All About Discovery! New Mexico State University nmsu.edu The States of New Mexico & Texas Legislative Process and NMSU/Texas Human Resources related Policy Process by Dr. Andrew M. Peña, SPHR

All About Discovery! New Mexico State University nmsu.edu What We’ll Cover! States of New Mexico and Texas Legislative Processes NMSU and the Legislative Process State of Texas Legislative Process NMSU HR Policy development Texas HR-related Policy Creation 3

All About Discovery! New Mexico State University nmsu.edu State of New Mexico State Legislative Process The State of New Mexico Legislators meet every year. The two bodies; House (70 members) and Senate (42 members) make up the Legislature Like Texas, and most, if not all states elect their legislators every two and four year terms respectively. NM Legislators while serving do not receive a salary for their public service, whereas, Texas Legislators do. 3

All About Discovery! New Mexico State University nmsu.edu 4 NM Legislative Sessions The NM Legislative sessions run annually. The sessions that begin in the “even” years meet for a 30-day period generally starting in mid-January and ending in mid-February. These sessions generally address the State’s budget process and provisions. The 2016 Legislative session ended February 18. The sessions that begin in the “odd” years meet for a full 60-day period.

All About Discovery! New Mexico State University nmsu.edu 5 NM Legislative Sessions – Cont’d Starts on the 3 rd Tuesday in January and ending in mid-March. Generally address all of the requisite laws and statutes of the State. The 2017 Legislative session (odd year) will meet for a full 60-day period. The Governor can place policy-related items on the agenda during a 30-day session. During the 60-day session, all items are germane, while under the 30- day session, only fiscal related matters are germane.

All About Discovery! New Mexico State University nmsu.edu 6 The State of Texas Legislative Process The Texas Legislature meets every odd numbered years, and are called “biennium's”. There are 150 members in the House, and 39 members in the Senate. State legislators are paid for their time serving during the biennium. Senators serve four-year terms and house members serve two-year terms. The Constitution dictates that revenue and tax matters originate in the house. The legislators meet for a maximum of 140 days from January through June in these odd-numbered years. The Governor can call a “special session” after the session adjourns.

All About Discovery! New Mexico State University nmsu.edu 7 NMSU and the Legislative Process MSU and the The NM Legislators and Committees are busy throughout the year working on new bills and other pertinent items before the next scheduled session. To be more proactive in assisting our local and state legislators, NMSU created the “StrikeForce” (SF) committee a few years back to review legislative bills that were pertinent to NMSU. “StrikeForce” is comprised of approximately members from all functional academic and non- academic areas. HR has been a mainstay of the “StrikeForce” since its inception.

All About Discovery! New Mexico State University nmsu.edu 8 NMSU and the Legislative Process – Cont’d – Cont’d For the past legislative session, there were over an estimated 700 house and senate bills as well as over 250 joint memorials/resolutions introduced and filed. Of the bills introduced and filed in both house, the Academic, Financial, and HR areas had the most. Some of the HR-related bills that were introduced and filed this past session; minimum wage increases, workers compensation (WC), medical cannabis/intoxication and WC, pension forfeitures, employee right-to-work, state salary increases, and insurance code changes.

All About Discovery! New Mexico State University nmsu.edu 9 NMSU and the Legislative Process – Cont’d There were seven different bills related to increasing the minimum wage. Due to the economic condition of the state budget, none of the minimum wage increases bills made it’s way to the Governor. Only the workers compensation benefits and intoxication bill made it’s way for the Governor’s approval. It’s still awaiting her approval. We, NMSU-HR anticipate the same or more of the HR-related bills to be introduced and filed in 2017.

All About Discovery! New Mexico State University nmsu.edu 10 The State of Texas Legislative Process Prior to each legislative session, the UT System Office of Government Relations (OGR) a request for legislative priorities to the campus’ legislative officer. The Campus Legislative Officer sends a request to campus department heads on requested action on a law relative to their area of the operation. HR had generally been asked to provide some input.

All About Discovery! New Mexico State University nmsu.edu 11 The State of Texas Legislative Process – Cont’d Prior to each biennium, the State’s Legislative Budget Board (LBB) generally sends out “fiscal notes” to the campuses which address the fiscal and operational impact of a proposed bill. The fiscal notes can be of items related to budget or policy matters. The “fiscal note” is generally routed through the campus legislative office for review and submission. Based on the results of the “fiscal notes” submitted by the campus and other campuses, the Legislative Budget Board (LBB) will provide this information to the legislators.

All About Discovery! New Mexico State University nmsu.edu 11 The State of Texas Legislative Process – Cont’d The Legislators will then evaluate the fiscal impact of the proposed action and will allow it to proceed through either the house or senate legislative committee review and approval process. Once it’s been vetted through the committee process, the proposed bill will either be passed by the house or senate. If passed, the Governor will sign the bill.

All About Discovery! New Mexico State University nmsu.edu 12 NMSU HR Policy Adoption Processes NMSU Policies and Procedures, including those related to HR are now housed in two separate locations; Regents Policy Manual and the Administrative Rules and Procedures (ARP). For an HR idea to become a policy, the idea needs to be written and presented to NMSU’s University General Counsel (UGC) Office. After review by OGC, the proposed policy and administrative procedure are submitted to the Assignment Advisory Group (AAG) Committee to review.

All About Discovery! New Mexico State University nmsu.edu 13 NMSU HR Policy Adoption Process – Cont’d The proposed policy and administrative procedure is sent to the University Administrative Council (UAC) for a first and second reading. If approved by the UAC, the proposed policy and administrative procedure after both readings is sent to the Chancellor of the NMSU System for approval, and referral to the Board of Regents (BOR). The proposed policy is submitted to the BOR for approval at the next upcoming Board meeting.

All About Discovery! New Mexico State University nmsu.edu 13 NMSU HR Policy Adoption Process – Cont’d If approved by the BOR, the policy is entered in the Regents Policy Manual. The approved and corresponding administrative procedure will be listed in the University’s ARP Manual. Our Union; ASFCME is also notified of the action. Typically, they’re briefed beforehand. The policy can then be communicated to the campus.

All About Discovery! New Mexico State University nmsu.edu 14 U.T. System Policy Processes Typically, UT System policy proposals by campus are generally vetted by the two main employee groups; Faculty Senate and Staff Council, after it’s been reviewed and approved by the University Legal Affairs Office. With approval of these two groups (with or without edits), the proposed policy is presented to the President’s Cabinet for approval, and ultimately the President for submission to the next step. After approval by the President, the proposed policy is sent to the UT System Office of General Counsel (OGC) for review and approval.

All About Discovery! New Mexico State University nmsu.edu 15 U.T. System Policy Processes– Cont’d The Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs or Business Affairs will approve the campus policy for adoption. The approved policy is placed in the campus’ Handbook of Operating Procedures. For system-wide policy adoption, the same process is adopted throughout the system schools for input and feedback. The University Presidents would approve at their respective campus level. After review by OGC and the Chancellor’s Office, the policy is reviewed and approved by the UT System Board of Regents (BOR), and then is placed within the Regents Rules for the system.

All About Discovery! New Mexico State University nmsu.edu 15 States of New Mexico and Texas Legislative & Policy Formation Processes DISCLAIMER … The UT System Legislative and Policy Creation processes were prior to February The System and Institutions may have some different steps in place today. Thank you!