LEGISLATIVE ROUNDUP

Manny phone home: In a sign that Sen. Manny Aragon, D-Albuquerque,
might be starting to accept his new place at the back of the Senate
chambers, the former Senate president pro tem wants a phone installed
at his new desk.

Aragon switched seats with Sen. Richard Romero, D-Albuquerque, after
Romero was elected the new president pro tem last week in an election
that Aragon has threatened to try to overturn.

The president pro tem's desk at the front of the Senate chambers has
one of just 19 telephones in the chambers.

Romero said he has asked Aragon for years to get more telephones
available to senators on the floor, but the requests were never granted.

But in the spirit of cooperation, Romero promised to hook up all
senators who request phones. He said Aragon will get his own phone --
a red one.

"He needs it," Romero said afterward. "They all need
it."

Traffic tickets: Here's a traffic ticket a lawmaker might
welcome.

Rep. Joseph Thompson, an Albuquerque Republican, is distributing free
passes to his colleagues to see the drug-war drama Traffic.

"It's terrific," said Thompson, a friend and ally of Gov. Gary
Johnson, a critic of the nation's war on drugs.

Johnson is promoting a package of drug bills that includes
decriminalization of marijuana and reduced penalties for other drug
offenses.

The movie passes were paid for by the Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy
Foundation, a research institute and a key supporter of Johnson's drug
efforts.

The $ 20 passes -- so lawmakers can take guests -- were to be
distributed to all 112 legislators.

Health-care taxes: U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., urged lawmakers
Thursday to remove the state's gross-receipts tax from health care.

New Mexico is one of two states -- Hawaii is the other -- that tax
health-care services, and Wilson said the tax was part of the reason
some physicians are leaving the state to work elsewhere.

"New Mexico levies heavy taxes on health care and it should be no
surprise to any of us, that we get less of it," Wilson said in a
speech to a joint session of the Legislature.

Lifting the gross-receipts tax from licensed health-care
professionals, such as physicians and dentists, is a top legislative
priority of the New Mexico Medical Society. Several bills for tax
relief for health-care providers already have been introduced in the
Legislature.

Congress can help the state, Wilson said, by increasing Medicare
reimbursements paid to health-care providers in New Mexico, which are
lower than in many other states.

More on taxes: Rep. John Heaton, D-Carlsbad, is promoting yet another
proposal for tax relief -- adjusting personal-income-tax brackets for
inflation. That would translate into a $ 38 million tax cut next year,
he said.

Because the income brackets in the tax system have not been adjusted
for inflation, people can end up paying higher tax rates when they
earn salary increases, Heaton said.

"I firmly believe not indexing our tax brackets is almost cruel and
unusual punishment to people who are working in our state," Heaton
said.

Heaton's proposal (HB 123) would provide for an initial adjustment of
the income brackets and then update them yearly for inflation.

There's a good chance lawmakers will approve some tax cuts this
session, mainly because the state is enjoying a large revenue windfall
from higher oil and natural-gas prices.

Less feed: Gov. Gary Johnson signed an $ 18 million legislative "feed
bill" Thursday but vetoed money that senators had sought to create a $
400 monthly expense account.

The first veto of the legislative session killed a proposal of Sen.
Manny Aragon, D-Albuquerque, who frequently was at odds with Johnson
when the legislator served as the Senate's top leader. Aragon was
ousted as Senate president pro tem this session.

"While troubled by this increased spending, I am hopeful that this
will not become a pattern because of revenues forecast as higher than
usual this year," the governor wrote.

The proposed expense account had created a furor in the House and its
members decided they didn't want the extra money. The final version of
the bill allocated the expense payments only for senators.

Senate supporters said they needed help with the costs of telephone
calls, mailings and other expenses of serving constituents when
they're not in Santa Fe for legislative sessions.

Gambling again: Indian tribes have begun a push to get their
casino-payments dispute with the state settled in the Capitol rather
than in court.

In both the Senate and House, a measure is pending that is designed to
take the temperature of the Legislature on reviving the gambling debate.

The legislative resolution has no force of law. It merely asks Johnson
and the tribes to begin talks quickly and to come up with a new
gambling compact lawmakers could vote on before they adjourn March
17.

"It will give us an indication of whether or not there is receptivity
to resolve the issue," said Carlos Cisneros, a Questa Democrat who is
sponsoring the measure (SJR 2) in the Senate.

Tribes signed compacts in 1997 requiring them to pay the state 16
percent of their casinos' slot-machine proceeds. But they contended
from the beginning the rate was illegally high.

They stopped paying, and after an effort to resolve the dispute fell
apart last year, Attorney General Patricia Madrid sued a dozen tribes.
The lawsuit is pending in federal court.

Missing video: A bill (HB 209) introduced in the House would
appropriate $ 200,000 for a video designed to help prevent child abductions.

The money would be used to buy and distribute the video to schools,
libraries, child-care centers, social-service groups, law-enforcement
agencies and news media, said Rep. Patsy Trujillo Knauer, D-Santa Fe,
who introduced the measure Thursday.

The video would be made available in English and Spanish.

In highlighting the need for the video, Knauer cited the disappearance
of Robbie Romero, 7, from his Santa Fe neighborhood.

"In my own neighborhood, Robbie Romero has been missing since last
June," she said. "This could be a great aid in preventing child
abduction and their successful recovery."

Quote of the day:

"As a Catholic with three kids and a fourth one on the way, my wife
wishes we used some contraceptives."