The Reporter's Notebook Podcast, Ep. 53: Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth
Damien D. Willis
This week, we’re talking to New Mexico Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth. We’ll be talking about how he is approaching this year’s 60-day session of the New Mexico Legislature. We’ll take a look at many of the big-ticket items lawmakers are discussing as lawmakers set about crafting an historically large budget — one Wirth described as larger than any New Mexico lawmaker, living or dead, has ever seen.
Totaling $9.4 billion in recurring spending — an 11.9% increase from the last fiscal year — there is no shortage of ideas on how to best spend that money. And that doesn’t include the one-time, nonrecurring funds that will be doled out this year.
Unlike 30-day sessions, which happen in even-numbered years and are focused nearly exclusively on the state’s budget, 60-day sessions allow any legislator in the House or Senate to introduce any bill they’d like. As a result, many are pitching their ideas to address some of the state’s most pressing issues — education, public safety, early childhood development, bail reform, water conservation and energy, just to name a few. We’ll talk to Majority Leader Wirth about all of those things and more.
We’ll also talk about the state’s Land Grant Permanent Fund — sometimes referred to as the “rainy day fund” — which has long been closely guarded by legislators, though that may be changing. Well, maybe a little, anyway.
Wirth, who has served in the legislature for 19 years, and in the Senate since 2009, currently serves as the vice chair of the Senate Committees’ Committee and is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Tax, Business and Transportation Committee.
This week, we're grateful to have Senate Majority Leader Wirth joining us.
Damien Willis is a Lead Reporter for the Las Cruces Sun-News. He can be reached at 575-541-5443, dwillis@lcsun-news.com or @DamienWillis on Twitter.
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