SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 11

52nd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2015

INTRODUCED BY

William P. Soules

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE NEW MEXICO LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL TO STUDY WAYS IN WHICH LEGISLATIVE INTERIM COMMITTEES COULD OPERATE MORE COST-EFFECTIVELY AND EFFICIENTLY.

     WHEREAS, the number of legislative interim committees has increased from eleven in 1979, including just five with ten or more legislators as voting members, to more than two dozen in 2014, including eighteen with ten or more legislators as voting members; and

     WHEREAS, many legislative interim committees routinely meet outside of Santa Fe during much of the interim in a laudable effort to allow members to see and hear firsthand the issues facing New Mexico and to ensure that New Mexicans who cannot easily travel to Santa Fe have access to the legislative branch of government; and

     WHEREAS, the large number and membership of interim committees and their robust travel schedules have had the unintended consequence of making it more difficult for many legislators to effectively serve; and

     WHEREAS, other legislatures have adopted interim committee schedules that group various committee meetings at approximately the same time in the same location to reduce costs to the state and travel time for legislators, committee staff, presenters and the public; and

     WHEREAS, the New Mexico legislative council has authorized several studies over the years to examine ways in which the legislative process could be improved, and those studies have resulted in several reforms, including opening conference committee meetings to the public, expanding new member orientation, restricting interim committee travel late in the interim, allowing joint sponsorship of legislation, prohibiting the introduction of identical interim committee and agency legislation in both the house and senate, expanding prefiling of legislation, improving the legislative webcasts, expanding public parking and allowing members to attend meetings of interim committees of which they are not members; and

     WHEREAS, based in part on the success of the previous studies and recommended reforms, there is reason to believe that a study of ways in which the operation of interim committees could be made more cost-effective and efficient would be similarly successful;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the New Mexico legislative council be requested to study ways in which interim committees could operate more cost-effectively and efficiently; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be delivered to the co-chairs of the New Mexico legislative council.

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