Dems Sue Over Vetoes

Democratic legislators filed two suits last week in an effort to overturn as unconstitutional New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez’s line-item vetoes of two bills. The lawsuits were filed with the state Supreme Court on May 25.

One suit by six lawmakers contends that the Republican governor acted improperly when she vetoed a business tax that would have raised an estimated $128 million a year for the state’s depleted unemployment trust fund.

The suit asks the court to overturn Martinez’s decision to remove the business tax portion from HB 59 because the measure was a revenue generator and therefore exempt from the governor’s authority to veto appropriations items.

“What the governor calls an appropriation is, in fact, a revenue-raising provision, not a revenue spending provision,” the lawsuit said.

Martinez spokesman Scott Darnell said lawmakers were “quiet as mice” when former Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson employed a line-item veto for a similar tax increase.

“The governor was right to line-item veto a $128 million job-killing tax increase on small businesses, and it’s unfortunate that a handful of legislators would now ask the courts to impose that tax,” Darnell said.

The second suit, filed by four legislators, said Martinez exceeded her constitutional authority when she cut an appropriation of $150,000 to the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority to $50,000.

“The governor’s attempt to substitute her judgment for the judgment of the Legislature to determine the amount of an appropriation necessary to satisfy a stated purpose constitutes an impermissible invasion into the legislative power,” the lawsuit charges.

The suit asks the court to restore the full $150,000 allocation.

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