New Mexico Supreme Court

Supreme Court: Martinez vetoes of ten bills invalid, bills are law

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The saga of ten invalid vetoes ended Wednesday, when the state Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Gov. Susana Martinez failed to follow the state constitution. That means the bills she vetoed more than a year ago without explanation remain law, upholding a lower court ruling. During the 2017 legislative session,  Martinez vetoed ten laws, but failed to explain those  vetoes. The state Legislature sued, saying she had violated the state constitution. With the court’s ruling, those laws are in effect immediately.

2018 state budget

Last-minute shuffles cement state budget deal

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It took moving a few million dollars here and putting a few million dollars there, but New Mexico had a budget by the end of Wednesday. A $6.3 billion spending plan is on its way to Gov. Susana Martinez after the Senate and House of Representatives brokered a compromise on slightly different budgets approved by both chambers. The compromise won bipartisan support in the House and Senate, a marked departure from recent years when financial shortfalls led to spending cuts and intensely political clashes over state spending. Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for Gov. Susana Martinez signaled that she would be receptive to the budget. That is different from last year, when she vetoed much of the annual spending plan, at one point threatened a government shutdown and ultimately forced a special session.

Roads

State ‘only got about half’ of money needed to fix roads

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A quarter of New Mexico’s roads are in bad condition according to a new report from a Washington D.C. nonprofit. And ripped up pavement and bumpy roads aren’t just an inconvenience, they’re also costly to car owners in the state. On average, bad roads, traffic congestion and poor traffic safety conditions cost Albuquerque drivers more than $1,800 each year, according to the report by the transportation policy research group TRIP. Released last week, TRIP’s “New Mexico Transportation By the Numbers” report is based on publicly available data from sources like the American Automobile Association, the Texas A&M Transportation Institute and the National Traffic Highway Safety Administration. Albuquerque’s roads are the worst for any city in the state, according to the report, with 34 percent of them in poor condition.