Democracy for New Mexico

Equality Action Day at Roundhouse Monday

Monday, March 14, is ACTION DAY at the Roundhouse.  Here's a schedule:

9:30  Meet on the East Side of the Roundhouse: Make t-shirts (bring your old white shirt).  Silent Action Inside.

10:30  Interfaith Service: New Mexico Religious Alliance for Inclusion and Non-Discrimination (NM RAIN).

11:30  Love Snacks (FREE FOOD!)

12:00  RALLY for Rights Around the Roundhouse: We will encircle the Roundhouse with rights that many in our community are denied.  Opportunity for civil disobediance INSIDE!

Endorsed by Equality New Mexico, Lambda Legal, and the New Mexico Religious Alliance and Non-Discrimination (NM RAIN), Code Red, New Mexico Voices for Children, UNM LGBTQQI Alliance

For more information: arich@lambdalegal.org

ACTION ALERT: Stop Wildlife Privatization in NM

From the NM Wilderness Alliance:

THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU THAT HAVE MADE CALLS!!!
Let's Keep the Pressure Up!
NM Senate Bill 337, will be voted on this Saturday.

If you have not already, please take a moment out of your day to call the Chair and Vice-Chair of the committee, plus any representatives from your area. The future of New Mexico’s wildlife depends on defeating Senate Bill 337.

Senate Bill 337 would allow the “super-sizing” of canned-hunting areas in New Mexico, expanding the maximum size of “game parks” from 3,200 up to 15,000 acres.

This bill would allow the fencing-in and confiscation of New Mexico’s publicly owned wildlife, where no hunting seasons and no hunting limits would apply inside the tall fences. If this bill passes, the tall fences would also block free-movement of New Mexico’s wildlife across the landscape, and would block access to food, water and cover.

To top it all off, the captive animals shipped in to stock the Game Farms would bring with them the risk of diseases such as Chronic Wasting Disease, tuberculosis and brucellosis. The economic impact of infecting New Mexico’s wild elk herds with CWD would be devastating.

(Click to the continuation page for legislator contact info.)

House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee
Gail C. Beam, Chair (D), Albuquerque: 986-4844
Irvin Harrison, Vice Chair (D), Gallup: 986-4464
Thomas A. Anderson (R), Albuquerque: 986-4452
Keith J. Gardner (R), Roswell: 986-4211
Joni Marie Gutierrez (D), Las Cruces: 986-4234
Dianne Miller Hamilton (R), Silver City: 986-4221
Al Park (D), Albuquerque: 986-4234

Election Reform Bill Hearing in Senate Judiciary Postponed to Friday

From Bob Stearns at Verified Voting NM:
Hi All, Wayne reports that the Senate Judiciary Committee will not meet today (THURSDAY). It lost its quorum due to member absence. Regrettable since our bill was #1 on the agenda.

Committee is expected to meet tomorrow afternoon (FRIDAY) after the Senate floor session. Best to call the Legislature's During Session Number 986-4300 early FRIDAY afternoon and ask if the Senate is still in session.

Dean & Reid on MoveOn Calls Tonight

As I'm sure you know by now, MoveOn house parties will be held all over the country this evening. Today it was announced that DNC Chair Howard Dean and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid will be participating in the conference calls during the parties.

Click for a list of gatherings tonight in the Albuquerque area.

Update on Election Reform Bill Hearings

From Bob Stearns of Verified Voting NM:

NM House Voters & Elections Committee met an hour late this morning(THURSDAY) and Chair Ed Sandoval announced that Substitute SB1063 and 1064 would not be heard. An HVEC subcommittee is discussing the bills and will report later. HVEC will hold a special meeting on the two bills on SATURDAY, time to be announced. Sen. McSorley said there has been a compromise in wording for Sen Judiciary Substitute Bill for SB678. Senate Judiciary met this morning.

Charlotte reports that Senate Judiciary plans to meet after the Senate floor session this afternoon and may consider Substitute Bill SB678. Committee hearings usually start 1/2 hour after the floor session ends, which is usually in mid or late afternoon. You can call the Legislature During Session number 986-4300 to find out if the Senate is still in floor session or has finished.

Editor's Note: Please remember that hearings on bill at this point in the Legislative Session are subject to abrupt changes. Always try to check the Committee agendas and/or call the Legislature to check for last-minute changes.

Death Penalty Repeal Bill at SJC Friday

From the NM Coalition to Repeal the Death Penalty:

Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing Confirmed
Friday, March 11th - Room 321 - Late Afternoon or Evening

HB 576 Abolish the Death Penalty will be heard first on the agenda of Senate Judiciary this Friday. The Committee will meet directly following the day's Senate floor agenda. While we cannot give an exact estimate of when the hearing will begin, it will be no earlier than 5:00 PM and possibly as late as 8:00 or 9:00 PM.

Out of respect for the Senators' time and busy schedules this late in the session, we will be limiting testimony to five witnesses. As always, however, public support is important. Please join us!

To confirm the time of the Committee hearing, please contact Senate Majority Leader, Michael Sanchez's, office at 986-4727 beginning at 5:00 pm. Ask the secretary what time the Senators will adjourn from the floor. Our hearing will begin approximately 15 minutes after the floor closes for the day.

Don't forget to contact all of the members of Senate Judiciary before Friday. Their contact information is listed below.

