Thursday, February 3, 2011

Is This Really A 30 Day Session in Disguise?

That's a good question asked by The Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce in their daily Legislature newsletter.

Here's the observation:

The inactivity of the session seems a bit like a 30 day session where the only job is to pass a budget and go home. A 60 day session allows all legislators to introduce anything they want to; all bills are germane. In a 30 day session, the Governor must agree to any bill introduction which is not budget- related. So, most believe this session will continue to mosey along and eventually get a budget passed and a few other things passed and killed and call it a day. 

Of course if this was really a 30-day session, it would all be over in a couple of weeks. Something tells me they'll drag it out until the middle of March like the constitution says. And of course, even though little business is getting done now, I suspect the last week of the session will be as crazy as ever with many days lasting well into the wee hours.