Sen. Keller Announces Gov Reform for PRC, State Fair and SIC

State Senator Tim Keller (SD-17) announced a package of bills that have been pre-filed for the upcoming 2012 legislative session.  “These bills are needed government reforms to tackle problem areas in our government, and increase transparency, accountability and effectiveness.  Reforming areas of government like the PRC, the State Fair and the SIC remain critical to government’s ability to serve citizens and work with businesses.”   Keller explained at a gather of supporters.

Sen. Keller’s package includes a combination of State Fair, PRC reform, increased oversight.  Legislation includes:

• SJR 2: Redesign the PRC: leverage governance best practices and recent studies finding various problems with PRC operations and structure.  Create a process similar to judicial standard's committee to appoint commissioners, require relevant experience or education, term limits of one 5 year term, ban personal contracts with regulated entities and lobbying for3 years, and require four superintendents for each division that would have to be confirmed by the Senate.
• SB 4: Expo NM/State Fair Governance:  restructure the management of Expo NM such that the director be confirmed by the senate and  hired by the commission, require the commission to take public comment at each meeting, require them to comply/post on the sunshine portal, and procurement code, ban campaign contributions from long term leasers with leases greater than $1m are, Require the director of the fair to report twice a year to the legislature once on general operations and once on state fair performance (similar to what we do with space port and others).
• SB: Remove Politics from the SIC (Neville/Keller): the number one recommendation by the Ennis Knupp research completed in 2010 was to remove the Governor as chair of the State Investment Council (SIC).  SB 18 in 2010 attempted this but was amended at late stages in the legislative process to keep the Governor on the board.  This bill would remove all elected and replace them with appointees.  Executive branch power and representation would remain via several executive appointed seats and representation of the DFA secretary.  NM is currently the only state in the country with a Governor personally residing on the state's investment fund board and directly responsible for investment decisions.
• SB: Foreclosure Property Maintenance: similar to the ordinance in Rio Rancho, bill that requires cities to establish rules for owners of foreclosed properties to maintain base level of property maintenance.  This deters foreclosures in the first place, helps cities and neighborhoods retain property value and decreases blight.
• SJM: Interim committee on Inter Government Reform, Structure and Process: that would shine a light on challenges in Government operations, conflicts of interest, inefficiencies and overlapping mandates.