New Mexico State Senator  Bill Tallman represents Senate District 18 which includes Albuquerque. He was first elected to the New Mexico Senate in 2016. Senator Tallman is the Vice Chair of the Senate Health & Public Affairs Committee, Vice Chair of the Transportation Infrastructure Revenue Subcommittee and a member of the Senate Tax, Business & Transportation Committee. Tallman earned a Bachelor of Arts from Syracuse University in 1968 and a Master of Public Administration from the University of Cincinnati in 1972.  Senator Tallman has extensive experience in municipal government  having served as deputy city manager of Santa Fe, New Mexico. He has also worked as city manager of Norwich, Connecticut and Hamilton, Ohio both of which own and operate their gas and electric utilities. He has served as the Assistant County Manager of Schenectady, New York.  After relocating to New Mexico to become Deputy City Manager of Santa Fe, he remained in the area and ran for a seat in the New Mexico Senate.

https://www.nmlegis.gov/members/Legislator?SponCode=STALL

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Tallman

Below is a guest opinion column submitted for publication on this blog by Democrat New Mexico State Senator Bill G. Tallman.

EDITOR’S DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed in this guest column are those of State Senator Bill G. Tallman  and do not necessarily reflect those of the www.petedinelli.com blog. The Senator has not been paid compensation to publish the guest column and has given his  consent to publish on www.PeteDinelli.com.

BUILD A DOWNTOWN MULTI PURPOSE ARENA IN ABQ USING PORTION OF $3.6 MILLION STATE REVENUE SURPLUS

“On December 12, the Legislative Finance Committee released its Consensus Revenue Estimate for fiscal year 2024 which begins July 1, 2023. It was reported that New Mexico’s revenues have ballooned to historical levels because of the state’s revenues from oil and gas production.  The new estimates released project the state will have an astonishing $3.6 billion in “new” money available for the budget year that starts on July 1, 2023.

 The 60-day legislative session is scheduled to begin on January 17, 2023. Discussions are seriously underway on how to spend the record-high revenue during the 60-day legislative session. Top budget and finance officials in Lujan Grisham’s administration are urging lawmakers to use the windfall on one-time major capital improvement projects. Funding for ongoing programs need to be kept to a minimum due to the inevitable decreases in revenues from the oil and gas industry.   

 What all too often is totally ignored because lack of revenues are major capital outlay projects that can be transformative to a community.  Given the sure magnitude of the surplus, it is likely municipalities, citizens and interest groups will be asking for funding for special capital projects such as swimming pools, parks, recreation facilities, sport facilities, and entertainment venues.  

 A modern multi-purpose arena located in Downtown Albuquerque is such a transformative project that will improve the overall quality of life. A modern multi-purpose arena belongs Downtown. Over the last 25 years  I have literally visited 25 big city arenas including  Cincinnati, Chicago, Indy,  Charlotte, Nashville, New Orleans, St Louis, etc  They are all located in Downtowns.  There are good solid reasons why all these big city arenas are located in Downtowns. When these arenas  empty out the atmosphere on the streets is electric and very exciting.

 New Mexico has a population of slightly over one million people residing within 50-60 miles of downtown Albuquerque. According to my research , Albuquerque is the only metro area with a population of a million or more without a modern multi-purpose arena. The UNM Pit is a single-purpose facility, Tingley is a 65-year-old antiquated “barn”, and the Santa Ana Arena is undersized (thus not able to attract larger functions or big-name entertainers) located on a two-lane road 20 miles from the center of population.

 The consultants engaged to determine the feasibility of the rejected soccer stadium projected that the stadium would only be used on 24 dates annually, whereas a muti-purpose arena could have a minimum of 100 events and as many as 150 if managed by competent and professional personnel. A multi-purpose facility would literally be “multi-purpose”: concerts, minor league hockey, NCAA regional basketball tournament games (the PIT no longer meets the NCAA requirements), large faith-based services, Gathering of Nations, arena football, exhibitions, trade shows, tractor pulls, indoor soccer, and nationally-televised boxing/martial arts matches. Also, Albuquerque could attract larger conventions if we had a nearby facility that could seat more attendees during plenary sessions.