SENATE JUDICIARY

Cisco McSorley (D), Chair
Bernalillo
986-4485
Capitol 319A

Richard C. Martinez (D), Vice Chair
Los Alamos, Rio Arriba, Santa Fe
986-4389
Capitol 414D

Rod Adair (R)
Chaves, Lincoln
986-4385
Capitol 416F
VOTED NO MONDAY

Kent L. Cravens (R)
Bernalillo, Sandoval
986-4391
Office 416D
VOTED NO MONDAY

John T.L. Grubesic (D)
Santa Fe
986-4260
Capitol 414B
VOTED YES MONDAY

Clinton D. Harden, Jr. (R)
Colfax, Curry, Quay, San-Miguel, Taos, Union
986-4369
Capitol 416E

Linda M. Lopez (D)
Bernalillo
986-4737
Capitol 320A
VOTED YES MONDAY

William H. Payne (R)
Bernalillo
986-4276
Capitol 415H

Lidio G. Rainaldi (D)
Cibola, McKinley
986-4310
Capitol 302A

Michael S. Sanchez (D)
Valencia
986-4727
Capitol 120A

ONWARD!

NM Coalition to Repeal the Death Penalty
www.nmrepeal.org
(505) 986-9536

Cross-Country Anti-Inaugural: The Movie

From Thomas Prando and the Green Party of NM:

The Green Party of NM presents "Cross-Country Anti-Inaugural: The Movie"

This is a new movie by Albuquerque’s own Thomas A. Prando II, documenting the cross-country bus ride by seven local activists from Albuquerque all the way to DC, to protest the January 20th, 2005 inauguration. Showing at 6 PM, Saturday, March 12th, at the Peace and Justice Center, 202 Harvard SE, Albuquerque Questions? Call 268-9557

NM Democratic Friends Meeting Saturday in ABQ

The next NM Democratic Friends - Democratic Party Meetup will be on Saturday, March 12, at 6:00 PM at the IBEW Hall at 4921 Alexander Blvd. NE in Albuquerque.

The agenda will include a visit from Terry Brunner of Senator Bingaman's office. You are encouraged to bring questions and concerns about national policy issues you'd like to discuss with Terry. There will also be reports on events at the Legislature and from each of the group's committees.

Election Reform Action Today & Tomorrow

From Bob Stearns:
Hi All, This is late notice. Bills are moving fast in these final weeks. Today (WEDNESDAY) the Senate Rules Committee, meeting at 8 AM in Room 321, will consider a packed agenda including the Ortiz y Pino Bill SB621 and the McSorley Bill SB1065.

This afternoon (WEDNESDAY) the Senate Judiciary Committee will meet at 2:30 PM or a half hour after the floor session in Room 321 to cope with another heavy agenda, including the Judiciary Substitute Bill C/SB 678 on the Voter Verifieable Paper Ballot (VVPB).

On THURSDAY at 8 AM in Room 305 the House Voters & Elections Committee will consider again the Sandoval Bill HB1063 on the VVPB. Hope you can make it.

More info on Verfied Voting New Mexico
https://vvnm.org

Latest on Election Reform Bills

From Bob Stearns and Charlotte Roybal:
Hello Activists, First off, on arrival at 8 AM we found a sign on the door saying the Senate Judiciary Committee’s meeting of today had been cancelled until sometime late afternoon tomorrow (WEDNESDAY). We were tentatively told that the Judiciary Committee will take up the bill (Committee Substitute for SB678) late tomorrow WEDNESDAY afternoon, but this is not confirmed until it appears on the Legislature website.

Twelve of us went on to the other 8 AM meeting of the House Voters & Elections Committee. Chair Ed Sandoval said the plan is to merge HB1063 with amendments and on THURSDAY discuss the bill as a whole (but this is not officially confirmed).

He said the Committee needs to work on the dates in Rep. Martinez’s moratorium amendment or run the risk of losing NM’s HAVA funding. He asked Martinez and SoS Elections Director Ernie Marquez to work on that question for a floor amendment. Martinez noted that all the Committee members want VVPB machines and that maybe the moratorium amendment could rearrange its approach to give the proposed Election Reform Task Force time to look at the situation and the SoS time to check out the available machines.

In answer to Committee questioning, Marquez said that $7-9 million in HAVA funding is available to buy HAVA compliant machines and that the money must be spent by 1/1/06. (Another state finance official testified that the HAVA funds total $14 million and have been set aside in NM’s DFA account since 2003.) Marquez said the SoS office is not planning to buy machines in the near future and is awaiting new federal standards for voting machines expected in June. He alluded to the June 1 deadline for the SoS to certify new voting machines in NM in its every-two-years window for doing such.

He said the VVPB-equipped Sequoia Edge, used in Nevada’s 11/04 election, is HAVA compliant but not yet certified in NM. He said the Edge costs $3500 plus $500-$1,000 for the printer, and $50,000 total for the software and licensing for the state. He said NM has 4,000 voting machines but only 1,500-2,000 would need retrofitting or replacement to provide VVPBs.

We will advise you about the next Key Meeting as soon as we know. Meanwhile watch the Legislature website and your e-mails. (To get on the email update lists about NM election reform, send an email to vvnm@yahoogroups.com or update@uvotenm.org.)

More info on Verfied Voting New Mexico
https://vvnm.org