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Senate panel gives HJR 2 a due pass to require governor to explain pocket vetoes
Summary
A constitutional amendment proposal requiring the governor to deliver messages explaining vetoes advanced out of committee after supporters said the change would increase transparency.
A Senate Rules subcommittee gave HJR 2 a due pass after testimony that the measure would eliminate the governor’s ability to silently let legislation expire — commonly called a pocket veto — without issuing a message explaining the veto.
Representative McQueen introduced HJR 2 as a proposed constitutional amendment that would require the governor to issue a message when a bill becomes a veto, closing a transparency gap when legislation is sent to the governor in the final days of a session.
Mason Graham of Common Cause New Mexico told the committee the pocket veto “lacks transparency and accountability” and that “every veto should receive a message from the governor to provide legislators and the public an explanation.” Hannah Burling, co-president of the League of Women Voters of New Mexico, said the league “stands in strong support of HJR 2” and urged a “due pass.”
No organized opposition appeared at the hearing. A senator in the panel said he had concerns about other committee practices that allow measures to never reach a floor vote, but the committee’s action on HJR 2 focused on the pocket-veto change.
The committee recorded nine votes in favor and advanced HJR 2 to the next stage.
