A fellow who thought of himself as a political reformer approached a friend of mine, a former legislator, one January to ask for support for a large group that planned to visit to the Roundhouse during the legislative session.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhom do you plan to talk to?\u201d my friend asked.\u00a0 \u201cEveryone,\u201d the man replied.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWhat do you plan to talk about?\u201d my friend asked.\u00a0 \u201cEverything.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, advocacy for general principles, not specific bills.<\/p>\n
Whoops — bad plan — bad timing. \u00a0The gentleman was wasting his time and proposed waste other people\u2019s time as well.\u00a0 If you want to talk to a legislator in January, you had better be talking about a specific bill and have your suggested amendment drafted and in hand.\u00a0 January is way too late to talk about ideas or principles.\u00a0 The time is now, when they are at home, and the earlier in summer the better.<\/p>\n
New Mexico state legislators are most likely to be home now, working at a job or running a business, pursuing legislative matters as time permits and as the interim calendar demands.\u00a0 They participate in interim committees, which study issues and develop legislation that will be formally introduced during the session.<\/p>\n
When the regular session ends — in mid-March for a 60-day session like this past one \u00a0— legislators go home, read their mail, do their laundry, and rest up for a few weeks.\u00a0 Then the interim committees start meeting, a few days each month.<\/p>\n
New legislation is developed throughout the year, and the long-suffering staff of the Legislative Council Service is always on the hook to draft something new at the request of a legislator.\u00a0 However, there is a predictable cycle.\u00a0 By autumn, legislation is being developed into specific language.\u00a0 Interim committees are moving at full throttle.\u00a0 When the session opens in January, most bills are drafted, ready for formal introduction, and may even have been filed in advance.<\/p>\n
This year the legislative calendar is going to be much worse than usual because of a monster known as Redistricting, with a special session in September that is sure to leave legislators bruised and churlish.\u00a0 Next year\u2019s regular session is constitutionally limited to 30 days and is supposed to be limited to budget matters, but every year the pressure becomes greater to load the agenda with more and more bills.<\/p>\n
The professional political class follows the same calendar.\u00a0 Every special interest has its lobbyists.\u00a0 Like legislators they went home exhausted in March.\u00a0 We can presume that they are fully caught up on their laundry by now.<\/p>\n
And they are already flexing their muscle for the 2012 election, raising money and targeting districts for nasty election fights.<\/p>\n
New Mexico still has a volunteer \u201ccitizen legislature.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 You can meet your legislator in a neighborhood coffee shop to talk about an issue that concerns you.\u00a0 But the pressures of 21st century politics are changing this legislature, even without changing the state constitutional structure.\u00a0 The \u201ccitizen\u201d character of our legislature is probably in its last years.\u00a0 Take advantage of it while you can.<\/p>\n
Important legislation sometimes originates from ordinary citizens expressing their needs and frustrations.\u00a0 Perhaps even more important, bad legislation can be prevented when legislators are reminded of their constituents\u2019 priorities.<\/p>\n
If you need to contact your legislator in January, you want that legislator to remember your priorities and know your name.\u00a0 And when you meet him or her this summer, it\u2019s a courtesy to pick up the tab for the coffee.<\/p>\n
Triple Spaced Again, \u00a9 New Mexico News Services 2011<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A fellow who thought of himself as a political reformer approached a friend of mine, a former legislator, one January to ask for support for a large group that planned to visit to the Roundhouse during the legislative session. \u201cWhom … Continue reading