Fiscal impact reports (FIRs) are prepared by the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) for standing finance

committees of the NM Legislature. The LFC does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of these reports

if they are used for other purposes.

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

SPONSOR Carraro

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/26/07

2/24/07 HB

SHORT TITLE Conference Committees as Open Meetings

SB 322/aSPAC

ANALYST Wilson

ESTIMATED ADDITIONAL OPERATING BUDGET IMPACT (dollars in thousands)

FY07

FY08

FY09 3 Year

Total Cost

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

Total

$0.1

General

Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to SB 322 & HB 297

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Attorney General’s Office (AGO)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of SPAC Amendment

The Senate Public Affairs amendment to Senate Bill 322 adds that reasonable notice of public

meetings shall be

given to the public by publication on the daily calendars or by the presiding

officer in each house at the time the meeting is scheduled

The amendment adds to the definition of a “conference committee" that it must have a

proportionate membership of majority and minority parties' representation. There shall be at least

one member from each minority party.

The amendment also excludes conference committees from the provisions of the Open Meetings

Act.

Furthermore, the amendment

adds that a

n open conference committee does not imply public

participation, only public observation.

Senate Bill 322/aSPAC – Page

2

Synopsis of Original Bill

Senate Bill 322 will amend NMSA Section 10-15-2 of the open Meetings Act to:

•

remove the exemption from discussion by a legislative committee or policymaking body

in an open meeting for matters relating to any bill, resolution or other legislative matter

not yet presented to either house of the legislature or general appropriation bills and

•

include a gathering of members of a conference committee within the definition of

meeting.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

There will be a minimal administrative cost for statewide update, distribution and documentation

of statutory changes. New laws, amendments to existing laws and new hearings have the

potential to increase caseloads in the courts, thus requiring additional resources to handle the

increase.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

Proponents of the bill may cite the mission statement of the Open Meetings Act that say a

representative government is dependent upon an informed electorate and all persons are entitled

to the greatest possible information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts of

those officers and employees who represent them. Section 10-15-1 (A).

Proponents may also cite to Article IV, Section 12 of the state constitution requiring all sessions

of each house shall be public to mean that the legislature should not be holding closed

conference committee meetings, or closed legislative committee meetings on matters relating to

bills not yet presented to either house or general appropriation bills.

Opponents of the bill may cite to a precept of constitutional law that one legislature cannot bind

another (with a few exceptions relating to compacts and contracts), and the legislative branch is

free to conduct its own internal proceedings without interference from the courts. Given these

precepts, it is unclear whether state laws governing the conduct of legislative proceedings are

binding on future legislatures, or even the legislative body enacting the law. In addition,

opponents may point out that the legislature has already adopted rules governing the conduct of

its meetings which appear to conflict with this bill and other provisions in the Open Meetings

Act.

The AGO noted the following change to existing law:

¾

Section 10-15-2(A) imposes open meeting act requirements on the legislature under

certain circumstances. For example, if the Chairman of the Legislative Finance

Committee calls a meeting to discuss a study of county and municipal finances ordered

by a joint resolution, an open meeting must be held. On the other hand, if an evening

reception is held at which a quorum of the members of House Judiciary is present, an

open meeting is not held because this is not a gathering called by the presiding office for

the purpose of discussing public business.

¾

Section 10-15-2(B) deletes the express exemptions covering matters relating to bills,

Senate Bill 322/aSPAC – Page

3

resolutions, or “other legislative matters" not yet presented to either house of the

legislature or relating to general appropriations bills from being open to the public. For

example, any standing committee may currently meet in closed session at any time to

consider a general appropriations bill. In addition, if a freshman representative will like

to submit a bill concerning school finance and seeks the advice of his more experienced

colleagues before the bill is officially introduced, the House Education Committee can

currently meet in closed session to discuss the proposal. This bill will remove these two

types of exemptions and allow the public to attend meetings at which such matters are

discussed.

¾

The elimination of the exemptions in

Section 10-15-2(B) may make a violation and

enforcement situation more likely. The enforcement process is not entirely clear.

Section 10-15-3 states if a body violates Section 10-15-1, then the action shall be invalid.

But this bill only addresses actions in Section 10-15-2. If the exemptions are enforceable,

the AGO or local district attorney (or a citizen) may enforce the provisions in district

court, although such enforcement actions could raise separation of powers issues if the

courts hold that they should not address these disputes where the executive branch brings

an action against a legislative body.

¾

Allow the public to attend meetings of legislative conference committees. Those

committees are governed by Joint Rule 3-1 and are convened when one house refuses to

concur in the amendments made to a bill in the other house, and the amending house

refuses to recede from its amendments. Some argue good public policy requires that

conference committees should be fully open to the public, and that will help guard

against new matters being inserted in conference reports. Others argue that opening

conference committees will merely drive sensitive discussions elsewhere in secret and

inhibit the frank exchange of ideas needed to resolve disputes in conference committees.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

If there are additional enforcement actions, the AGO or a local district attorney office may need

to commit additional resources and staffing to this issue.

DUPLICATION/RELATIONSHIP

SB 322 relates to SB 288 and HB 297.

DW/csd:nt