Roundhouse improvements OK'd in special session

Apr. 7—The state Capitol complex is scheduled to get a facelift this coming year.

Or at least a body lift, here and there, thanks to a $4 million appropriation passed in Tuesday's special session and signed into law by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Wednesday.

House Bill 1 — known as the so-called "feed bill" because it includes money to fund legislative sessions — pulled $2 million each from the capital maintenance fund and the legislative cash balance fund for improvements on the Capitol, including upgrades to its elevator systems, leaky areas on the top tier of a nearby parking structure and renovating the office area of the Legislative Education Study Committee.

Also on the list: reconfiguring offices of House of Representatives members in the Capitol Annex. Two House members share each of those offices. The plan is to give each House member his or her own office.

Legislative feed bills generally cover the expenses of building operations, staff support, security and other facilities-related needs during sessions. Occasionally, lawmakers also will include funding to get other initiatives going. While some House Republicans questioned the inclusion of those funds in the feed bill when it was debated on the floor of their chamber during Tuesday's special session, Senate President Pro Tem Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, said it is an appropriate venue for the initiative.

"These are two funds the Legislature has to do repairs and upkeep on the building," Stewart said Wednesday. "It's not like we're getting general fund money and putting it in there."

The funding in HB 1 includes money for security upgrades and the purchase of new vehicles — including a trash truck — used by workers at the building.

"They are needed," Legislative Council Service Director Raúl Burciaga said of the planned renovations to the Roundhouse, which was constructed in the 1960s. "They have been under discussion for a number of years."

During Tuesday's floor debate, Rep. Rod Montoya, R-Farmington, said that while he did not question the need to fund the facilities projects, "I don't think this [HB 1] is the right vehicle ... all we are supposed to do is fund our work [in the bill]."

Still, Montoya, like every other House Republican except one, voted to support the legislation. Rep. Randall Pettigrew, R-Lovington, said he could not vote to support legislation for capital improvements when no blueprints or floor plans exist for those projects.

The House approved HB 1 on a vote of 64-1 Tuesday and members of the Senate unanimously approved it later that day.

Burciaga said Wednesday plans do not yet exist because the projects need to be approved by an interim facilities review subcommittee, which Stewart heads.

Once that is done, Burciaga said he can start looking into procurement code policies, creating designs and soliciting vendors and contractors for the work.

"We know the elevators need to be modernized," he said. "But what the specifics are of that project is yet to be determined."

Stewart said Wednesday the subcommittee probably will meet within a month to review the requests.

Burciaga said it's possible the construction work will make parts of the Capitol off-limits for a while. He said he hopes some of the work is complete before next January's 60-day legislative session.

"Some may have to wait until after the 60-day session," he said. "We don't want to be in the middle of construction during the session."

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham vetoed the same amount of money — $4 million — from the special appropriations section of this year's budget legislation during this winter's regular session. Stewart said legislators worked with members of the governor's staff to find a more appropriate way to fund the projects in the special session feed bill.