Latest news with #HouseBill204
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Public defenders look back on 2025 legislative session
Chief Public Defender Bennet Baur. (Photo courtesy of the Law Offices of the Public Defender) Philip Larragoite, chief of staff for the New Mexico Legislature's Senate Judiciary Committee, says his measure of a legislative session's success isn't so much the bills lawmakers passed but, rather, the ones they did not. 'You can't hear 'em all, and the Judiciary Committee in the Senate was pretty rigorous about what it hears and what it acts on,' Larragoite told the state Public Defender Commission on Friday during its regular meeting in Albuquerque — its first since the session ended on March 22. 'Our Constitution is hard-wired — it's supposed to be hard to adopt legislation, hard to pass bills.' The commission oversees the Law Offices of the Public Defender, the independent state agency that employs public defenders who represent anyone charged with a crime in New Mexico. Larragoite, who is also LOPD's deputy chief of policy and statewide offices, noted that he has participated in more than 70 legislative sessions, the earliest in 1961 as a page for Jack Campbell, who was House Speaker at the time. Appellate Defender Kim Chavez Cook, who also works as LOPD's policy advocate during legislation sessions, agreed that it is important to note the bills that did not pass. She highlighted two examples of bills that were 'priorities for us to stop': House Bill 204, a proposal that comes up every year to try to remove defense pre-trial interviews from certain cases; and House Bill 190, which would have given alleged victims in criminal cases the right to be a litigant in those cases. Chavez Cook said LOPD had 'serious due process concerns' with HB204, and put a lot of time and energy into discussions about it. HB190 raised 'some serious separation of powers and other related concerns,' she said. Neither bill received a single vote in committee this year. 'We'll keep doing that year after year, many of these things will come back again,' Chavez Cook said. Policy aside, Chief Public Defender Bennet Baur told the Commission on Friday he was disappointed by the budget outcomes. During the recent session, his agency asked lawmakers for a nearly 13% increase in its annual budget but only received a 4.1% increase. Lawmakers did not give LOPD any money for additional full-time staff positions, Baur said, but they did give the agency $450,000 to spend over the next two years for recruitment and retention. Hundreds of additional public defenders would be needed to properly handle all of the cases coming through the state's criminal legal system, and there is a longstanding disparity of resources between public defenders and their opponents in court, district attorneys. The American Bar Association found in 2022 that New Mexico needs at least 602 full-time attorneys and is currently only meeting 33% of clients who need a legal defense. Baur said many lawmakers were concerned about the economy in the U.S. and the state as they considered the budget, and are probably even more concerned about it now than they were during the session. In the last four years, he said, lawmakers have funded 54 new staff positions. LOPD has an overall vacancy rate of 11%, better than most state agencies, he said. That rate is higher for attorney positions, at 16.8%, he said. Many public defenders aren't actually full-time staff employed by LOPD, but are contractors who are paid a flat fee for taking on cases rather than an hourly rate. For example, when a contractor takes on a first-degree murder case, the state pays them a base rate of $5,400. For the whole case. That means, on average, that attorney is making $13.81 per hour representing their client, according to the ABA's study. In some jurisdictions, paying a public defender a flat fee is outlawed, said Commissioner Jacqueline Flores, a former Second Judicial District Court judge. Baur said lawmakers didn't give LOPD money to launch a pilot project for paying contract attorneys an hourly rate. But he said he's determined to still try to do it by 'rearranging money' within the agency's existing budget. 'Those of you that know the budget process know that you never get what you ask for,' Baur said. 'But if you don't ask for it, then you don't get it.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Idaho drivers will soon have two new potato-themed licensed plates
The new black and white license plate created through House Bill 204 is inspired by an Idaho license plate from the 1950s. (Courtesy of the Idaho Potato Commission) Idaho drivers will soon have two new license plate designs available to show off their potato pride. On Wednesday, Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed House Bill 204 into law, which will create two new retro-style license plate designs honoring Idaho potatoes starting July 1. Idaho's standard license plates already display the words 'famous potatoes.' The Idaho Potato Commission does not receive funding for those plates unless it is a specialty 'baked potato' license plate, which is available to Idaho drivers for an additional fee. This legislation will create a total of three license plate designs available to Idaho drivers who want to showcase their potato patriotism, with the black license plate's proceeds going toward the Idaho Potato Commission and the state highway account. