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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Cervantes

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/6/06

HB 399

SHORT TITLE Conference Committees as Public Meetings

SB

ANALYST Medina

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

NFI

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates Senate Bill 294

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Attorney General (AGO)

General Services Department (GSD)

Department of Finance and Administration (DFA)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 399 amends the section of the Open Meetings Act pertaining to meetings of the State

Legislature (Section 10-15-2 NMSA 1978) to expand the provisions of the Open Meetings Act to

include legislative conference committees, declaring them to be public meetings open to the pub-

lic at all times. The bill also strikes the provision exempting matters relating to bills, resolutions

or other matters not yet presented to either house of the Legislature or general appropriation bill

from the Open Meetings Act as it pertains to meetings of the State Legislature.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

Conference committees consist of three members each of the Senate and the House appointed by

the President Pro Tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House to reach a consensus on

amendments in dispute when one house refuses to concur with the amendments made to its bill

by the other house. According to the Joint Rules of the Legislature, no new items shall be pre-

House Bill 399 – Page

2

sented as an amendment for inclusion in conference committee reports unless the item has been

the subject of a legislative committee hearing during the session. Furthermore, conference com-

mittee reports shall not be subject to amendment in either house.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

The Attorney General’s Office contends that enacting this bill could affect the workload of the

AGO’s Civil Division in that it would increase the number of Open Meetings Act inquiries that

the office must address.

DUPLICATION

Senate Bill 294 is a duplicate bill.

WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL

If this bill is not enacted, legislative conference committees and other legislative meetings per-

taining to bills, resolutions or other legislative matters not yet presented to either house of the

Legislature and general appropriations bills would continue to be exempt from the provisions of

the Open Meetings Act.

DXM/nt