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<DIV>
<DIV>John:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> While I appreciate YOUR stance on the subject issue as well as your
past efforts to better our community through your involvement in the
neighborhood association, I have to believe that you well understand that
the NENA website is NOT intended for distributing political OPINIONS or
garnering support for said opinions. If you feel so strongly about this, please
feel free to go door to door in person to make your case but please do NOT use
the NENA website to promote any agendas.</DIV>
<DIV>You can continue the back and forth with the persons you
have engaged on this issue from your initial email and can CC me if you
wish, but please leave the remainder of the Association out of your discourse.
Anyone who wishes to discuss this further with you, may do so on a
one-on-one basis.</DIV>
<DIV>Thank You</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Jeff Peterson,</DIV>
<DIV>President, NENA </DIV>
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style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>From:</B> <A title=mailto:ingram1ja@yahoo.com
href="mailto:ingram1ja@yahoo.com">John Ingram</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=mailto:members@noreste.org
href="mailto:members@noreste.org">members@noreste.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Cc:</B> <A title=mailto:ingram1ja@yahoo.com
href="mailto:ingram1ja@yahoo.com">ingram1ja@yahoo.com</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Saturday, March 07, 2009 10:13
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [NENA] Call Rep. Larry Larranaga
about HB 331/346</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
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<TD vAlign=top>
<DIV>Hello NENA members:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>My name is <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1236443358_0>John
Ingram</SPAN>. I used to be president of NENA. I live on NW corner
of Henriette Wyeth and Oakland, 8901 Henriette Wyeth NE.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>There's an urgent matter regarding our public schools, and State
House Dist. 27 Rep. Larry Larranaga coming-up tomorrow, Sunday, Mar
8.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><U>Background</U>: 3 years ago, the State Legislature commissioned
a study by outside professional group to determine why too many of our
schools and students are performing so poorly. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The commission issued a report several months ago with the finding
that the State Legislature, which controls education funding, has
consistently underfunded our schools by about 15% a year, or $350
million annually. This goes back to 1982.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>FYI: in 1981, the Legislature voted to remove property taxes
as the sole source of school funding. Instead, they voted to be
accountable and responsible for funding our schools with state income
taxes, gross receipts/sales taxes, and a small percentage of the
interest generated by investing the $7.9 billion Permanent School Fund
in Wall Street. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Since 1982, K-12 and (now) pre-K public school funding has steadily
declined from more than 50% of the overall NM state budget to 43%
today. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>However, the <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1236443358_1>NM State
Constitution</SPAN> legally requires the <SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1236443358_2
style="CURSOR: hand; BORDER-BOTTOM: #0066cc 1px dashed">Legislature</SPAN>
to "sufficiently" fund our schools. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The study commission reported that the State Legislature is not
meeting its constitutional mandate. <U>School districts are threatening
to sue the Legislature in district court regarding this issue unless
they pass HB 331/346</U>.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>House Bill 331/346, sponsored by Rep. Mimi Stewart, will help
correct this problem. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>House Bill 331/346 increases gross receipts/sales taxes by
three-quarters of one percent and produces about $350 million annually
to fund our public schools. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Rep. Stewart amended the bills yesterday so HB 33/346 no
longer requires an increase in state income taxes for top earners
who are paying 4.9 percent rate. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Now, the sole source of the additional $350 million generated by HB
331/346 is the 3/4 of 1% increase in gross receipts/sales taxes.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Rep. Stewart is a personal/professional friend of mine. I checked
with her yesterday about HB 331/346 and progress toward
passing the measures. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Rep. Stewart informed me that the <A
title=http://legis.state.nm.us/lcs/committeedisplay.aspx?CommitteeCode=HAFC
href="http://legis.state.nm.us/lcs/committeedisplay.aspx?CommitteeCode=HAFC"
target=_blank rel=nofollow><SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1236443358_3>House Appropriations & Finance
Committee</SPAN></A> with hold a hearing on HB
331/346 tomorrow, Sunday, Mar 8, at 1:30 pm at State Capitol in
<SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1236443358_4>House Finance Committee
Room</SPAN>. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1236443358_6>House Finance
Committee</SPAN> must pass HB 331/346 out of committee so the
bills can go to the House for a floor vote. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>NENA's representative in the House is Rep. Larry Larranaga. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><U>Rep. Larranaga also sits on the House Appropriations and
<SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1236443358_5
style="CURSOR: hand; BORDER-BOTTOM: #0066cc 1px dashed">Finance
Committee</SPAN></U>. He is a powerful, and well respected legislator
who listens to his constituents and wants to do the best he can for our
public schools. I've talked to him many times.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>However, <U><STRONG>Rep. Larranaga is planning to vote NO on HB
331/346</STRONG></U> tomorrow. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>If you believe that HB 331/346 is in order, and we must
increase funding for our schools, please call Larry, and have others who
live at your home, who are registered voters, call him, too. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>By the way, Research and Polling, INC. did a survey of registered
voters on this issue. Friday's ABQ Journal, page 3 reported that a
majority supports HB 331/346.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Here are links so you can check this out if you need to: </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><A
title=http://legis.state.nm.us/lcs/legdetails.aspx?SPONCODE=HLARR
href="http://legis.state.nm.us/lcs/legdetails.aspx?SPONCODE=HLARR"
target=_blank rel=nofollow><SPAN class=yshortcuts
id=lw_1236443358_8>Rep. Larranaga</SPAN></A> , <A
title=http://legis.state.nm.us/Sessions/09%20Regular/bills/house/HB0331.html
href="http://legis.state.nm.us/Sessions/09%20Regular/bills/house/HB0331.html"
target=_blank rel=nofollow><SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1236443358_9>HB
331</SPAN></A> , <A
title=http://legis.state.nm.us/Sessions/09%20Regular/bills/house/HB0346.html
href="http://legis.state.nm.us/Sessions/09%20Regular/bills/house/HB0346.html"
target=_blank rel=nofollow><SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1236443358_10>HB
346</SPAN></A></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>If you want, or need, to talk to me about this issue, my mobile
phone is <SPAN class=yshortcuts id=lw_1236443358_11
style="BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; CURSOR: hand; BORDER-BOTTOM: #0066cc 1px dashed">505-217-8020</SPAN>.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Thanks for your consideration,</DIV>
<DIV>John</DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>_______________________________________________<BR>Members
mailing
list<BR>Members@noreste.org<BR>http://noreste.org/mailman/listinfo/members_noreste.org<BR></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV></BODY></HTML>