Martinez okays $750K for recovery

After receiving disaster declarations from 13 local governments, Governor Susana Martinez signed an executive order on Wednesday night releasing up to $750,000 in state emergency funds for costs incurred during the statewide natural gas crisis.

“In order to facilitate the quickest possible recovery and reimbursement process for local governments, we have been responding to their requests and working with FEMA from day one to evaluate damages and follow necessary steps to make state and federal funds available," Governor Martinez said in a news release.

With the gas restored to most residents and businesses, the governor said her team is now focused on providing aid to local communities and preventing future outages.

Damage assessment teams from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) began arriving in New Mexico yesterday to conduct a detailed accounting of the uninsured costs incurred by state and local entities including the extent of business losses, infrastructure damages, deployment of response resources, and impact on critical facilities.

Those teams efforts will aid work already being done by another FEMA representative, who has been in place at the State Emergency Operation Center in Santa Fe since Monday.

The Martinez Administration said it has been in contact with FEMA since the first day of the natural gas crisis, and the Governor anticipates that damages will rise to the level of a Presidential Disaster Declaration.

At that point FEMA will be authorized to reimburse state and local entities for costs associated with uninsured damages and response efforts during the state of emergency.

The governor’s office Thursday morning that 50+ National Guard troops remain in each of the communities of Taos and Espanola to continue their work with technicians to restore heat to homes where owners have been repeatedly found not to be home; crews are also helping with recovery efforts and safety checks throughout Taos and Espanola neighborhoods.

At least five other local governments are expected to file additional declarations.

Individuals may file a claim directly with the New Mexico Natural Gas Company online. Officials with the company said they have set up an expedited claim process.

Palm printing in the hands of the senate

Sen. Sander Rue
Embracing new crime fighting technology, Sen. Sander Rue, R-Rio Rancho is sponsoring a measure requested by law enforcement agencies to help them catch and arrest more criminals.

SB 102, which has already passed the Senate Judiciary Committee, requires anyone who is arrested to submit to having their palm print impression recorded in addition to being fingerprinted during jail booking.

“Everyone seems to be fascinated with Criminal Scene Investigations (CSI) that use the latest and greatest to solve crimes,” Sen. Rue said. “Let’s use more of it to solve crimes in New Mexico.”


The bill requires anyone arrested to have their palm print impressions taken in addition to being fingerprinted when they are booked into jail.

“By using the latest technology at crime scenes, a lot of good palm prints can be lifted while only partial fingerprints might be detected and might not be readable,” Senator Rue said. “This bill requires that palm prints are also taken at the time of booking an alleged criminal so they can be stored digitally and used to crack more crimes. Having digital palm prints on file increases the odds of tying a particular person to the crime scene.”

Since the digital palm prints would remain on file, along with the booking sheet, they can be used to match against latent or hidden prints left at crime scenes, thus giving investigators an increased chance of matching ‘latent’ against existing digital fingerprint/palm print files.

The legislation seeks to amends 29-3-8 NMSA 1978 to add palm printing to the fingerprinting process conducted by law enforcement agencies as a part of a booking subsequent to a felony arrest. The bill adds “palm print” or “palm printing” to every mention of fingerprint or fingerprinting in 29-3-8 NMSA 1978.

The Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) indicates that the requirement of palm printing in addition to fingerprinting in association with arrests is a trend throughout the country and simply requires that a palm print impression of each hand be added to the 10-print fingerprinting process.

Senator Rue said because DPS is now gathering and storing palm prints, DPS processes will not change. Many law enforcement agencies are already collecting palm prints so impact on law enforcement should be minimal since palm printing as an adjunct to fingerprinting takes very little time, and requires less expertise than fingerprinting.”

Source: Senate Leadership office

NM Gas Company provides online claim forms after gas shortage

A day after the New Mexico Gas Company announced a one million dollar fund to assist customers with claims as a result of the gas shortage, it's now providing customer's details for its expedited claims process.

The company has posted an online form for customers to file claims in English and Spanish.

There are several ways customers can file a claim:

· Online at customers can fill out a claims form and submit it directly from the Web site.

· Customers may print the form, fill it out and fax or mail it to the New Mexico Gas Company Claims Department.

· Call the customer service number at 1-888-664-2726.

Once a claim is filed online or on the phone with a customer service representative, customers will immediately receive a claim number. Customer service will call customers with a claim number if they file through the mail or via fax.