 Several times a week, big name entertainers pass thru Albuquerque in their multi-million-dollar tour buses. If we had a modern, large arena seating a minimum of 15,000, mega star entertainers would include Albuquerque on their itinerary.

 During my tenure as the City Manager of Moline, Illinois (Headquarters of Deere & Co.), I was a member of the Quad City Civic Center Authority that planned and constructed a 12,000-seat arena. This arena operated in the black for 15 years until the Great Recession without ever promising this to taxpayers. Even though that metro area population was just shy of 400,000, our first event sold out in 45 minutes.

 Such a facility would be “transformational” for the following reasons:

–   New Mexicans would not have to travel to Denver, Phoenix, Austin, and Dallas for big-name entertainment.

–   It would help to enhance Albuquerque as a convention site and tourist destination. 

–   The ABQ Chamber of Commerce states in a recent publication that successful downtowns include a “play environment” that includes shopping, entertainment, and open spaces. The article goes on to state that more activity downtown would help to revitalize Downtown; 80 to 90% of big city arenas are located downtown.

–   Young people are leaving our region not only for lack of jobs, but they are attracted to cities such as Austin, Phoenix, and Denver, all of which have a ‘big city’ atmosphere.

The estimated cost of such a facility would be in the range of $150-$250 million. $200 million would be just 5.5% of the $3.6 billion the LFC is projecting the state has available for construction during the 2022-23 budget year.

 Also, I believe that alternative uses of the federal funding windfall – other than funding earmarked for brick and mortar – should be discussed through meaningful public input. Serious consideration for the use of our one time federal funding should be given to critical issues such as affordable housing and behavioral health. Sen. Ortiz y Pino and I have recommended to the Senate Democrat Caucus that we direct $100 million towards a transformational statewide behavioral health program.

 The 2023 legislative session could very well turn out to be a “once in a century opportunity” because of the buget surplus to solve many of the state’s problems that have plagued it for so many decades.  It should also be viewed as an opportunity to build transformative facilities that are needed and that will have a lasting impact on the state’s quality of life for decades to come.”

 The link to a related Dinelli blog article is here:

State Budget Officials Say Use Staggering $3.6 Billion Surplus In State Revenue For Transformative Capital Projects; Gov. MLG Buys Into Republican Short Sighted Politcal Dogma Of Using Surplus For Meager Tax Cuts And Rebates With Short Term Benefit

On January 17 the 2023 New Mexico legislative session will begin its  60-day session. Amongst the legislation that should be considered is abolishing New Mexico’s part time “Citizens Legislature” and the creation of a full time, professional legislature.

REPORT ON LEGISLATIVE PROFESSIONALISM

According to a University of New Mexico study,  the New Mexico Legislature is near the bottom in legislative professionalism. The  55-page study is called A Report on Legislative Professionalism for the State of New Mexico. It was written by UNM Professors Timothy Krebs and Michael Rocca.  The study calls for basic changes in the New Mexico’s legislature with the aim at increasing the efficiency and capacity of the institution. This blog article is a discussion and analysis of the report.

The link to read and review the full 55-page report is here:

Click to access A-Report-on-Legislative-Professionalism-for-the-State-of-New-Mexico-Final54.pdf

According to Krebs/Rocca report:

“In 1971, the Citizens Conference on State Legislatures (CCSL) released a landmark assessment of our nation’s state legislatures to gain a better understanding of why our state governments were failing. The CCSL’s report—along with their 1971 book called The Sometime Governments: An Evaluation of the 50 American Legislatures—included sweeping recommendations to strengthen our state legislatures.  Among other things, it sought to provide legislatures more resources of time, compensation, staff, and facilities. The result was a massive effort across the nation over the next 50 years to “professionalize” our state legislatures.”

