Pub. 17 2020 Issue 2

4 O V E R A C E N T U R Y : B U I L D I N G B E T T E R B A N K S — H E L P I N G N E W M E X I C O R E A L I Z E D R E A M S EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE JOHN W. ANDERSON, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT New Mexico Bankers Association For the first time in history, due to the pandemic, the Capitol was closed to the public while the Legislature was in special session, a decision that was upheld by the state Supreme Court on a narrow 3-2 vote. 2020 SPECIAL SESSION UPDATE: T he Special Session of the Legisla- ture began on June 18th and con- cluded on June 22nd. The session was called by the governor primar- ily to modify the state budget for the year beginning on July 1st after a signifi- cant decrease in projected revenues due to the coronavirus pandemic and a dramatic drop in oil and gas prices and production. Although the budget was the primary focus of the special session, six other issues were also addressed, as noted below. For the first time in history, due to the pandemic, the Capitol was closed to the public while the Legislature was in session, a de- cision that was upheld by the state Supreme Court on a narrow 3-2 vote. The House and Senate each changed their procedural rules to address this closure. Budget: HB 1 was the main vehicle utilized for a reduction in the state budget. The revised budget totaled $7.2 billion, holding spending even with the current year’s budget rather than the planned increase to about $7.6 billion as adopted in the regular session. HB 1 passed on a straight party-line vote in the House, 46-24, with Republicans arguing that further spend- ing reductions should be made. On the Senate side, four Republicans joined all Democrats to pass the bill 30-12. A key factor in crafting the new budget was the use of federal funds coming into the state as a result of the CARES Act and other pan- demic-related legislation passed by Congress earlier this year. Those funds allowed the state to avoid what could have been nearly a billion dollars of additional budget cuts for the current and the coming year. Another key factor was the passage of SB 5, which freed up money to help close the budget gap by pulling back funding for certain capital outlay projects that were not moving forward and using long-term bond funding rather than general fund dollars for some projects. The final factor behind the solvency plan was the use of the state’s reserve fund. New Mexico prepared for an economic