To file a claim, customers must provide their New Mexico Gas Company account number and insurance information, including their insurance policy number.

State Auditor Announces Educational Accountability and Anti-Corruption Legislation

Hector Balderas
On Wednesday, State Auditor Hector Balderas announced a comprehensive anti-corruption legislation package, which includes six bills he says will enhance his office's ability to protect New Mexico taxpayers from financial fraud, waste, and abuse in government.

He campaigned in 2010 on the premise that all public monies have to be accounted for at every level of government including education.

“The Jemez Mountain Schools embezzlement case in 2009 demonstrated that every effort must be made to hold public schools accountable," said Baleras in a news release. "Sen. [Cynthia] Nava’s bill provides my office more auditors to review our schools’ finances and keep more money in our classrooms.”

Sen. Cynthia Nava
Senate Education Chairwoman Senator Cynthia Nava has asked for the state's Public Education Department to transfer their inspector general and auditor positions to Baleras' office.


The six bills introduced today include:

· SB 423, sponsored by Senator Cynthia Nava: This bill transfers positions from the Public Education Department’s (PED) Inspector General to the Office of the State Auditor (OSA). During the 2010 interim, the Legislative Education Study Committee endorsed the transfer of these positions to the OSA to provide further audit oversight of both public schools and institutions of higher education.


· HB 424, sponsored by Rep. Mimi Stewart: This bill would make the State Auditor’s successful “At Risk Program” a statutory requirement. The program designates government agencies “at risk for fraud, waste, and abuse” if they fail to submit timely audits. The bill also requires that an agency be designated at-risk for fraud, waste and abuse if it receives a disclaimer of opinion or an adverse opinion on its annual financial audit.


· HB 411, sponsored by Rep. Luciano Varela: This bill requires notifications to the Secretary of Finance and Administration if a state agency, state institution, or municipality fails to submit timely audits or financial reports.


· HB 416, sponsored by Rep. Al Park: This bill makes it a crime to intentionally deceive, mislead or obstruct an audit, special audit, examination or investigation conducted by the State Auditor. The bill makes the crime a misdemeanor and also provides for civil penalties.


· HB 439, sponsored by Rep. Cynthia Nava: This bill provides that money or property obtained as a result of an embezzlement committed against a New Mexico school district or public school is subject to forfeiture.


· HB 425, sponsored by Rep. Mimi Stewart: This bill appropriates $200,000 to pay salaries and expenses of the State Auditor. This bill will help sustain audit resources that have been impacted by severe budget cuts to the OSA.

Government Scorecard

A listing of New Mexico governmental agencies determined to be at risk because their financial & compliance audits have not been completed and submitted. The list is updated periodically; the date of the occurrence is at the bottom of this document.


At Risk/ Non-Responsive Designations

A listing of New Mexico governmental agencies determined to be at risk that did not respond to the OSA's November 2, 2009 deadline to submit a status report. As of the date specified no status reports have been submitted by for these agencies. (Click here to open document)

Feds schedule forum to discuss NM storm assistance with residents and businesses

Northern New Mexico residents and businesses affected by last week’s storm and gas outages will get a chance tomorrow to meet with federal agencies in Española tomorrow.

A variety of federal agencies and New Mexico nonprofits, including the Agriculture Departments Rural Development and Farm Services agencies, Housing and Urban Development, the Small Business Administration, and Housing Assistance Council, will offer assistance and discuss assistance available to eligible New Mexicans whose homes and businesses were affected by last week’s storm.

The New Mexico congressional delegation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Agency is sponsoring the forum on Thursday at 10am at the Mission Museum (1 Calle de los Españoles, Española).

Governor Susana Martinez has said her Homeland Security Department is requesting assistance from FEMA, but details of what the agency can provide is still uncertain, because this week's state of emergency was not cause by an act of god--instead by rolling electrical blackouts in Texas, which caused gas outages across much of the state.

Skandera Announces PED Advisory Team

On Wednesday afternoon, New Mexico Public Education Secretary-designate Hanna Skandera announced she's selected a team of education experts to help her roll out new state policies and manage administrative issues.

Skandera says the team will bring a "wealth of education experience" and provide the state necessary cost savings during a hiring freeze.

