NM governor criticizes Senate Dems for ‘killing’ key bills

Republican Gov. Susana Martinez says she was disappointed with the leadership of the Senate during this year’s legislative session.

Martinez told attendees at a real estate luncheon Monday in Albuquerque that her call before the session for lawmakers to embrace reform and to put partisan differences aside went unheeded in the upper chamber.

She says a multi-million-dollar measure that would have funded public works projects around the state was approved in the Senate without input from the House. She called that unprecedented.

The capital outlay bill failed in the waning minutes of the 60-day session.

A number of Republicans-sponsored bills also ran aground in the Senate, including a right-to-work initiative, a ban on late-term abortions and repealing the law allowing driver’s licenses for people in the county illegally.