, sponsored by Bernadette Sanchez, D-Albuquerque -- but did not announce that this one would be open to the public.