 The following is a production of New Mexico State University. Believe it or not, when you're a legislator, life still goes on. Families continue, job responsibilities are there. It's where politics meets life. It's a challenge. Decisions made here affect roads, schools, the environment, all aspects of life. The main goal, I guess, is to make lives better for all New Mexicans. Legislators know that working for the citizens of New Mexico is not a nine-to-five job. Simply by running for public office, legislators commit themselves to an almost round-the-clock schedule during legislative sessions in Santa Fe. Yet time invested during these intense sessions returns dividends to the state for years, resulting in high-quality schools, reliable medical care, new economic growth, thriving agricultural industries, fair government services, and strong consumer action. These are the dedicated men and women of the New Mexico Legislature. Each January, they come from all corners of the state and all walks of life to Santa Fe to tackle the state's toughest challenges. These legislators are lawyers and ranchers, teachers and business people, farmers and retirees. But beyond their professions and occupations, these legislators are family members, community members. And joining the New Mexico Legislature means they must often leave their jobs, families, friends and communities, devoting much of their personal time to serving the people of the state. New Mexico has what is termed a citizen's legislature because the legislators receive no salary for their work. They receive a small per diem for each day's attendance during the session and are compensated for one round trip per session from their home to Santa Fe. No other compensation is allowed by law. This is hardly a way to make a living. There are 112 legislators serving the state, including 70 members of the House of Representatives and 42 senators. Representatives must be at least 21 years old and serve a two-year term in the House of Representatives. Senators must be at least 25 and are elected for four-year terms in the New Mexico Senate. All legislators must be citizens of the United States and live in the district they represent. Historically, legislators' districts were their counties. However, wide population variations between New Mexico's counties led to uneven representation in the legislature. Since reapportionment in the 1960s, legislators have been elected from districts with approximately equal populations and converge on Santa Fe on the third Tuesday of each January to represent the needs and concerns of their constituents. By law, the New Mexico legislature meets in regular session for 60 days in odd-numbered years and 30 days in even-numbered years. As New Mexico continues to grow, so does the complexity and number of problems in the state. This has made it increasingly difficult for the legislature to finish its work within the prescribed time limit. Therefore, the governor may by proclamation call the legislature into a special session to handle emergencies or to finish what it could not do in regular session. The only matters which may be considered in a special session are those which are contained in the governor's proclamation. The legislature may call itself into an extraordinary session if it finds that the need is great enough. But whether in a regular session or a special session, a legislator's day is packed with intense and varied activities. Often, legislators begin the workday early with a breakfast hosted by an organization, community group, or business alliance. Here, citizens contribute to the legislative process, sharing their opinions on certain legislation with their representative or senator. After a long day in the capital, legislators often attend evening functions in order to hear the concerns about the issues facing the state. The arduous hours in between are filled not only with regular sessions in each chamber, but also with crowded daily schedules, as legislators hear testimony, debate issues in committee meetings, return phone calls, write letters, study bills, and meet constituents who have come to Santa Fe to see the legislature in action. The start of the day that most visitors to the New Mexico Legislature see is the roll call in the legislature chambers and a prayer by the chaplain. Traditionally, sessions are held each morning and last until all the immediate business is finished. The myriad of committee meetings required to give intensive attention to specific legislation must somehow fit into the schedule, including early morning meetings before daily sessions and meetings late into the night. More than a thousand proposals are considered during the 60-day session, ranging in length from a simple paragraph to enormous 400-page documents. It would be a staggering job for each legislator to review in detail all the proposed changes to the law each year. Thus, committees help guarantee that each bid of proposed legislation is given a fair hearing. These committees are formed during each 60-day session, with membership largely determined by preferences of the individual legislators. Committee members are carefully placed where their previous experience and training can best be used. For example, many members of the Judiciary Committee may be lawyers, while members of the Education Committee are often teachers. In the House of Representatives, the Speaker appoints both the committee members and their chairs. While in the Senate, appointments are made by the Committees Committee. A legislator may serve on only two standing committees. These permanent committees are established by rule to handle legislation on a particular subject. The House committees include agriculture, appropriations and finance, business and industry, consumer and public affairs, education, energy and natural resources, health and government affairs, judiciary, labor, taxation and revenue, transportation and voters and elections. In the Senate, the committees are conservation, corporations, education, finance, Indian affairs, judiciary, public affairs and rules. In addition, legislators may also serve on legislative committees dealing with administrative matters, such as enrolling and engrossing, printing and supplies and rules and order of business in the House and on the Committees Committee in the Senate. Interacting with these legislative committees allows citizens an opportunity to express their ideas and concerns. In fact, understanding differences in the organizational