Junior budget heads to Senate

A measure providing $7 million for projects and programs earmarked by legislators cleared a Senate committee on Tuesday.

The bill, known as the "junior" budget, is expected to increase to about $21 million as it moves through the Legislature.

The House is to add $7 million for items designated by its members and $7 million will go for projects sought by Gov. Bill Richardson.

The Finance Committee endorsed the bill and sent it to the full Senate for consideration.

Among the projects in the committee-approved bill were: $211,700 for drugs courts in the 13th Judicial District of Cibola, Valencia and Sandoval counties; $210,000 for alternative sentencing and crime reduction programs in the 11th Judicial District of McKinley and San Juan counties; $116,700 for operational expenses of Gallup, including an economic development director; $10,000 for salaries in the Mora County sheriff's office; $120,000 for staff and other expenses for development of a veterans' museum in Las Cruces; $80,000 to provide symphony orchestra music programs and concerts in Roswell; $50,000 for health services to indigent cancer patients in Chaves, Eddy and Lea counties; $50,000 for women's health services in Santa Fe; $50,000 for a training program in Rio Arriba County for traditional healing for substance abuse treatment; $141,600 for intercollegiate athletics at New Mexico Junior College; $145,000 for an arts laboratory film and digital media program at the University of New Mexico; $50,000 for operations of the south championship golf course at UNM; $140,000 for intercollegiate athletics, including scholarships for athletes, at Eastern New Mexico University; and $155,000 for a small business innovation research outreach program at New Mexico Tech.

The spending bill is SB165.

On the Net:

Legislature: http://www.legis.state.nm.us