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 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.