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Doug Pickett, R-Oakley, whose family raises potatoes in Cassia County. It passed unanimously on the House side, and nearly unanimously on the Senate side, with a dissenting vote from Sen. Lori Den Hartog, R-Meridian. Idaho has had multiple license plates supporting the potato industry over the years, with designs dating back to 1928 and continuing through the '40s and '50s, said Sam Eaton, the vice president of government affairs for the Idaho Potato Commission. Even Utah's black-and-white license plate has gained popularity, Eaton told the Idaho Capital Sun, which led him to believe a similar design focused on Idaho potatoes would be well received. One of the new designs will be black with white letters, and the other would be white with teal letters. Both designs will have the words 'Idaho' at the top and 'World Famous Potatoes' along the bottom. The black license plate will cost $70 plus regular registration fees for the initial issuance of the plate. 'This is going to be a specialty plate, so it'll be more expensive,' Eaton said. The Idaho Potato Commission will receive $25, and the state highway account will receive $45 in proceeds from each initial purchase of the black plate. Renewing the black license plate will cost $50, with $15 going to the commission and $35 going to the state highway account. 'We are doing research for new, better varieties that are more heat and disease tolerant,' Eaton said. 'We promote potatoes and are pretty successful at it all over the world, so the funding that will come from the plates will go to the commission so we can continue to do those things.' The white and teal design is not a specialty plate, so there will be no additional fee on top of the regular registration fee. This will be the least expensive plate available for Idaho drivers. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Bill creating two new potato license plates advances in Idaho Legislature
Idaho state Rep. Douglas Pickett, left, presents a bill creating new specialty potato license plates on Feb. 18, 2025, at the Idaho State Capitol in Boise. The design of one of the proposed new license plates appears on the screen behind Pickett. (Clark Corbin/Idaho Capital Sun) Potato proponents, spud supporters and French fry fanatics across the state may soon rejoice. The Idaho Legislature is considering a bill that would add two new 'Idaho world famous potato' specialty license plates in Idaho. All standard Idaho license plates already prominently display the phrase 'famous potatoes.' And if the standard plate isn't enough for the most prominent potato partisans, there is already a specialty 'baked potato' license plate available from the Idaho Transportation Department for an additional fee. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX But during a meeting Tuesday at the Idaho State Capitol that could have passed for a sketch during the recent 'Saturday Night Live' anniversary comedy show, the House Transportation and Defense Committee voted to advance House Bill 204, which seeks to create two new specialty 'world famous potato' license plates inspired by vintage Idaho license plates that were available in the 1950s. Rep. Douglas Pickett, R-Oakley, and Spuddy Buddy's friends at the Idaho Potato Commission served up House Bill 207. If passed into law, House Bill 207 would create a black license plate with white type and a white license plate with teal type. Both would include the phrase 'Idaho world famous potatoes.' The new black plate would cost $70 plus regular registration fees for the initial issuance of the plate, with annual renewals running another $50. Of the initial fee, $45 would go to the state highway account and $25 would go to the Idaho Potato Commission. The white and teal plate (which several legislators said unfavorably resemble Washington vintage license plates) would become the least expensive license plate available to Idahoans – Pickett said it would cost $1 less than the standard plates available. 'Both of these plates are iconic tributes to Idaho heritage and patents, and there seems to be an increasing demand in particular for the black plate making a return, coming back,' Pickett said Tuesday. CONTACT US The Idaho Heritage Trust came out in opposition to the bill because of the white and teal plate becoming less expensive than standard plates. Katherine Kirk, the trust's executive director, said the standard red, white and blue Idaho license plates were created as part of the Idaho Centennial celebration in 1990. Kirk said the red, white and blue plates were so popular with the public they became the standard Idaho license plate in 1992. The assets from the centennial celebration, including a 50 cent per license plate royalty fee for use of the original trademark, were then transferred to the Idaho Heritage Trust, which preserves Idaho artifacts and historic buildings. Kirk said that making the new specialty plate the cheapest option creates competition with the standard plate and could hurt the trust's mission to work with state agencies to preserve historic buildings and artifacts. 'As such, IHC objects on the grounds the base price for the new plate is lower than the current standard plate, undermining royalties rightly paid to the trust per our standard agreement with the Legislature,' Kirk said. In the end, the House Transportation and Defense Committee voted to send House Bill 207 to the floor of the Idaho House of Representatives with a recommendation it pass. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
