Daily Update
Thursday February 20

Hotlines
Return to Legislature 2003

Legislative Session Contacts for Legislators-Phone: (505) 986-4300, Letters:
New Mexico State Capitol Building, Santa Fe, NM 87503, or Fax: (505) 986-4610.

[The "Hotlines Link"  will take you to our daily hotline archive.  You may view previous hotlines to place current events in perspective.]

Legislative Education Study Committee Listing of All Introduced Education Legislation as .pdf Document

Public Employee Bargaining Bill Passes House

The House version of the public employee bargaining bill House Bill 508, sponsored by House Speaker Ben Lujan passed the house today. The bill now goes to the Senate, where it is referred to the Senate Public Affairs Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee. The House vote was:  42-YES; 21-NO; 1-EXCUSED; 6-ABSENT

Representative	Vote on House Bill 508
Thomas A. Anderson Bernalillo	NO
Janice E. Arnold-Jones Bernalillo	NO
Ray Begaye San Juan	YES
William "Ed" Boykin Dona Ana	NO
Donald E. Bratton Lea	NO
Gail C. Beam Bernalillo	YES
Joseph Cervantes Dona Ana	YES
Max Coll Santa Fe	YES
Kandy Cordova Valencia	YES
Jose A. Campos DeB, Curr, Guad, & Roosevelt	YES
Anna M. Crook Curry	NO
Daniel R. Foley Chaves, Lincoln & Otero	ABSENT
Mary Helen Garcia Dona Ana	YES
Miguel P. Garcia Bernalillo	YES
Ron Godbey Bernalillo, Sandoval & Santa Fe	NO
Roberto J. Gonzales Taos	YES
Irvin Harrison McKinley & San Juan	YES
Dianne Miller Hamilton Grant, Hidalgo & Sierra	NO
Ted Hobbs Bernalillo	NO
George J. Hanosh Cibola & McKinley	YES
John A. Heaton Eddy	YES
Manuel G. Herrera Grant & Hidalgo	YES
Dona G. Irwin Luna	YES
Rhonda S. King Bernalillo, Santa Fe & Torrance	YES
Larry A. Larranaga Bernalillo	Excused
Fred Luna Valencia	YES
Patricia A. Lundstrom McKinley & San Juan	YES
Antonio Lujan Dona Ana	YES
Ben Lujan Santa Fe	YES
W. Ken Martinez Cibola, McKinley & San Juan	YES
Rick Miera Bernalillo	YES
James Roger Madalena Bern, McK, R.A. & Sandoval	YES
Terry T. Marquardt Dona Ana & Otero	NO
Brian K. Moore Cur,Hard,Quay,Roose,S.M. & Union	NO
Andy Nunez Dona Ana	YES
Rory J. Ogle Bernalillo	NO
Danice Picraux Bernalillo	YES
Jane E. Powdrell-Culbert Sandoval	NO
Al Park Bernalillo	YES
Pauline J. Ponce Chaves	YES
Raymond M. Ruiz Bernalillo	YES
Bengie Regensberg Colfax, Guad, Mora, S.M. & Taos	YES
Debbie A. Rodella Rio Arriba, Sandoval & Taos	YES
Earlene Roberts Chaves, Eddy, Lea & Roosevelt	NO
Henry Kiki Saavedra Bernalillo & Valencia	YES
Nick L. Salazar Mora, R.A., S.M., S.F. & Taos	YES
Edward C. Sandoval Bernalillo	YES
Joe M Stell Eddy & Otero	YES
Mimi Stewart Bernalillo	YES
Thomas E. Swisstack Sandoval	YES
Sheryl Williams Stapleton Bernalillo	YES
Daniel P. Silva Bernalillo	YES
Jim Trujillo Santa Fe	YES
Sandra L. Townsend San Juan	ABSENT
James G. Taylor Bernalillo	YES
Thomas C. Taylor San Juan	NO
Don Tripp Catron, Socorro & Valencia	NO
J. Paul Taylor Dona Ana	YES
Joe Thompson Bernalillo	NO
Nick Tinnin San Juan	NO
Richard D. Vigil San Miguel & Torrance	YES
Luciano "Lucky" Varela Santa Fe	YES
Gloria C. Vaughn Otero	NO
Avon W. Wilson Chaves, Lincoln & Otero	ABSENT
W. C. "Dub" Williams Lincoln & Otero	ABSENT
Jeannette O. Wallace Los Alamos, Sandoval & Santa Fe	ABSENT
Robert White Bernalillo	NO
Donald L. Whitaker Lea	ABSENT
Eric A. Youngberg Bernalillo & Sandoval	NO
Teresa A. Zanetti Bernalillo	NO

Senate Bill 46 passed the Senate Floor on Tuesday Morning, February 18.  This measure, the Senate version of public employee bargaining now goes to the House, where it is referred to the House Labor and Human Resources Committee and to the House Appropriation and Finance Committee.   All Democratic Senators were present and voted for the bill.  Republican Senator Allen Hurt voted for the bill.  Republican Senators Cararro, Kidd, and Leavell were off the floor and not voting (apparently taking a "walk" to avoid a no vote).  All other Republicans voted against the bill.

Strategy for making sure one or both bargaining passes the other legislative body is being developed.  Collective bargaining could be on the floor of both houses early next week!  We need to call all House Members, and all Senators now to urge support for House Bill 508 and Senate Bill 46.

