By Sandra Michaud

Recently, State Representative Rudy Martinez (D-39) hosted a Town Hall at the Brown Derby in Santa Clara, to report to his constituents on what had taken place in the latest legislative session, and to answer any questions they might have.

At the start of the meeting Mariachi Plata from WNMU performed a song for the audience of about 50 people. The students remained to participate in the forum. Then, a spokeswoman read a message from State Senator Howie Morales, who had planned on attending the meeting, but had been called back to Santa Fe.

Sen. Morales message talked about the cooperation between parties in putting together a workable state budget and his disappointment regarding the veto of the higher education budget; that this sends a message that New Mexico doesnGÇÖt value higher education, training, its workforce or those who work in higher education institutions.

He thanked the audience for attending and apologized for not being able to be there, and asked for continued messages from his constituents to let him know what their priorities are.

Rep. Martinez started off by stating his concern about the veto of the higher education budget, stating that those facilities are economic drivers for the communities around them. "There was a study done in 2011-2012 by nationally renown survey company, that determined that at that time Western New Mexico was responsible for the economy of New Mexico to the tune of $80 million and the employer of 1,120 employees."

He said that WNMU is not the only college or university to be affected. New Mexico State has reduced employment by several hundred people so far, and that if the budget is not passed, will probably see about 2,000 people laid off from higher education institutes across the state.

Rep. Martinez then addressed the issue of another veto, that of funding for the legislature. "ItGÇÖs critical that the third branch of government be involved in the solvency of New Mexico. ItGÇÖs critical that we have the opportunity to participate in the creating of policy, the creating of laws that protect the people of New Mexico, from the youngest child to the eldest individual in New Mexico."

He went on to talk about the budget for public education, that both sides of the aisle came together, despite some disagreements to provide a fair and balanced budget to the Senate, which made some changes and sent it to the governor. "We saw what happened. ItGÇÖs unfortunate that in my opinion we have to play these games with the lives of so many New Mexicans," he said.

He said that the legislature is obligated to provide funding for agencies across New Mexico and that by cutting the funding the agencies cannot operate. "Taxes arenGÇÖt being raised at the state level, but every municipality, every town has had to raise taxes to be able to operate."

Rep. Martinez also spoke about the veto on the bill changing policy about teachersGÇÖ sick leave. He said that even though the Senate, led by two Republicans, voted to override the veto, when it came back to the House, the vote was split on party lines and did not pass. "At some point, you as citizens need to say, GÇÿWeGÇÖve had enough.GÇÖ We need to make sure that we as citizen are provided the services that we are required to have."

Rep. Martinez touched on Medicare and Medicaid, saying that for every dollar the state puts in, it gets four back from the Federal Government. This enables people to get insurance and see doctors instead of using emergency rooms for medical care.

He said there were some successes, such as a bill enabling colleges not to have to pay Gross Receipts Taxes on special events, such as concerts and high profile events, which bring people in from all over and create millions of dollars and employment for surrounding communities. If this were not the case, many of these events would go to states that have this type of exemption.

Another success was a guardianship affidavit bill, which would allow grandparents to enroll grandchildren they are raising in preschool, and provide medical care for them.

They were also able to get the Vietnam VeteransGÇÖ Memorial in Angel Fire and the VeteransGÇÖ home in Truth of Consequences turned over to the Veterans Service division of the government, which will bring in more Federal dollars for the VeteransGÇÖ Home.

"One of the important things [about the revenue package] is when we started....our reserves for the state were down to .02%," he said. The revenue package would have increased it to 3.69%, which is an improvement, but still short of the 5% or more it needs to be. In the past, when it dropped below 5%, the stateGÇÖs bond rating was lowered, and this may happen again. If it does, loans will have a higher interest rate, which will put a damper on state and local projects.

"The positive thing is that the Senate and the House are now working together to put together a package to present to the governor and in reality, the leadership from the Senate and the House have met with the governor and asked her, GÇÿWhat is your plan?GÇÖ and there seems to be no response," he said.

Rep. Martinez talked about getting calls from students at the University who are concerned and worried about being able to complete their degrees and being able to graduate. "These students are very important to me, and as legislators, these are things that we need to make sure that we protect, and we come up with a viable solution to these issues."

The session was then opened to questions from the audience.

