Thanks to those of you who were able to make calls and send emails in the last few hours to get the Senate to approve the cigarette tax.  While the 4 year sunset stayed on the bill, at least we have $33 million/year to help balance the budget and preserve critical services.

Following the vote, the Senate adjourned "sine die", meaning that the special session is over for the Senate.  That means that there was no opportunity to reconcile the House and Senate versions through a conference committee, so the House adopted the Senate's amendments.  The major Senate change is that, for Fiscal Year '11 only, an additional $6.4 million is allocated to CYFD's early childhood programs (after that, for the last three fiscal years of the cigarette tax, all the revenue goes directly to the general fund).

We need one last call: let Governor Richarson know that we want him to sign all the revenue bills and to avoid layoffs and furloughs.  The number is 505-476-2200.

It is impossible to say with 100% certainty whether the agency cuts averaging about 3% or the higher ed cuts averaging about 3.5% will be so deep that furloughs or layoffs are used.  But we've gotten information from legislators and some in the administration that neither will happen.  And we know for certain that we've stopped any guaranteed, direct hits to our members.

While these are awful economic times in the private and public sectors, and AFSCME members have taken up to 3.5% hits already, this legislature and administration have made genuine movement towards avoiding further cuts to public employees, at least as long as the revenue projections for FY '11 hold up.  The future is uncertain and scary, but what IS certain is that you and your union have made a big difference in avoiding hundreds or possibly thousands of layoffs, we stopped additional cuts of almost 3% to our paychecks, and we protected the vital, often life-saving or life-altering services that our members provide and the citizens of New Mexico deserve every day.

Stay strong, stay united, and be proud of what you've accomplished.  Four of your brothers deserve special thanks for their long hours, hard work, and savvy lobbying to save our jobs and limit damage to our paychecks--lobby team members Council President Andrew Padilla, your Council's top two elected state employees Joel Villarreal and Patrick Gutierrez, and corrections officer Zach Garcia. 

I hope all of you will join me in thanking the Council's Political Coordinator Josh Anderson for his outstanding leadership with our lobby team and with legislators.  All of you have a co-worker who you know is central to keeping your operation going regardless of how tough things get, and for AFSCME, that staff person is Josh.

We have a long way to go, but if someone said at the beginning of this session that we'd have no additional direct cuts and a good chance at no layoffs and no furloughs, I don't think anyone would have believed it.  We will be doing some kind of thank you reception for the legislators who fought so hard for us, and we will plan it for a weekend so that all of you will be able to thank legislators in person.  Mil gracias a todos!  --Carter