ABQ Times

Following the recent wrap-up of the 2020 Legislative session, House Republicans drafted a letter calling for more transparency in the spending of capital outlay funding, and which official has allocated it.

Capital outlay provides a method to legislators of redirecting state funding to local projects within their districts. Without capital overlay funding, the projects would join a waitlist of items for the budget of the next fiscal year. 

Officials said that the purpose of the push is to clarify this spending process for the public. The list of expenditures can be found on the Legislature's website, but it is not public knowledge which legislator funded each project. 

"Much of our capital outlay funding directly supports local needs that might otherwise fall through the cracks in the rush of the session," House Representative Gail Armstrong (R-Magdalena), a sponsor of the transparency legislation, said to the New Mexico House GOP. "Making this information public is a bipartisan effort, and I will continue to push for legislation to make the process more transparent."

The two other sponsors of the legislation, Rebecca Dow and Jason Harper, agreed that making the capital outlay spending details readily available to constituents is important for public understanding of political behaviors. 

“I am positive that publishing this information will help the public understand and appreciate that House Republicans are focused on ensuring our communities are not overlooked,” Dow said to the New Mexico House GOP.  “This year there were several measures that would have helped streamline the capital outlay process, unfortunately they were never taken up in committee. I still hold out hope for the next legislative session to make this system work for every New Mexican.”

It is the second time that House Republicans have asked the Legislative Council to make details of capital outlay spending available to the public. In the letter to the Director of Legislative Council Service, Republicans stated that, if the release of this information to the public isn't possible, people are authorized to request those details individually.