An effort to change the lengths of legislative sessions each year sailed through the House of Representatives on Thursday, passing without any debate and.
Currently, there are alternating 30- and 60-day legislative sessions over two years, and during the 30-day sessions lawmakers are restricted to introducing 鈥済ermane鈥� bills 鈥� basically, dealing with budgetary issues or subjects that the governor greenlights.
House Joint Resolution 1, sponsored by Rep. Matthew McQueen, D-Galisteo, would change the legislative session cycle to 45-day sessions each year during which lawmakers could introduce bills tackling any issue.
Allowing bills on any subject to be introduced every session would help lawmakers maintain momentum on an issue, year-to-year, McQueen said in a mid-February interview.
Right now, lawmakers who can鈥檛 get legislation across the finish line during a 60-day session have to wait for two years to work on it again, he said. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 have any momentum. You lose your coalition, you have turnover in your colleagues in the House. It鈥檚 a hard way to get legislation passed.鈥�
If the Senate gets on board with the idea, the proposal would go before voters either in 2026 or at a special election and would change the New Mexico Constitution if approved.
On Thursday, McQueen shepherded through the House another measure that would ask voters to eliminate 鈥減ocket vetoes.鈥� Not a single lawmaker voted against it.
Currently, the governor must sign bills that clear the legislature in the final three days of a session within a 20-day period after the legislature adjourns.
She can choose to veto a bill outright, in which case she is required to explain the veto. But she isn鈥檛 required to veto a bill 鈥攕he can simply not sign it. In that case, it鈥檚 considered a 鈥減ocket veto鈥� and no explanation is required.
House Joint Resolution 2 would ask voters to amend the Constitution to require the governor to either sign or veto all bills, and in the case of vetoes, to provide a substantive explanation for why she vetoed the bill. If the governor does neither, the change would require the bill to automatically become law.
