SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez is asking for time to appeal a ruling overturning vetoes before the bills become law.
District Judge Sarah Singleton had overturned the governor’s 10 vetoes last month and ruled that Martinez did not follow the proper constitutional procedures when she vetoed the bills, the Albuquerque Journal reported (https://bit.ly/2wM2avE). The decision could mean that Martinez did not veto the bills before the deadline or failed to provide an explanation for the veto.
Martinez plans to appeal the ruling before Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver can make the bills part of the state’s legal code, the governor said. One of the bills would allow growing industrial hemp for research purposes and another would allow computer science classes to be used to satisfy the math and science requirements for high school graduation.
If the bills are enacted before the appeal, some would release a “chain of events” that would be difficult to undo, Martinez’s lawyers said.
“There would be no feasible way to ’un-graduate’ high school students who used a computer science unit to fulfill their math and science credit requirements under (the legislation),” attorney Paul Kennedy argued in the motion.
The Secretary of State’s Office has said it will wait for legal direction before it enacts the 10 bills into law. Legislators have until Friday to file a response to Martinez’s latest motion, Singleton said. She expects to rule on the appeal shortly after the Friday deadline.
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Information from: Albuquerque Journal, https://www.abqjournal.com
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