A lawyer's idea of marketing
Of all the reasons given by all the New Mexico legislators for all of their votes this session, none are as absurd as the one offered by Sen. Lisa Curtis, who claimed that her vote against a bill to offer limited liability protection for spaceport manufacturers and suppliers was actually a good thing for our spaceport.
Spaceport America will now be more attractive to people who want to take the risk of space travel, but would have shied away if suppliers and manufacturers had been granted limited liability from lawsuits, Curtis argued.
I can just see the promotional material now: "Come to Spaceport America! Your loved ones can sue for a bundle if you get killed in a horrible accident." It's a marketer's dream.
As president of the New Mexico Trial Lawyers Association, maybe Curtis actually thinks that way. Perhaps each summer as she is planning the family vacation the primary factor in her decision is the tort laws in each state she is considering visiting.
"I'm sorry kids, but the trip to Disneyland is off," she might explain to her disappointed brood. "If little Billy gets decapitated while on the log ride at Splash Mountain, we wouldn't be able to collect a fair and just compensation for our damages."
While a Senate committee filled with trial lawyers killed one version of the bill, a House committee paid off by trial lawyers killed another.
The New Mexico Trial Lawyers Association made donations to state legislators totaling $14,000, outspending Virgin Galactic, the anchor tenant for the spaceport, by a total of five to one, according to a story by Albuquerque Journal politics writer James Monteleone. House Businesses and Industry Chairwoman Debbie Rodella raked in $5,000, while committee members Thomas Garcia, David Chavez and Eliseo Alcon shared another $5,000. All voted against the House version of the bill.
Those lawmakers and the six senators in the Judiciary Committee who voted to block the bill — Michael Sanchez, Peter Wirth, Linda Lopez, Eric Griego, Cisco McSorley and Curtis — all have something in common. None of them live within 200 miles of the spaceport.
Their local economies won't be impacted should the failure to pass this bill put us at a competitive disadvantage and hinder efforts to attract new businesses to the spaceport. Their constituents have not agreed to a sales tax hike to support the spaceport.
One of the great frustrations of the New Mexico Legislature is that bills with widespread support among all members often get killed by a handful of legislators in committee. Two years ago, a similar bill offering liability protection to the spaceport itself was passed unanimously by both the House and Senate.
Once in a blue moon, a lawmaker will muster the votes to "blast" a bill out of committee, bringing it directly to the floor. Andy Nunez was able to do that last year with the driver's license bill. But, for the most part, lawmakers seek to protect the "sanctity" of the committe process. That often means small group with a vested interest — such as trial lawyers deciding on lawsuit restrictions — end up deciding for the whole group.
Gov. Susana Martinez has written a letter to lawmakers asking that they reconsider their vote. "Two major companies have already said they are unlikely to do business in New Mexico without this legislation," she wrote.
But at this point in the process, with the session scheduled to end Thursday, success for the bill seems unlikely.
And so, for one year at least, the fledgling spaceport in New Mexico will be operating at a competitive disadvantage to those in Virginia, Florida and Texas. I am quite certain those states do not view the liability protection they have passed as a deterrent to future customers, as Sen. Curtis would suggest.
Walter Rubel is managing editor of the Sun-News. He can be reached at wrubel@lcsun-news.com or follow @WalterRubel on Twitter.
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