Announcing the team in a news release, Skandera said the provides "an alternative to the immediate hiring of many of the Department’s exempt positions, resulting in a cost-savings to the State of New Mexico and more time to recruit exceptional full-time talent."

During the campaign, Gov. Susana Martinez made improving education in New Mexico a top priority and said she's committed to ensuring every student has access to quality schools and teachers. In her State of the State speech in Santa Fe last month, Martinez announced a "Kids First, New Mexico Wins plan."

While legislators continue to debate the 2012 budget proposals, Martinez continues to push her plan, which she has said will put 65 cents of every budget dollar into the classroom. She says districts need to cut more administrative costs.

Martinez has told reporters that her plan will increase accountability and transparency in education, end social promotion, help districts allocate resources to key targets, and identify and reward effective educators and leaders.

New members of the Public Education Department Advisory team are Catherine Freeman, Christy Hovanetz, Jay Pfeiffer, David Saba, Jeff Sellers, John Bailey, Terrell Halaska, Kristy Campbell, and Chad Colby.

We posted their individual backgrounds here.

Martinez dispatches more guardsmen to assist gas company

Late Monday afternoon, ahead of an approaching storm, and with snow falling in parts of Northern New Mexico, Governor Susana Martinez announced that she is sending additional National Guard troops and police officers to the communities of Taos and Espanola to expedite the process of restoring natural gas and that the crews will work throughout the night in both communities.

She also announced that firefighters from Albuquerque are on stand-by and if necessary will be dispatched tomorrow morning.

These additional personnel will receive training in order to turn gas meters back on, as well as clear debris and other items from around meters and furnaces. They will be paired with a technician or plumber who is licensed to re-light appliances and heaters.

“Gas company officials personally assured me they would complete their work by Sunday night and repeatedly declined our offers to provide additional resources, such as National Guard troops,” Governor Martinez stated. “It is unacceptable that so many are still without power in Taos and Espanola and that’s why we are mobilizing additional personnel to expedite the process and ensure New Mexicans are not going without heat.

Martinez says she and her administration are prepared to "work around the clock until the job is done.”

“I’m very proud of local law enforcement and our National Guard, and I appreciate the willingness of the Albuquerque Police and Fire Departments to step up and assist their fellow New Mexicans,” added Martinez.

Crews will need the public’s cooperation in restraining pets and clearing space around appliances, meters, and furnaces. Residents in Taos and Espanola who have not yet had their natural gas restored are also encouraged to leave their porch light on throughout the night.

The additional National Guard troops, Emergency Response units, and State Police will be meeting throughout the afternoon and early evening at the National Guard Armory in Espanola.

The breakdown of additional personnel ordered to the area by Martinez is as follows:

• 300 National Guard soldiers and airmen, in addition to the 56 currently deployed
• 44 Albuquerque Police Department Emergency Response Unit Members
• 15 State Police officers

U.S. Rep. Lujan urges Martinez to request FEMA assistance

After last week's gas outages in New Mexico, U.S. Rep. Ben Lujan, Jr is urging Gov. Susana Martinez to quickly request assistance from FEMA's Region Six. He says federal money may be able to assist individuals and small businesses.

Lujan, who spent the weekend touring his hard hit congressional district, says he saw elderly people shivering in their homes -- in Northern Taos County -- without heat waiting for crews to relight their furnaces.

At a VFW Post in Questa, he talked to veterans about their concerns regarding frozen water pipes.

Lujan told us Martinez’ State of Emergency declaration doesn’t go far enough and he's urging her administration to ask for federal aid now.

He spent the morning in the New Mexico House Energy and Natural Resources committee listening to testimony from New Mexico and El Paso Corp. officials and Martinez’ Homeland Security Secretary designate Michael Duvall and Martinez Chief of Staff Keith Gardner.

Duvall says the state is still assessing whether it has met the monetary threshold needed to request FEMA assistance.

Gardner said the administration's first priority is getting every furnace relighted and getting the New Mexico National Guard into the field to assist technicians.

Gas utility officials told committee members they cut off service to portions of New Mexico last week because they feared of losing control over their distribution system and having uncontrolled outages across the state.

New Mexico Gas Co. Vice President Ken Oostman said customers in northern New Mexico and parts of southern New Mexico were cut off when the utility faced a rapid drop in gas pressure in its lines.

Without that, he told lawmakers, pressure would have continued to drop and uncontrolled outages would have happened in homes and businesses.

