State of Neto Mexica House of Representatioes Santa Fé NATE GENTRY ‘COMMITTEES: Majority Leader Energy, Environment & Natural Resources R- Bernallo Shuicary District 30 3716 Andrew Drive, NE ‘Albuquerque, NM 87110 Home Phone: (505) 508.0782 Emmaiknateforam@gmallcom March 2, 2015 ‘The Honorable Michael Sanchez Majority Floor Leader, New Mexico Senate 3 Bunton Road Belen, NM 87002 Senator Michael Sanchez, With less than three weeks to go, we are now on the final stretch of the 2015 legislative session. Time is short, and there is still much to do. thas come to our attention that the New Mexico Senate has allowed certain House bills to languish for up to three weeks before they are assigned to a committee, thus reducing their chances of making their way through the committee process and coming to a floor vote. The House, as a matter of practice, has referred all Senate bills to committees within just a few days of receiving messages on those bills. Furthermore, we have already begun hearing Senate bills in committee. While several House bills have been referred very quickly afier having been sent to the Senate, others ~ including ones that are supported by the vast majority of New Mexicans and serve to protect our children — have been held up for an extraordinarily long time. Among these are HB41 (3rd Grade Retention, Intervention and Remediation), HB125 (Communication of Intimate Images to a Child), HB214 (Increasing Public Corruption Penalties) and HB32 (Driver's License Bill). We are grateful that these bills were finally referred on February 27th; however, there continue to be some that have been held up for almost two weeks. We are hopeful that these bills, along with future House legislation, will be referred in @ more timely manner. We may not agree on everything. But one thing we can surely agree on is that the people of New Mexico sent us to Santa Fe to make tough decisions ~ to work diligently to find solutions to the challenges facing New Mexico, We hope that the House-passed bills would be given the courtesy of a prompt referral and committee hearing, Sincerely, Nate Gentry Majority Floor Leader