Screenshot of debate on HB 143.
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By Marjorie Childress, New Mexico In Depth
The Senate voted Monday evening to require new reports from registered lobbyists and those that pay them about the legislation they support or oppose.
The House must now agree with changes made to House Bill 143 by the Senate with four days to go in this year’s legislative session. If the House agrees, the legislation will land on the governor’s desk, marking the first time the legislation will have cleared the Legislature despite behind-the-scenes opposition from lobbyists over the years, including in this year’s session.
Supporters say the reports would shed light on who is behind efforts to pass or kill legislation. They add that other states require such information.
The Senate’s passage of the bill by a 22 to 15 vote after more than two hours of debating it represents the furthest the legislation has made it through the Legislature despite years of advocacy.
Sen. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces, has pushed for this type of lobbyist reporting since he joined the Senate in 2017, but his bills haven’t made it far in the Senate before. The furthest the bill has traveled prior to this year was when the legislation started in the House, passing that chamber before stalling after one Senate committee hearing.
This year’s bill faced a hurdle or two including a “poison pill” amendment in the House that would have restricted how much lobbyists could spend on buying lawmakers’ food, beverages, entertainment and gifts during future sessions, dooming the legislation had the Senate Rules Committee not removed it during a hearing last week.
Steinborn was joined in the effort by Rep. Sarah Silva, a freshman Democrat also from Las Cruces, who shepherded the bill first through the House. The Senate then made quick work of passing it.
The new rules wouldn’t apply to everybody who goes to Santa Fe to share their thoughts about legislation. Rather, just those required under New Mexico law to register as lobbyists would have to comply, as would their employers.
Dogging the bill through committee and floor debates were long conversations about which members of the public should have to comply with the reporting rules. HB143 doesn’t change who has to register as a lobbyist. Under current law, that designation is for those paid to lobby or who in the course of their paid employment lobby on behalf of their employer.
Under the bill, beginning in January 2027, hundreds of registered lobbyists plus their employers would have to file a report within 48 hours of working to influence legislation, either to support or oppose it, including when they change their position.
The Secretary of State would create official rules to implement the law. The reports would be found on both the Secretary of State’s website and on the individual page describing the bill that is located on the legislative website.
“This will be really valuable to all of us as elected officials, to know more about each bill, who’s behind it, who’s against it,” Steinborn said when introducing the bill during last night’s Senate debate. “…so that we can kind of have a fuller understanding, and then, of course, allow our constituents to have the same appreciation as they evaluate what it is we’re doing up here.”
During the House floor debate earlier in the session, Silva noted the value lobbyists bring to the legislative process but also the concentrated power they have, arguing for greater transparency about their activities.
“Some bring incredible issue knowledge, relationships and ideas into the space,” she said, “and many of them also bring incredible amounts of money with them, organized knowledge, organized relationships, organized ideas and organized money. Those things combined can concentrate an enormous amount of power for any person or group.”
Steinborn noted that many states already require lobbyists to report the legislation they work on, and that many go further, requiring that lobbyists also disclose how much money they are paid by their clients.
In 2021, New Mexico In Depth broke down how many states in 2018 required those reports, using National Conference of State Legislatures research:
“At the state level, 28 states require either lobbyists or their employers to disclose some information about lobbyist compensation. In 15 states, lobbyists or clients must state their positions on specific bills.
“Nine states require both: Alaska, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.”
This story originally appeared at New Mexico In Depth and is republished with permission.
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