Shortly after the cutoff, Martinez declared Taos County, Santa Clara Indian Pueblo and Taos Pueblo have all officially declared a State of Emergency due to the disruption in natural gas service in Northern New Mexico that occurred on February 3, 2011.

Lujan, Jr., said FEMA can provide mobile telecommunications, operational support, life support, and power generation assets allowing on-site management of disaster and all-hazard activities.

New Mexico Gas company officials told state reps that they have pre-ordered enough gas for a new storm expected to hit the state on Tuesday and Wednesday and hope to have all remaining 21-Thousands homes without supply relight by late today or tomorrow.

They said crews have been authorized to relight substandard furnaces if they can get them to a minimum “safe state.”

Vice President and Chief Legal Council for the New Mexico Gas Company Thomas Domme told committee members that the company is setting up phone lines to expedite customer claims for damages they incurred after the supply shortage -- mostly for frozen pipes. He said he claim will have to be individually analyzed.

Domme said no serious injuries have been reported.

Visit this link for the gas relight schedule.

To file a damage claim check this link at the New Mexico Gas Company’s website.

Lujan, who extended his visit to New Mexico to attend this morning's hearing in the Roundhouse, returned to Washington, D.C. this afternoon.

Broadcasters want to share legal ad revenue

Sen. David Ulibarri
Online technology is driving a proposal in this year's legislature which could authorize state broadcasters to publish legal ads and notices on their websites -- but not everyone is sure it’s a good idea.

State law currently only permits the legal material to be published in newspapers.

Sen. David Ulibarri, D-Grants, is carrying SB147 for the New Mexico Broadcasters Association’s new NM Legal Notices service.

NMBA President Paula Maes says her organization was asked by various municipalities to provide an alternative posting site for legal notices, because of declining newspaper circulations, and the fact that some rural newspapers only publish once a week.

The state’s open meeting act requires agendas be posted at least 24 hours before an official meeting, so supporter's of the measure suggest that government entities need an alternative posting site.

“With our site, people in towns like Taos, will be able to find their school board meeting agendas online,” Maes said.

“The Journal’s circulation is down 21 percent, and, people have to buy subscriptions to read the legal ads. This leaves many people in the dark,” Maes said. “Checking notices on a broadcaster’s site will be free.”

According to Maes, broadcasters in Illinois have already started publishing the legal ads on their website, and states like Rhode Island and Maine are watching what happens in Santa Fe this month before they roll out similar programs.

Maes said NM Legal Notices would charge about the same rate as newspapers and any money raised will be used to fund high school scholarships and intern programs.

While newspaper sales executives may be resisting the measure because it will dampen their ad revenues, a special interest group is opposing the alternative site claiming it will “keep the public in the dark.”

Conservation Voters of New Mexico insists legal ads and notices be published in community newspapers.

In a news release the group wrote:

This change would mean that New Mexicans would no longer be able to learn about government notices or issues that may affect their community by reading the local paper. Any notice of hearings for permitting dairy farms, power plants, regulatory hearings, or many other issues would no longer be published in the affected communities. Residents would need to seek out this information on the internet.

The NMBA counters that assertion and claims radio stations in small towns will be able to publish the ads more quickly on their website and residents won’t have to wait for a weekly or bi-weekly newspaper to be published.

Citadel New Mexico General Manager Milt McConnell says the majority of people in his audience get their information online. And, he wants public information to be publicly available on the internet.

“We believe it is past time to be able to have municipalities, school districts, county commissions etc to post their public notices on NMLegalNotices.com and have the electronic media be able to drive the message home,” McConnell, who oversees 770KKOB News Radio, said.

Both McConnell and Maes believe placing ads exclusively in print is not the answer going forward and say now is the time to insure an alternative delivery system.

For years broadcasters have aired free public service announcements, or PSA's, and worked closely with state and federal government agencies to disseminate valuable information to the public.

Opponents don't like the bill because they say 32 percent of residents have no access to the internet.

Members of the Senate Corporations Committee will consider the measure today at 2p in Santa Fe.

Disclosure: This reporter has worked for various broadcast outlets since 1980, including: Citadel Broadcasting, Hearst Television Inc, Hubbard Broadcasting and American General media.

Natural Gas outages reported across New Mexico

Updated 6:15p

Rolling pipeline outages in West Texas have impeded the delivery of natural gas coming into New Mexico, and thousands of homes and businesses are without the key fuel needed for their heaters and furnaces.