The UNM Report’s Executive Summary begins by framing why professional legislatures are so important and states in part:

“As polarization and gridlock continues to grip national politics, Americans are increasingly looking to states to remedy the nation’s most significant challenges. The burden has fallen to the states to address complex issues such as health care, immigration, infrastructure, energy, and the environment. Perhaps the federal government’s continued inaction compared to state governments’ action, is one reason why Americans trust their state government far more than their federal government. But this wasn’t always the case. In the 1960s, state governments—particularly their legislatures—were in crisis. Few legislatures had the capacity to address the daunting issues (particularly civil rights and poverty) that were creating massive political, social, and economic unrest in our states and cities.”

FACTORS USED TO MEASURE PROFESSIONALISM

The UNM report defines legislative professionalism as follows:

“The extent to which the legislature can command the full attention of its members, providing them with adequate resources to do their jobs in a manner comparable to other full-time political actors, and setting up organizations and procedures that facilitate law making.”

According to the report, there are 3 major factors used to measure professionalism of a legislature and those factors are  1. session length, 2. support staff and 3. member salary.

Based on accepted measures of professionalism and data available, the study found the following that affects the New Mexico state legislature’s ability to legislate effectively:

1. “The New Mexico legislature meets an average of 70.53 legislative days during each biennium (two years) and its the 3rd shortest in the nation.

2. New Mexico spends less than $400,000 per legislator on staff every two years, which puts the state 33rd out of 50 in staff spending or the 18th lowest in the nation.

3. The New Mexico legislature maintains about 168 permanent staff, or about 1.5 per legislator, which ranks 36 out of 50 states related to employing permanent staff (15th lowest).

4. New Mexico remains the only state in the nation whose legislators do not receive a salary, although they do receive per diems for expenses. Most retain their day jobs or are retired or financially able to subsidize their service. Paid legislators no longer carry jobs they must juggle with legislative responsibilities, so they spend more time reviewing research, reports and legislation, ensuring a greater grasp of complex issues.

5. The study, which included comparable legislatures from around the country, characterized New Mexico’s structure as a part-time, amateur legislature with dual-career legislators.”

The report stated that it is clear  more professionalized legislatures are more effective lawmaking bodies. Legislatures that pay higher salaries write more detailed legislation that allows them to do the following:

• more effectively control state bureaucracies, especially when the legislature is controlled by one party and the governorship controlled by another.
• have a greater capacity than less professionalized legislatures to craft highly complex legislation in response to technical policy issues (e.g. energy regulation).
• be more innovative than their less professionalized counterparts and less prone to imitate the legislative choices of neighboring or similar states.

PROFESSIONALIZING THE LEGISLATURE ONLY GOES SO FAR

The report emphasized that professionalizing and modernizing the legislature needs to go beyond session length, legislator salary, and paid staff. A number of other barriers to effective, efficient legislative practice were noted and include the following:

• “Late start times for committee or chamber hearings. Sessions held after 10 pm or midnight might as well be closed sessions, as most New Mexicans will not stay at the Roundhouse or even remain on Zoom late at night. And certainly New Mexicans with kids to get to school or who have jobs that start at 8 or 9 a.m. will tune out long before midnight. Plus, toward the end of session, these late night hearings can be an everyday event, wearing legislators down and depriving them of time they can be researching bills or communicating with constituents.”

• “Governor’s “call” during short (30-day) sessions. The requirement that only the Governor’s agenda can be considered during a short session severely limits the authority of the legislature, effectively limiting legislators to introducing bills only during 60-day sessions.”

• “The filibusteris a tool used by the minority party to slow down the process and limit what can get done. On the last day of the 2022 session, Republican Sen. Bill Sharer spoke for three hours about baseball and a very inaccurate lesson in NM history, none of which was related to anything on the legislative table. But what was on the table was important election reform legislation that had passed the House and two Senate committees, so this was the last hurdle — except that Sen. Sharer had every intention of talking until the clock ran out and the session ended with election reform dying for lack of time. In truth, there had been plenty of time to conduct a 3-hour hearing and vote to pass important election reform legislation.”

