George Muñoz

The Legislative Finance Committee held its first interim meeting this week and appointed Charles Sallee as interim director. The committee is extending its search for a permanent director.

The 2023 legislative session is in the rearview mirror, but soon interim committee hearings will start up around the state in preparation for the 2024 session which begins next January. In this week’s show, we will talk about transparency, including several bills aimed at increasing transparency in government that recently succeeded or failed. We will also talk about the budget process and how it works, and how transparent it is – or is not. As the state continues to see record revenues, knowing how our money is spent is everybody’s business.

As we near the end of the legislative session in Santa Fe, we’re also in the middle of Sunshine Week. That’s a national initiative by the News Leaders Association to educate the public about the importance of open government and the dangers of hidden agendas. A bill that passed Thursday is trying to do just that.

Jerry Redfern with Capital & Main has been following energy and environmental issues this session and wrote about the ongoing problem with transparency in the budget process. He talks with KUNM about a bill that failed early in the session at the request of the All Pueblo Council of Governors and the debate over its lingering appropriation.

Recently the Legislative Finance Committee met to review the progress of spending New Mexico’s share of federal pandemic aid. There are a lot of projects either on-going or in the planning stages and lawmakers want to make sure those projects get funded before access to those federal dollars expires.

The state's Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department, or EMNRD, met with lawmakers at the roundhouse Thursday to ask for a budget increase that…

Cannabis is the topic. As part of the continuing coverage from Your New Mexico Government it is time for an update on the legislative session at the…