It's killing time at the state Legislature, a period when far more bills are defeated than passed.

The action during the middle weeks of the session is in the committee meetings. That is where bills are being derailed on a daily basis. Committees are even more important this year, with Republicans having narrowed the gap considerably in the House of Representatives. Democratic leaders can use committees to ensure that bills that may have enough support to pass in the full House will never get that far.

Committees can't, by themselves, pass a bill, but they can stop them. A committee vote to table is a death penalty in all but a few rare cases. Rules do allow for such bills to be "blasted out" of committee and brought to the floor for a vote, but it is seldom done

New Gov. Susana Martinez has already seen much of the agenda she laid out in her State of the State address shot down in committee.

A bill to restrict illegal immigrants to driving permits instead of licenses was defeated in the House Labor and Human Resources Committee, with Chairman Miguel Garcia, D-Albuquerque, arguing that it would "take us back to the Stone Age." That doesn't bode well for a more restrictive bill by Rep. Andy Nu ez, which would effectively terminate driving privileges for those here illegally. What came before the Stone Age?

A proposal by Martinez to give tax credits of up to $500 a year to those who make donations for children to attend private or religious schools smelled a

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little too much like vouchers, and was KOed in the Senate Education Committee. That same committee looked more favorably on a Democratic bill that would allow taxpayers to donate part of their refunds to the general education budget.

Bills to streamline government by consolidating state agencies have also found tough sledding.

"My sense is that a lot of the government restructuring bills are in trouble," Sen. Steve Neville said after his bill to combine the state Racing Commission and the Gaming Control Board was tabled in the Senate Rules Committee.

While its not unusual to see bills shot down in the opening weeks of the session, it is uncommon for the same to happen to appointees. Unlike the U.S. Senate, where appointments are routinely held up for months, I don't remember any appointees failing Senate confirmation during my time covering the New Mexico Legislature. But, Rules Committee Chairwoman Linda Lopez has beefed up the process in recent years by insisting on a thorough background check.

Harrison Schmitt gave up his nomination as Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources secretary rather than undergo the check. Schmitt has said some pretty controversial things in the past, and would have faced tough questions had he gone through with the process, but I have no doubt he would have been confirmed had he agreed to the check.

Walter Rubel has been a newsman for more than 25 years and is managing editor of the Sun-News. He can be reached at wrubel@lcsun-news.com.