The question of the month seems to be, should we have a paid legislature? This subject surfaces every now and then usually in conjunction with some event like the recent conversations about education employed legislators. My position is that we should remain an unpaid citizen legislature. There is no easy answer and arguments can be made either way. The big problem I see is how much would you pay if we did this? Many believe that if we were paid that it would open the opportunity for more people to serve. It is hard for someone to ask for a hundred days off work in a year to be a legislator. So if there was a pay check, how much should it be? Do we want a doctor or lawyer to consider quitting their practice for a two year job for say $35,000 a year plus expenses, probably not. Then there is the question about length of session. The unpaid legislature has short sessions compared to other states and it is difficult to cram so much into those limited time periods. A paid legislature ends up costing much more with the additional time and staff required. In New Mexico the cost of the legislature is very low compared to other states. There have been attempts to change our constitution without success as the public does not want representation to be a job but rather public service. We seem to manage to get done what is necessary under our present system and it appears that the majority of New Mexico residents do too.