Legislature Adjourns: Only Minor Damage

In case you haven’t already heard, the special session is over. The Governor’s pared down rebate plan was pared down further so that if your family earns $70,000 or more, you get nothing. Medicaid has been expanded by $20 million which is likely to be recurring and will grow over time.
It would certainly have been better for the majority of New Mexicans — even those who will receive these miniscule rebates (on their taxes in 2009) — if the Legislature had never been called into the session in the first place, but we survived with only minor damage. It will be interesting to see if oil and gas prices rebound, thus generating a real windfall for the state or if they continue their recent slide, thus wiping out this supposed windfall that Richardson used as an excuse to call the session in the first place.