Days remaining in session: 57

•Opposing Schmitt: The Southwest Environmental Center, based in Las Cruces, has taken a stand in opposition to the nomination of Harrison "Jack" Schmitt as secretary of the Department of Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources.

The group has referenced comments Schmitt has made questioning global climate change and criticizing efforts to protect federal lands such as the Otero Mesa through national monument or wilderness designation.

"Schmitt is entitled to his views, but he should not be put in a position where he is in charge of New Mexico's energy future and protecting the state's irreplaceable natural heritage," SEC Executive Director Kevin Bixby said in a prepared statement.

•Pump up the Bandwidth: You might have noticed a little trouble with the webcasting at the New Mexico Legislature Thursday. More people are going to the Legislature's website these days, likely because it offers audio and video webcasting, said John Yaeger of the New Mexico Legislative Council Service. And that's straining the Legislature's bandwidth.

Think of bandwidth as a highway for digital information. A small bandwidth is like a two-lane road. The more people use it, the slower the information travels. A bigger bandwidth might widen the highway to four lanes, allowing for more information to flow faster.

"Basically, we started off the session with 1.5 megabits per second (bandwith)," Yaeger said. "We took it to 4 megabits

Advertisement
(Wednesday). And we took it to eight megabits (Thursday)."

Part of the strain on the Legislature's bandwidth is the profusion of people who have devices able to connect to the Internet. One sign of that trend is the number of queries handled by the tech folks at the Legislative Council Service from iPad and iPod owners in the building who are seeking to configure their devices so they can get connected to the Legislature's website, Yaeger said.

•Is that bill legal?: The Attorney General's Office on Friday revealed a new service allowing the public to view its legal analysis of legislation.

"Every legislative session the Civil Division in my office provides a comprehensive analysis for hundreds of bills that are introduced to the Legislature," Attorney General Gary King said in a news release. "As each of those analyses is completed, we are now placing them online for the convenience of the public, legislators, and media covering the session."

To check out what the AG thinks about various bills, go to: http://public-records.nmag.gov and click "2011 Bill Analysis" on the left side. King said the project will speed up the process of requesting and receiving public records.

•Three-day weekend: State lawmakers finished their third day of work Thursday. So, they're taking Friday off. Yep, they've given themselves a three-day weekend. It's long been a tradition for state lawmakers to make a mad dash for the doors on the first Thursday of the session. It's usual for the Legislature to take the first Friday off of the session. The official reason for the day off is it gives the legislative staff time to draft, print and analyze bills and to catch up on other duties.

Looking Ahead

•Gov. Susana Martinez is scheduled to speak at the Military & Veterans Day at the State Legislature ceremony today at 11:30 am in the State Capitol Rotunda.

•The Senate is scheduled to reconvene at 10:30 a.m. Monday. The House is scheduled to come back at 11 a.m.

•Monday is City of Santa Fe Day at the Legislature.

Among the parties that lawmakers and other invited guests have to look forward to on Monday are:

•The Clayton/Union County Legislative Luncheon, Inn and Spa at Loretto.

•The Senate Democratic Caucus Dinner, Rio Chama.

•The Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce & NM Chambers of Commerce Legislative Reception, Santa Fe Community Convention Center.

•Quote of the day:

"I disagree vehemently with (the Tea Party) on a lot of substance. But when it comes to getting involved and getting active and reminding people that this is a participatory democracy, that democracy is not a spectator sport, I think it's great. When they level crazy, false, absurd allegations against me, I don't love it."

Rep. Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, when asked by reporters whether his appointment as chairman of the House Energy & Natural Resources Committee was an indirect result of Tea Party members successfully opposing a coalition of southern Democrats and Republicans to oust Ben Lujan as speaker of the House.

The New Mexican/Sun-News reports