Projected Allocations Now Available for 2012 GO Bond “B”

admin — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 03:44:50 +0000

Projected 2012 GO Bond “B” allocations are now available for academic, public, school, and tribal libraries. Find them here.

GOVERNOR MARTINEZ SIGNS GO BOND BILL

admin — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 00:42:35 +0000

On Wednesday, March 7, Governor Susana Martinez signed Senate Bill 66. Governor Martinez line-item vetoed an infrastructure expense at Eastern New Mexico University (ENMU), but library funding remains intact at $9.83 million. Find Introductory Senate Bill 66 (beginning pg 26, line 7) here, and the Governor’s Senate Executive Message related to Senate Bill 66 here.

LIBRARY BOND BILL PASSES

rmaseman — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:39:47 +0000

The New Mexico Legislature passed Senate Bill 66, the General Obligation Bond Bill. Near 11:35 am on Thursday, February 16, the House of Representatives interrupted its extended debate about education reform to act on SB 66, sending it to the Governor before the official adjournment of the session at noon. The vote in the House was 67-0 in favor.

Previously, the Senate Finance Committee passed the bill on an 11-0 vote on the evening of February 14. The full Senate passed it on the morning of February 15 with a 38-0 vote. The House Taxation & Revenue Committee approved the bill earlier on February 16 with a 14-0 vote. SB 66 puts three separate bond issues on the November General Election ballot:

A. $10.335 million to fund 131 separate projects at senior centers around the state.

B. $9.83 million to fund public, academic and school libraries statewide at $3 million each, and $700,000 for tribal libraries statewide. (The extra money covers the cost of selling the bonds.)

C. $114.5 million for 26 higher education and special school projects statewide.

Governor Martinez has until March 7 to act on all legislation passed during this session of the Legislature.

Bond Bills, February 2

The General Obligation Bond bills, SB 66 and HB 193, are still in their original committees. On February 2nd, Senate Majority Leader Tim Jennings stated that the amount available for GO bonds would be less than originally anticipated. A story in Tuesday’s Albuquerque Journal says that the Legislature is now working with a total bond capacity of $134 million. The two bond bills, prepared by the Legislative Finance Committee last fall, allocated $180 million in GO bonds to higher education projects, senior citizen centers and libraries. Libraries receive $9.7 million in these bills. The Journal says that the Administration is considering deleting money from community college projects to make up the difference.

Ben Wakashige spoke with an Administration official who said that the “Governor’s capital outlay recommendation does include $9.7 million in GO bonds for libraries ($3 million public schools, $3million public libraries;

$3 million academic libraries and $700k tribal libraries.)” Our NMLA Legislative Advocate Larry Horan spoke with Rep. Ed Sandoval, who is working to keep the amount at around $10 million. The Legislation Committee recommends that library supporters contact their legislators to maintain the library bond amount at $9.7 million.