(SANTA FE)---Attorney General Gary King is asking New Mexico Legislators to approve new ethics laws and a large list of other proposals.

"I know this is an ambitious package of ethics proposals, but I sense there is keen interest among many legislators to move forward aggressively this year with major new ethics legislation," says Attorney General King. "I certainly intend to work hard to help ensure their success, and I believe these bills will enjoy broad public support."

 

The focus of this preview is on the Ethics and Campaign Finance Reform proposals, which continue Attorney General King's long-term commitment to pursuing meaningful ethics legislation. Bills being prepared for introduction this year are the following:

Campaign Contribution Limits—Following the legislation sponsored by Senator Michael Sanchez that passed the Senate late last Session with broad bipartisan support, a bill will be introduced to place limits on the amount of campaign contributions that can be contributed to candidates and political committees, including political parties.  The limits that will be proposed are $2,300 for non-statewide candidates and $5,000 for statewide candidates.  PAC's will be limited to receiving no more than $10,000 from any donor.  This bill will be introduced by another long-time leading advocate for Ethics Reform, Senator Dede Feldman. 

 

 
Ethics Commission—Building upon the success last year where the House of Representatives passed unanimously an Ethics Commission proposal, this bill will be introduced in exactly the form in which it passed the House in 2008, with one exception. Instead of reducing the proposed appropriation to $250,000, the bill will be introduced with the initial proposed appropriation of $500,000.  This is the bill modeled after the Governor's 2006-2007 Task Force on Ethics and Campaign Finance Reform.  It would be a 10 member, bipartisan body that would be authorized to investigate complaints of ethics violations by state officials and employees, lobbyists and government contractors.  It could make recommendations, impose penalties and refer matters to appropriate executive, legislative and judicial bodies as appropriate.  It could provide for broad ethics training, issue ethics advisory opinions and develop ethics codes for government and businesses.  This bill will also be sponsored by Senator Dede Feldman.

Whistleblower Protection Act—Versions of this proposal have passed one or both houses in recent years by wide margins, but it has yet to be enacted into law.  Building upon the initial proposals put forward by Senator Sue Wilson Beffort, this year's legislation has been developed after close consultation with representatives of the NM Association of Counties and the NM Municipal League.  It seeks to protect public employees from being retaliated against if they report in good faith suspected violations of law by public officials or employees.  This year's bill is being prepared for introduction in the House by Representative Joseph Cervantes.

Governmental Conduct Act Expansion to Local Governments—County and city governments have long had their own different ethics law provisions, while state officials and employees have been governed by the Governmental Conduct Act.  The proposal developed this year, after consultation with lawyers for the cities and counties, is to expand the Governmental Conduct Act to the cities and counties and make more uniform statewide the state's major ethics laws.  This bill will also be introduced by Representative Joseph Cervantes.

 

Attorney General Primary Jurisdiction to Prosecute Statewide Officials for Public Corruption--While current law vests primary jurisdiction to begin criminal prosecutions in local district attorney offices, the Attorney General believes it is more efficient for his office to have primary jurisdiction to prosecute statewide elected officials for crimes involving public corruption.  Developed cooperatively with representatives of the District Attorneys Association, this proposal grants the AG that primary statewide jurisdiction.  This bill will also be sponsored by Representative Joseph Cervantes.

Legislator to Lobbyist One-Year Ban—Another one of the recommendations from the Governor's Ethics Task Force, this proposal will prevent legislators from being paid as lobbyists before their former colleagues for one year after leaving service in the Legislature.  This parallels a current law that prevents former state employees from representing anyone for pay before their former state agencies for one year.  Newly elected State Senator Eric Griego will sponsor this bill. 
 
The following are the other priority areas the Attorney General is addressing in proposed legislation: