Our country's founding fathers designed a system for passing laws that is intentionally cumbersome, so as to prevent the country's citizens from having to live with an excessive number of laws, as well as laws which might be arbitrary. Therefore, New Mexico' s legislative system is purposely designed to create a lot of hurdles for bills intended to be laws. For that reason, the process of passing a law may seem unnecessarily burdensome. It is meant to be so. See the New Mexico Roster in the Resources section of this book for a listing of these legislators.
State Senators serve four-year terms.
Most bills also have several co-sponsors, which are other legislators who also want to see the legislation given a chance at the system. The public is encouraged to give their opinions at this stage by attending hearings and speaking about the bill. Public testimony is not allowed at this point, although experts will sometimes be invited to be guests on the floor to answer questions on complicated bills. If the bill is voted down on the floor, it can go no further. If it is approved by a majority vote on the full floor, it proceeds onto the next chamber.