By Matt Grubs, NMiF Producer

The news is slowly creeping out; we’re losing one of our panelists on The Line. It’s part and parcel of assembling an opinion panel for a public affairs show, but still tough when a familiar face steps away from the table.

State Senator Dede Feldman announced her plans to retire this morning and Laura plans to pursue the Democratic nomination for State Senate District 13. As you’ve no doubt heard, it will be a battle for whomever gains the Democrat nod. State Representative Bill O’Neill followed Sen. Feldman’s announcement with one of his own, saying he’ll give up his House seat to run for the Senate. The district performs well for Democrats, with more than 60 percent of voters identifying themselves as “D”s.

Laura’s been a valuable part of The Line opinion panel on New Mexico in Focus. She brings an important perspective to our discussions and her quick wit and sharp political mind earned her a permanent place at the table.

Laura let us know about her candidacy this morning and, per our policy, she’ll be replaced on The Line starting with our next show. Be sure to catch her last show tonight at 7 o’clock on KNME, New Mexico PBS. We know Laura will be part of an exciting race to replace an accomplished senator.

By Matt Grubs, NMiF Producer

If you’ve been following us on Twitter you’ve noticed we’re fans of House Memorial 69, the title of which is “The Memorial Session”. Already you can guess something is afoot. The bill’s sponsor, Representative Don Bratton, R-Hobbs, has had enough of memorials. Legislatively, these are measures that reflect the intent of the body to do something, but don’t necessarily carry the force of law. Often, they are used to express gratitude for service – like Senate Memorial 85 which honors retiring Speaker Ben Lujan, D-Nambe.

Representative Bratton feels things have gotten out of hand with respect to most memorials (there are some 160 offered this year between the House and Senate) and so drafted HM 69. The measure requests the session to be dubbed “The Memorial Session” and that any session thereafter eclipsing the number of memorials offered this session be titled sequentially, like “Jaws” films.

But Rep. Bratton is serious about the cost – both in terms of money and legislative time – of memorial proliferation.

Rep. Bratton says memorials should be limited in their use. Every printing, every committee referral, even in the digital age, Bratton says it’s wasteful. He notes each body of the legislature can easily proclaim something and then get back to business.

Where this gets a bit more interesting is in situations like the memorials passed by each body this session objecting to the campaign finance decision in the U.S . Supreme Court’s Citizens United opinion. We asked Rep. Bratton if he feels those kinds of memorials are valid. He doesn’t. Then we tried a joke. As you’ll see, Bratton is serious about his ironic memorial. Or maybe it wasn’t much of joke.

By Matt Grubs, NMiF Producer

With less than 48 hours to go in the session, only a handful of bills have made their way to the desk of Governor Martinez. The budget is, of course, the big one that’s made it. And even as this is typed, you can bet a few more are on their way.

The governor signed Senate Bill 56 today, which removes certain (that’s a very legislative word, but basically means “not all”) restrictions on hay transportation. It’s a big deal to dairy farmers and goes into effect immediately. Afterword, she talked about taking the House redistricting plan to the Supreme Court (see Rob Nikolewski’s article at Capitol Report New Mexico) and what’s left to do – including capital outlay projects and the possibility of a special session for public and educational employee pension plan fixes.

By Matt Grubs, NMiF Producer

On a party line vote, the New Mexico Senate today passed a measure designed to tax out of state “big box” retailers at the same rate as in state businesses.

State law currently allows businesses that are headquartered out of state to reclassify or shift income earned here to another state with a lower corporate income tax rate. In the opinion of those who favor the bill, sponsored by Sen. Peter Wirth (D-Santa Fe), the state misses out on millions of dollars in income they feel should rightfully be taxed by the state. The heavily-modified bill drops New Mexico’s top corporate income tax rate by a tenth of one percent in anticipation of increased revenue brought in from big box retailers. The original bill introduced by Senator Worth applied the tax plan – commonly called “combined reporting” – to all out of state businesses.

Critics of the plan say it could potentially weaken New Mexico’s ability to attract larger out of state businesses that are able to avoid combined reporting in other states.

This is the first time in eight attempts by Wirth that his bill has passed out of the body where it was introduced.

Senator John Arthur Smith (D-Silver City) was on a blue ribbon tax panel commissioned by then-Governor Bill Richardson in 2003. The panel recommended the change, but it was never implemented. Senator Smith is among those who voted for the bill today and it’s narrow application. The banking industry has often been cited as another likely target for combined reporting. Senator Smith indicated he’s sympathetic to the plight of local bankers but believes any further action on combined reporting is best done as part of broader tax reform.