• “Conflict of interest. Legislators who must work may have to vote on legislation that influences the industry in which they work. This occurred throughout the effort to pass legalized cannabis, as both House Speaker Brian Egolf and Senator Jacob Candelaria were attorneys for the cannabis industry. It isn’t just here that we find conflicts of interest, but also as a result of at least two legislators being in relationships with lobbyists. It is unrealistic to expect a legislator not to discuss bills with their partner and equally unrealistic to expect the lobbyist partner not to offer input. The only way to prevent undue lobbyist influence is to require legislators to reveal partner lobbyist or industry ties and then to formulate rules that prevent legislators from voting on bills in which they or their partners have vested interest.”

 THREE RECOMMENDATIONS MADE

 The report makes 3 recommendations to make New Mexico’s legislature a more professional institution. The 3  recommendations made in the report are:

1. Staffing: Increase the number of permanent legislative staff, especially staff connected to individual legislators as opposed to staff that might work for interim committees such as the Legislative Finance Committee or the other permanent, year-round policy committees. Most legislators in NM do not have dedicated staff; they only have access to staff during the legislative session and/or when their work outside the session puts them in contact with institutional staff members. Additional staff support is the best way to increase legislative capacity. Among other benefits, increasing professional staff and broadening their distribution in the legislature will mean greater ability for the legislature to check executive agencies and governmental programs, and for individual legislators to build expertise on policy and to conduct constituency service vital to their constituencies.

2. Salary: Work to provide a salary to legislators not because of its effects on the legislature, and more because it is the fair thing to do. Legislative salary as an indicator of professionalism is linked to a number of important phenomena such as who runs, time spent on the job, legislative productivity and non-voting, district legislation, good government reforms, economic development, etc., but the overall effect of salary is probably not as important as staffing. The question here of course will be where that salary is set.

3. Days in Session:   Days in session should be increased to enhance legislative capacity, especially in bargaining with the executive. Increasing session lengths will allow the legislature to become more involved in making policy, in shaping the budget, and running the government itself. As a result, the legislature will become a constant presence that cannot be ignored by the executive or anyone else.

Providing legislator salaries and increasing the days in the session, as well as providing for the introduction of all substantive legislation during each session, would have to come in the form of amending the state constitution. This would have to be approved by the Legislature and state voters.  However, providing staff to each legislator could be accomplished through legislation. as soon as this coming session.

UNM Professor Timothy Krebs had this to say:

“Research shows that more professionalized legislatures have greater to capacity to act in the policy and representational interests of state residents.  … Adding legislative staff, paying legislators and increasing time in session will help to modernize New Mexico state government in ways that would benefit both the legislature and its constituents.” 

UNM Professor Michael Rocca said that more staff will lead to more innovation, less copy-and-paste legislation from other states, and fewer errors.  Rocca sad this:

“Providing staff and salary, lengthening the session—It’s the right thing to do. It’s the fair thing to do — not to reward the legislators, but to provide constituent services, enable more representation and the ability to check interest groups and the governor.”

The link to the quoted news source material is here:

https://ladailypost.com/unm-study-ranks-new-mexico-near-bottom-in-legislative-professionalism-suggests-longer-sessions-salaries-staff/

COMMENTARY AND ANALYIS

A growing number of citizens and advocacy groups here in the state are calling for “modernizing” or “professionalizing” the Legislature in 2023. The groups include the New Mexico Ethics Watch, Common Cause New Mexico, the Rio Grande Sierra Club,  the League of Women Voters, Indivisible and Retake Democracy.  A major transformative change that is long overdue in the state is the professionalization of the New Mexico legislature to a full time paid legislature.

Democrats in the 2023 legislative session will hold a 45-25 majority in the House and a 27-15 edge in the Senate. Democrat Michelle Lujan and  Democrats should seize the opportunity during the 2023 legislative session and enact legislation calling for a constitutional amendment where voters can decide to make the New Mexico Legislature a professional, full time,  paid legislature.