REVISE LFC MEMBERSHIP

SB0135

SENATE BILL 135

57th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2026

INTRODUCED BY

Linda M. López
and
Harold Pope
and
Shannon D. Pinto

and
Angel M. Charley
and
Martin Hickey

AN ACT

RELATING TO THE LEGISLATURE; REVISING THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE
LEGISLATIVE FINANCE COMMITTEE; DECLARING AN EMERGENCY.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

SECTION 1.
Section 2-5-1 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1957,
Chapter 3, Section 1, as amended) is amended to read:

"2-5-1. LEGISLATIVE FINANCE COMMITTEE CREATED--TERMS--

VACANCIES.--

A. There is created a continuing joint interim
committee of the legislature to be designated the "legislative
finance committee". The committee shall be composed of sixteen
members, eight members from the house of representatives and
eight members from the senate. The [
chairmen
]
chairs
of the
house appropriations and finance and house taxation and revenue
committees and the senate finance committee or members of their
respective committees designated by each of them from time to
time shall be members.
The chair of the legislative health and
human services committee, or the vice chair if designated by
the chair, shall be a member. A minority member of the
legislative health and human services committee appointed by
the minority floor leader of the legislative chamber not
represented by the chair of the committee shall be a member.

The minority party shall be represented on the committee by at
least one member from each house. [
Six
]
Five
of the remaining
members shall be appointed from the house of representatives by
the speaker, and the [
seven
]
six
remaining members shall be
appointed from the senate by the committees' committee or, if
the appointments are made in the interim, by the president pro
tempore after consultation with and agreement of a majority of
the members of the committees' committee. An appointed member
may designate a member of [
his
]
the appointed member's
party to
serve in [
his
]
the appointed member's
place at a committee
meeting at which the [
regular
]
appointed
member is going to be
absent if the member notifies the [
chairman
]
chair
of the
legislative finance committee of [
his
]
the
anticipated absence
and [
his
]
the member's
designee at least twenty-four hours
before the committee meeting. The appointed members of the
committee shall be appointed from each house so as to give the
two political parties having the most members in each house the
same total proportionate representation on the committee as
prevails in that house; provided that, in the computation,
major fractions shall be counted as whole numbers. Minority
members from the house shall be appointed by the speaker only
from recommendations made by the minority floor leader,
although the speaker shall retain the right to reject any such
recommendations.

B. Members shall be appointed for terms of two
years and shall serve from the time of their appointment until
the end of the next session of the legislature. The term of
any member shall terminate when the member ceases to be a
member of the legislature.

C. Vacancies in the committee may be filled for the
unexpired term by appointment from the house or senate
respectively by the respective appointing authority that makes
the original appointments and subject to the same
recommendations; provided the new members shall be from the
same house of the legislature and the same party from which
their predecessors were appointed. The committee shall elect
from its membership such other officers as may be deemed
necessary. The officers shall be appointed for terms
coterminous with their membership on the committee. Each
office shall be alternated between the respective houses each
two years. For the terms beginning in 1979, the [
chairman
]

chair
shall be a senate member and the vice [
chairman
]
chair
,
if any, shall be a house member. The appointing authority of
each house shall exercise its appointing authority by naming
the [
chairman
]
chair
or vice [
chairman
]
chair
, respectively, on
this alternating basis.

D. No action shall be taken by the committee if a
majority of the total membership from either house on the
committee rejects the action."

SECTION 2.
EMERGENCY.--It is necessary for the public
peace, health and safety that this act take effect immediately.

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