The first questioner spoke about the state of behavior health services, which have been reduced from 92 employees to seven and from offices open in Grant, Luna, Hidalgo and Catron counties service 3,000 people to offices in only Silver City and Deming. "My question is, she destroyed behavioral health, is she also going to destroy education?"

Rep. Martinez replied that the fifteen behavioral health agencies that were accused of fraud, which was never proven, are trying to rebuild, but that it will be difficult because many of the employees have take positions somewhere else and may not be willing to come back. They are looking at funding for that, since the services are desperately needed.

Responding to the question about education he said, "When Governor Martinez took office New Mexico was 33rd in the nation as far as education and what is it now 49th, 50th? "

He said that this is in part a result of "teaching to the test"; that children who had been doing well in school are just not motivated anymore. "The rumor is that possibly we want to privatize the schools. That would be very unfair, especially to the lower income, because they receive only so much money for a voucher, and itGÇÖs not enough to enroll their child in one of the successful schools."

Another question was about the governorGÇÖs cutting of funds to the collegesGÇÖ scientific research on genetics and cutting funds for womenGÇÖs health issues and what citizens can do about it.

"Science cannot stop. Science needs to continue so we can become capable of treating more diseases," Rep. Martinez replied.

He said that New Mexico State, New Mexico Tech and the University of New Mexico are great research schools and that if funding is slashed; the students will be looking for other schools to attend. He said that the money was appropriated for 2017 until June 30 and is actually there, but that the budget for 2018 is where the dispute is.

Another audience member asked what legislators looking at doing to expand the economy after the next election, assuming that Democrats can keep the majority and perhaps the governorship.

Rep. Martinez replied that the legislature is already trying to put things in place, for example the GRT exemption for New Mexico State events, and another was the Residency Project Bill, which would take $2 million from the Economic Development Department to fund start-up small business within communities.

He added that they were looking at solar and other alternative energies to create jobs and help the environment, although that would depend on what happens on the Federal level.

He said that before the session a group of legislators traveled around New Mexico and met with ranchers and businesses to see what they felt they needed. The consensus among them was there were too many regulations to comply with. For example a group of ranchers tried to open a processing plant but finally gave up on it.

Businesses, too, he said, complained about regulation, but were not specific about which ones. However, a consensus was the need for a trained workforce. "We need to provide not only university studies, we need to provide vocational training for folks that do not want to attend university, those individuals that prefer to work with their hands."

In response to a question about the possibility of calling an extraordinary session, Rep. Martinez said that there have been talks about getting enough signatures to do so, and legislators of both parties have been talking about the possibility of filing a lawsuit at the Supreme Court level about the vetoes and will abide by what the court decides. "One way or another, we are going to end up with a special session, which will cost you taxpayers $50,000 a day. We had a budget that was balanced, fair, that would increase some taxes but would save the state from declining bond ratings and we would be able to provide the funding for your Cancer Center research. Most important of all is Medicare and Medicaid. Currently about 900,000 are covered under those programs, and if we lose funding for those, how many people are going to lose their coverage?"

Rep. Martinez answered another question about job creation by saying that the state needs to provide a mechanism to ensure that if the state provides funding incentives for a company to move to New Mexico, if the company does not produce jobs within a given take frame the state could take the incentives back. "WeGÇÖve seen, time and time again, these major projects, companies moving into New Mexico, taking advantage of those incentives and then leave. WeGÇÖve seen it here in Silver City with the call centers. How many times have they moved in, taken advantage of the incentives and once their time frame is up, they leave. They leave how many people unemployed? We have to be careful how we do this, attracting companies to New Mexico."

Some of the WNMU students, members of Mariachi Plata, also expressed their concerns about being able to continue with their educations. Rep. Martinez assured them that he understood their concerns and would continue to work for a budget for higher education. He encouraged the students to call, email and write the governor and other officials.

"I urge you to gather, sign a petition, make phone calls, send emails. That is your voice. We as legislators can go up there and speak for you, but theyGÇÖre not going to listen so much to us, theyGÇÖre going to listen to you, as students that are going to be the future of New Mexico," he said.

A few more people spoke, urging attendees to remain involved, to call, write and email their legislators and to get people out to work in and vote in the next election.

Rep. Martinez thanked the people for attending and voicing their concerns, and said, "You can be sure that your comments are noted. So we just need to move forward and make sure that we continue the dialog. We will be continuing to have Town Halls across the county and of course District 39."