structure of the Senate and the House can make concerned individuals more effective in expressing their views. The House of Representatives looks to the Speaker of the House, elected from their ranks, to provide strong leadership and structure for the lawmaking process. While the legislature is in session, the Speaker of the House presides over the House of Representatives and refers all bills that are introduced to the respective standing committees. The Speaker of the House may, if he desires, come down to the floor and debate a bill or if he's introduced a bill, he can come and present a bill. While this is going on, he will appoint a person to come to sit in the rostrum in his place while he is debating or introducing a bill on the floor. Right after the session, the pro tem and the Speaker preside over the legislative council meetings and that's where we make our recommendations to appoint the members to the respective interim committees. As a member of the legislature, I serve in some of the interim committees also, so that keeps us busy year round. One of the things that I think intrigues me, and I believe that this is true of any Speaker, is the fact that the Speaker serves like a liaison between the executive and the legislative branch of government. Serving in that position then provides me the opportunity to talk to my members and see where and what legislative issues they're very interested in and what they would like to accomplish. In doing that, especially after the session, we can make recommendations to the governor and try to make sure that those bills that members have worked so hard to get passed are signed into law. So that is one thing that I really appreciate in providing the leadership as Speaker of the House of Representatives. In the Senate, leadership and procedural strategy and administrative control are exercised by the committee's committee rather than by an individual officer. This Senate's committee's committee functions are somewhat parallel to the Speaker of the House. The committee on committees is charged with the overall operation of the Senate. That includes every member of the Senate, minority or majority member of the Senate. We come in here and we discuss salaries of employees. We discuss seating in the chambers. We discuss the number of employees that should be assigned to senators and to be assigned to analyst pools. We decide the overtime pay and almost every issue that comes before the Senate we discuss. And it doesn't end there. Some individual senator may have something that he's not satisfied with, not satisfied. We also set the rules of the Senate. However, my duties are more lasting than that. The elected official that presides over the Senate is the lieutenant governor and she becomes the president of the Senate during the sessions of the legislature. My duties are to replace her in her absence. During the interim, I'm up here really often. We have people that want to talk business with me. Just about everybody of every walk of life in New Mexico will come in to see me. There's some people that don't agree with some water bill that's introduced so they'll come in to see me from all over the state. There's some people that don't think it's far enough. They bring me ideas for legislation. Some people don't agree with some of our laws, DWI laws. They don't agree with some of the taxes that are imposed or taken off. They meet me in the halls, they meet me in other rooms and they pull me aside and talk to me. And that's kind of my life up here during the session. Visitors to the New Mexico legislature may be both fascinated and puzzled by the activities they see in the roundhouse. Some of the activity is necessary daily routine. And at times legislators will be away from their desks on the floor in order to caucus or testify for their own bills before a regular session in the other legislative chamber. Legislators also may be busy and hurried conferences with other members or seeing constituents from their home districts who are visiting the capital. Informal conferences on controversial issues will often occur on the chamber floor itself. In brief, actions considered on the floor fall into three categories. A bill is basically an official proposal for a law. It may be legislation relating to issues such as taxes, air pollution, drugs, highways, animals or schools. Bills may originate in either house. However, by custom, the general appropriation bill providing money to run state government usually originates in the House of Representatives. A resolution is a formal declaration of the legislature concerning some subject which it either cannot or does not wish to control. A memorial is an expression of legislative desire usually addressed to another governmental body in the form of a petition or declaration of intent. For example, a memorial may ask the highway department to build a road in a certain part of the state or the natural resources department to create a new state park. Behind the flurry of activity most visitors see at the state's legislature. It takes an active support structure to keep things running smoothly. The chief clerks, assistant chief clerks, secretaries and bill historians are the people who keep the momentum on course. The chief clerks are responsible for keeping a daily record of all matters coming before the legislature. They also do the legislative housekeeping such as interviewing prospective employees, supervising over 400 support personnel, purchasing supplies, assigning meeting spaces and following up on literally hundreds of other details. In short, it's the people working together that make the New Mexico legislature work. They are ordinary citizens from every walk of life who serve the state as elected legislators. They are lobbyists and members of concerned organizations who help clarify the issues and ensure lively debate. And they are interested citizens who take the time to write or call their senator or representative in Santa Fe or even travel to the state capitol to monitor the process and provide grassroots testimony and opinions. By visiting the legislature, a community legislative hearing or talking directly to your legislator you too can become a part of the legislative process. This is your New Mexico legislature. Come and be a part of the action. The preceding was a production of New Mexico State University. The views and opinions in this program are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the NMSU Board of Regents.