The League of Women Voters
of New Mexico
last revised 04.20.2013
last revised 04.20.2013
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Note from the Action Chair Dick Mason: "At this link you will be able to see all legislation acted upon by the Governor. If you look at the final version of HB2 (budget) you will be able to see items she line item vetoed (they have a line through them) that included, for the second year, the Commission on the Status of Women."
www.nmlegis.gov/lcs/legRt/legactgov.aspx?year=13
LWVNM advocacy is coordinated by the LWVNM Action Committee. S All League members are invited to participate in the Action Committee, whether or not they wish to become registered League lobbyists. The Action Committee meets by phone on approximately weekly during the legislative session, and monthly throughout the year. Meeting times and agendas, as well as more extensive discussions of proposed legislation, are found on the LWVNM Action listserv. To join the conference call from your city, please get in touch with the president of your local League, or phone in on your own.
You can receive Action Alerts by subscribing to the LWVNM Action listserv. To join, send a message to LWVNMTopics-subscribe (at) Yahoo Groups dot com. You will receive an email from the listserv, asking you to confirm your request to join the list - reply to it immediately, and you will be on the mailing list.
| Date | Time | Description and Place |
|---|---|---|
| Dec 17 - Jan 11 | Legislation may be pre-filed | |
| Jan 15, Tue | noon | Opening Day |
| Feb 5, Tue | League Day at the Legislature | |
| Feb 14, Thu | Deadline for Introduction of Bills | |
| Mar 16, Sat | noon | Session Ends |
| Apr 5 | Legislation not acted upon by Governor is pocket-vetoed | |
| Jun 14 | Effective date of legislation that is not a general appropriations bill or a bill carrying an emergency clause or other specified date |
The current League bill tracking sheet is now up (PDF)! Updated 2/18/2013
Here are the factsheets which were distributed at Feb 5th's League Day at the Legislature:
Call the legislative switchboard at (505) 986-4300 during the legislative session to contact your legislator or a legislative staff member. Other links are provided on the Legislative contact page.
Download the appropriate legislative agenda (House Committees, Senate Committees, House Floor, Senate Floor, HAFC, SFC) in order to find out if the bill is scheduled for a hearing. These agendas usually cover meetings coming up in the next two days, although some committees report their agendas farther in advance than that. Near the end of the session agendas may be posted only the night before a meeting.
The Legislative Council Service provides "Fiscal Impact Reports" for most bills, linked on the bill's web page, which provides a general analysis of the bill as well as its fiscal impact. The Attorney General's office also provides analyses of some bills, which discuss legal and other issues.
The New Mexico Electric Cooperatives publish the most comprehensive guide to the 2013 Legislature. It includes full contact information for each legislator, their background, committee assignments and a photo. Also contains info on the legislative path for a piece of legislation. If you are going to the State House, these are available in both the East & West lobbies. They're the full color tabloid-sized publication with a photo of the Round House on the cover:
The League has updated its Voters' Keys based on outcomes of the election. Detailed information about who will represent you in 2013 and how to contact them is now available!
If you know the number or sponsor of a bill, you can most easily find it using the bill finder. This page also allows you to search by key word, subject, or status. The subject index is updated only weekly, but it provides a well-organized index to the bills introduced to date.
Alternatively, the locator provides a list of all bills introduced to date. The titles are usually sufficiently descriptive to determine whether the bill is of interest. Locator reports provide other ways to search: by date of introduction or date of legislative action, or by current location, referrals, actions, etc.
The page for each bill lists the referrals and actions to date on the bill (use the link to the Key to Abbreviations provided on each page, also available on the left-hand side of most pages) as well as PDF files of the bill as filed, all amendments, and if appropriate the Financial Impact Report, which often contains a useful summary of the bill in addition to the financial analysis.
Contact information, committee assignments and other information including a link to sponsored legislation can be found through the members' page.
At the state level the League lobbies primarily on the basis of its state positions, which reflect the interests of the New Mexico Leagues, supplemented occasionally by national positions. We can not advocate at the state level on the basis of local League positions that have not been adopted by LWVNM.
If you wish to advocate in the name of the League of Women Voters of New Mexico, you must register with the Secretary of State's office. Registration is free, as the League does not pay its members to lobby, but the registrant must file an authorization form signed by the president of the LWVNM together with his or her application in order to become a League lobbyist. The required forms can be downloaded from the Secretary of State's web site. You will need the lobbyist registration form and the lobbyist authorization form. These will also be available at League Day at the Legislature, January 24, 2012.
An individual representing only himself or herself when speaking with a legislator or other state official or employee is not a lobbyist under the terms of the law and does not need to register. Individuals can be very effective without representing a group. Indeed, the most effective citizen lobbyist is the one who engages with his own state Senator and Representative. League members who visit their legislators on League Day (Feb 5, 2013) should speak only as individuals unless they are registered as League lobbyists.
(To read the PDF files, you can download a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader:)