The New Mexico Natural Gas Company says its pipeline system is intact and their crews are working to minimize the impact of the outage.

The City of Albuquerque has activated its Emergency Operation Center, and some 20,000 people have reported their furnaces are out in the state's largest city.

Outages are being reported in smaller cities including Alamogordo, Ruidoso, Espanola, the entire town of Bernalillo, Taos, and most of Otero County.

Safety First

Residents are encouraged to remain in their homes if they can use safe alternative sources of heat to keep warm, such as electric heaters, wood or pellet stoves, and electric blankets.

Officials say DO NOT use unvented heaters, grills, propane or kerosene heaters or camp stoves inside their homes or enclosed spaces, as these can result in carbon monoxide poisoning.

Once gas pressure is restored, New Mexico Gas Company technicians will need to relight each home and business individually. A blue tag will be left to schedule a relight if you aren't home when our technicians visit.

Officials with the gas company are warning customers to think safety first and to seek shelter.

The safety of our customers is of top concern. New Mexico Gas Company has been working with National, County and State emergency services and officials, as well as local assistance agencies.

Seeking Shelter

Emergency shelters have been set up at these locations for residents unable to safely remain at home. These heated facilities will have coats, blankets, food and water, and other emergency relief in coordination with the Red Cross and/or National Guard.

* Alamogordo: Alamogordo Civic Center at 800 East First Street, at the corner of South Florida and First Street.
* Silver City: Grants County Conference Center at 3050 Hwy 180E (next to Ace Hardware); phone: 575-388-3180
* Questa: Alta Vista Elementary School gym at 2556 State Road 522
* Espanola: Beatrice Martinez Senior Center at 735 Vietnam Veterans Way


Officials urge neighbors to check on friends, especially the elderly, sick or homebound.

Emergency Numbers

For additional assistance or help getting to an emergency shelter:

In Alamogordo and Otero County:

* Alamogordo Department of Public Safety: 575-439-4300
* Otero County Sheriff: 575-437-2210
* Tularosa Police Dept.: 575-585-2704

In Silver City:

* Convention Center: 575-388-1198, Ext. 10 (no charge)
* Corre Caminos: 575-388-3180 ($2.50 and 50 cents each additional person at same address)

In Questa:

* Mayor's Office: 575-586-0694 or 586-1610

For regular updates check the New Mexico Natural Gas' emergency update webpage.

Update 11a: ABQ Officials Respond

At a mid-morning news conference, Mayor Richard Berry said the outages are "historic" and he and his staff are coordinating their response with Governor Susana Martinez. For now he said widespread outage have not hit the city. To avoid more serious problems, the mayor asked residents to lower their thermostats by at least 10 degrees and pull on a sweater.

Anyone seeking shelter in Albuquerque is asked to call the city's 311 service.

Update 615p - State of Emergency

KRQE TV reports:

Gov. Susana Martinez has declared a state of emergency as arctic temperatures and unprecedented demand for gas and electric heat left thousands of consumers without basic utilities.

Martinez signed two executive orders, one declaring the emergency and the second lifting limits on the number of hours propane-delivery drivers can work.

Martinez earlier had ordered thermostats lowered in all state buildings and sent non-critical state workers home to help conserve energy supplies. She also urged New Mexicans to lower their thermostats to reduce energy demand.

In an afternoon news conference in Albuquerque, a Gas Company of New Mexico official said the extreme weather conditions may affect gas deliver for another day or two. He also said the company expected demand to rise, but the below-zero temperatures and power brownouts in west Texas combined to reduce natural gas pressure in New Mexico.

When pressure drops below certain levels, gas in those areas must be shut off for the safety of the system, he said.

UNM Closed until Monday - Local Hotels offer discounted rooms

Officials at the University of New Mexico notified students at it's Albuquerque campus that it will remain closed through Sunday Feb. 6 to help N.M. get through energy crisis. Normal operations to resume Feb. 7.

Hotels in the Duke City have responded to Mayor Berry's call for help and are offering discounted room rates to people affected by power or gas outages.

These are just several around the City that have offered discounts:

• Plaza Inn $39
• Fairfield Inn $49
• Hampton Inn $69
• Marriott Pyramid $69
• La Qunita Suites Midtown $69
• Holiday Inn Express on 12th Street $69