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By Kristina Werenko As you know, if you’ve been keeping up with our newsletters, NMASLA has been doing a lot of work around licensure this past year. We’re working to defend New Mexico’s landscape architecture licensure act against sunset; to extend the sunset period from six to ten years; and to update our act to align with the CLARB Uniform Standard. We’ve made some exciting progress since our last newsletter. In November, a few of us went to the Roundhouse in Santa Fe and attended a meeting of the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC). On the agenda was a formal recommendation by the committee to either extend licensure for the boards and commissions up for review or allow them to sunset. We arrived early with our lobbyist, Danny Maki, so we would have a chance to talk with members of the LFC prior to the meeting. We were lucky to have the opportunity to talk to Senator Pete Campos who has represented District 8 since 1991. The first thing Senator Campos asked us after we were introduced was whether we knew a landscape architect named Baker Morrow. We smiled and laughed, because if you are a landscape architect in New Mexico, you know who Baker Morrow is. Well, it turns out that Mr. Morrow’s company had worked for the City of Santa Rosa back in the 1980s when Senator Campos was the mayor, and he had made quite an impression. So much of an impression that Senator Campos enthusiastically expressed his understanding and appreciation of our profession and said he would be happy to sponsor a bill that ensured our licensure act would not sunset. He also agreed to include in that bill a provision to extend the period between sunset reviews from six years to ten years. And, if that wasn’t enough, he plans to sponsor the changes we need to make to our act to align with the CLARB Uniform Standard. After that auspicious start, the LFC unanimously voted to recommend the continuation of our licensure act. That’s all a very promising start to our work to protect licensure for our profession. It is not the end, however. This bill will have to go through the legislature during the upcoming legislative session, where it will be voted on by every member of the House and Senate. We do not expect there to be resistance to the bill, but in politics these days you can’t let your guard down until the vote is done and the bill signed. This is where you come in. NMASLA has reserved a table at the Roundhouse on March 7th to represent our profession and educate members of the legislature about why they should support our bill. We need as many landscape architects as possible to show up to hand out information and talk with representatives. We need to show we are an active and involved community of professionals and we value licensure. Please mark your calendars and plan to join us at the Roundhouse for whatever amount of time you can spare that day. We will provide the materials and easy talking points to use in any conversations you may have with legislators or their staff. If you plan to be there, please send me an email (kwerenko@plandcollab.com ) so I can loop you in on all of the important details. Finally, a big thank you to our executive committee members Abby Feldman and Claudia Horn, as well as Robert Loftis, Chair of the Board of Landscape Architects, who also attended the LFC meeting. And many thanks to Baker Morrow and all the other landscape architects who have paved the way for the success of our profession in New Mexico.
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