March 10, 2021
Most SWNM solons oppose bill to sideline diversion group Written by Geoffrey Plant on March 10, 2021
(Press Staff Photo by Geoffrey Plant)
Last month, District 38 state Rep. Rebecca Dow and District 39 state Rep. Luis Terrazas, both Republicans representing parts of Grant County, spoke against HB 200, “Water Trust Board Projects and N.M. Unit Fund,” ahead of a House vote on the legislation. The proposal seeks to sideline the New Mexico Entity of the Central Arizona Project from its proposed future role as a regional water authority and prohibit more Arizona Water Settlements Act funds from being spent on a Gila River diversion.
Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner, the Republican legislative caucus bosses, and two of the loudest voices backing Delzer s not-at-all democratic return to their chambers.
What does the bill do? It writes the statute the Legislature claimed, in their legal dispute with Burgum, already existed in the Century Code.
It states that if a candidate who has been placed on the ballot for the legislature dies, or becomes unqualified, yet received enough votes to win, a vacancy occurs, and it will be filled by the statutory process used for filling other legislative vacancies.
The bill also makes it clear that the Governor is not to be appointing people to the Legislature. The governor may not fill a vacancy in the office of a member of the legislative assembly, it states in a later section.