Morning Word
Hey, a lull in news in the New Mexico Senate race. If I had to guess, the DSCC ad will drop sometime today; Tuesday is the day of the week that many campaigns and groups launch new ads.---
That doesn't mean a lull in the news, though. There was a lot of talk about climate (hotter than every in New Mexico) and weather (dry, dry, dry) and even more on Santa Fe's proposal to end fluoridation of the city's water.
Speaking of water, is a federal takeover of New Mexico's water rights imminent? I would highly doubt it, but it is possible with a recent lawsuit.
- Probably the biggest news of the day
- , although one wonders if it will get the attention it deserves.
The lawyers told the committee the U.S. government is apparently trying to take over legal management of the state's water supply. The federal government has asserted claims for damages to groundwater in a natural resource damage case in New Mexico involving Chevron/Molycorp. The claim seeks for those damages to be awarded in the form of future water rights management.
- Hoping John Fleck writes some about this for the Albuquerque Journal.
- The cost of redistricting after Gov. Susana Martinez vetoed the Legislature's redistricting plans
- topped $5.4 million
- .
“The cost to the taxpayers of this choice has been substantial,” Hall wrote Monday in an order setting out what lawyers representing groups of Democrats, Republicans and minorities will be paid.
“When the legislative and executive branches fail to comply with their legal obligation, all taxpayers bear the financial consequences,” the judge said.
A decade ago, comparable redistricting costs were about $3.77 million, although there were only two trials then — in contrast to four this time — and some of that total was for work done during a regular legislative session.- A study to see how much tax breaks cost the state
- is being delayed
- . Gov. Susana Martinez vetoed a law (as did her predecessor, Bill Richardson) that would have mandated that this analysis be done every year. Martinez then issued an executive order ordering a similar report to be filed. But, as this delay shows, it might not have teeth if it is continuously delayed.
Part of the reason the report has not yet been released is an internal Martinez administration discussion about whether to include certain variable tax rates and tax benefits received by nonprofits, Clifford said.
“It is a very large, complicated report,” Taxation and Revenue Secretary Demesia Padilla told legislators earlier this month. “It’s not one we’re taking lightly.”- More than
- $11 million in federal funds will go to Santa Clara Pueblo
- following recent flooding in the area.
- Jon Barela, the state economic director, appeared at a
- Mitt Romney campaign event in Santa Fe going after Barack Obama
- for an
- out of context remark
- .
Barela said he did not accept the president’s argument that his words were twisted.
He said Obama’s administration was responsible for “one unrelenting attack on small business.”Barela faced controversy in his 2010 congressional run for a company he runs that benefited from government tax breaks that Republicans opposed (the film incentives).
- George Johnson with another good piece, this one titled, "
- The Attack of the Citizen Scientists
- ." Johnson's piece talks about fears by "citizen scientists" about fluoridation in the water in Santa Fe but could easily relate to objections to evolution and climate change.
- Curry County is going to consider a bond to allow Tres Amigas to begin ordering equipment and building the massive superstation
- without paying gross receipts taxes
- .
Burpo said the IRB would be the second largest in New Mexico and would likely be the first of many for Curry County. He said as Tres Amigas takes shape with its plans to link the nation's three major power grids, it will spawn ancillary industries in the area such as solar and wind power plants.
The Tres Amigas project would give wind and solar projects a place to sell their electrical power, Burpo said.The bond would be for $1.9 billion. The New Mexico state budget that Martinez signed in March was $5.6 billion.- Independent Source PAC looks at
- failures in Florida's school grading system
- , the system that New Mexico's controversial system is based on.
- The New Mexico Legislative Council Service
- published an analysis with pros and cons of the constitutional amendments
- up before voters this November. Included are three that would make big changes at the scandal-ridden Public Regulation Commission.
- If you think it has been hotter than normal in New Mexico the past two years... you're right.
#nmleg State Climatologist: Last 12 and 24 months in NM have been warmest on record in past 117 years! Visit: weather.nmsu.edu