Funding Compromise Seems Less Sure

The outline of agreement described below was heard before the House Appropriations and Finance Committee as a hearing on House Bill 212 and as a report from the House Education Committee Chair Rick Miera.  The committee gave a decidedly unfriendly reception to the funding ideas, largely because of the dependence on the one time use of school district cash balances, a part of the Governor's program.  Although no vote was taken, it was obviously that much work needs to be done before the committee will be convinced to appropriate one time cash balances for recurring expenses.   We continue to support the Governor's approach as the only way to gain substantial new funding for public school employee salaries.  This approach requires support for new revenue sources.  Call House Appropriations and Finance Committee Members and urge support of the Governor's plan as contained in House Bill 212 and House Bill 3.

Plan Summary:

After an evening and day of negotiations regarding school funding with our lobby team, the NMFEE lobby team, the Governor and leaders of the House Education Committee, we have an outline of school funding. We still have agreement on the reform measures in House Bill 212, the education reform bill.   Additional agreements  and clarification reached today:

• The one time bonus idea was compromised in order to gain a 3% raise for all classified staff starting at the beginning of the next school year.  Representative Sheryl Williams-Stapleton, sponsor of the one-time bonus worked tirelessly, along with your lobby team to gain this additional benefit for classified employees, which will be added to the salary base.
  

• A 6% raise for all teachers and instructional staff (such as librarians, counselors, special ed ancillary, etc.) starting in December of 2003 (about 1/3 of the way through the year) may be accelerated to start a little earlier.
  

• A guaranteed minimum salary for beginning teachers of $30,000 starting at the beginning of the next school year.
  

• Caps on school district cash balances and the requirement that school districts use 1% of non-instructional budgets along with 16.4 million dollars from cash balances to help fund salary increases were also agreed to fund the 3% salary increase for classified staff.
  

• We have assurances from the Governor that he would like to accelerate the 6% teacher raise to earlier in the year, if additional money can be found.
  

• We gained assurances from all concerned, including the Governor, that they will work to secure passage of the Constitutional amendments to increase public schools' distribution from the  Land Grand Permanent Fund.

All of these agreements in principle need to be added to education funding bills currently awaiting hearing in the House Appropriations and Finance Committee, perhaps as early as tomorrow.

The NEA-NM and NMFEE joint lobby teams worked most of last evening and today on these funding compromises.  The effort is the foundation of fundamental changes in education for the state.  If we remember that early proposals provided only teachers with any salary increase and the potential for cuts in school district non-instructional personnel, this compromise is a great step in the right direction.

More Details of Proposals

We will continue to pursue help with insurance premiums and a supplemental salary increase for the current year as described below.

Couple these efforts with the almost realized public employee bargaining bill, and we have a pretty successful outcome for public schools.  Especially when we consider that most of our neighboring states are dealing with deficits and proposing cuts in public education funding.

We need to urge all legislators to pass House Bill 212 as amended and thank House Education Committee Members, especially Chair Miera, for their leadership in this important school reform process.

Additionally, the bill sponsored by Representative Mimi Stewart for the Legislative Education Study Committee, will provide a new licensure system for teachers tied to minimum salary levels, which when fully implemented after five years, will provide $30,000 starting salary for level I licenses, $40,000 minimum salaries for level II licenses, and $50,000 minimum salaries for level III licenses.  While the bill mainly addresses teachers, it is a good first step to comprehensive reform and is supported by most education advocacy groups. 

Bill To Add Fairness to Return to Work Program

House Bill 22, sponsored by Representative John Heaton, will allow retirees who retired before the return to work bill passed the legislature to return to work in a school district with full retirement benefits, without going a full year with no income from public school districts.  The measure will allow these retirees to return to work and continue to collect retirement benefits after only 90 days without income from substituting or other school district work.  The rationale for the bill is that these retirees could not have been influenced to retire early by the existence of the the return to work program, since they were already retired before it passed.  The measure received a do-pass recommendation in the House Education Committee  and is on its way to the House Floor.

Contact Legislators Regarding Permanent Educational Funding

Addition funding sources is the cornerstone of education funding and reform this year.  We need  to make sure that the public has the opportunity to vote on school funding this fall.  

Senate Joint Resolution 6, sponsored by Senator Cynthia Nava, received a do-pass recommendation from the Senate Education Committee on Monday afternoon.  The measure will place a constitutional amendment before the voters  to amend the state constitution to increase from 4.7 percent to 6.0 percent (as amended in the Senate Education Committee on Monday) the amount of the annual distribution from the Permanent Fund to public schools and other recipients of money from the Permanent Fund; Provides about 80 million new dollars annually for public schools. 

Bill to Help with Health Insurance Premiums Gets Do-Pass

House Bill 276, State Contribution to Group Insurance, introduced by Representative Pauline Ponce, received a do-pass recommendation from the House Education Committee  on Wednesday.  This bill will increase the employer contribution for group insurance to 75% of premium for the lowest paid employees and will increase the premium amount for everyone else by 5% next year. The rate gradually increases to 80% for all employees over the next several years.  The measure goes next to the   House Appropriation and Finance Committee, ask committee members to support this important financial benefit for employees in this year of inflated health insurance premiums.

Speak Up for Our Friends

Ask members to not be fooled by Republican party "robo" calls into the districts of House members who voted for the Governor's tax package and for protection of school funding against revenue shortfalls.  It has come to our attention that calls critical of Representatives Ponce, Cordova, and Swisstack have been made.  These representatives voted for your interests by supporting Speaker Lujan's proposal to protect school funds against unforeseen consequences of the tax cut!