Reworked spaceport secrecy bill clears committee

A reworked bill to give commercial space companies operating at Spaceport America protections from the state’s open records law passed the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously on Friday.

The committee substitute for Senate Bill 98 now moves to the Senate floor with less than a week left in the session.

As originally written, the bill would have given companies tremendous latitude to determine what information to make public. After passing through the Public Affairs Committee without a recommendation, the sponsors, Sens. William Burt, R-Alamogordo, and Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces, worked with Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto, D-Albuquerque, to narrow the scope of the protections, explained Dan Hicks, CEO of Spaceport America.

"It made some substantial changes in what could be withheld," Papen said of the committee substitute. "It's a good bill. It puts us in competition with other states like Virginia and Florida to do what we need to do to be in the space business."

"I have to compliment Sen. Ivey-Soto for having worked through these very difficult points," Papen said. "He really is very process-oriented, and I think that we really covered everything."

Hicks said Ivey-Soto looked at similar legislation now in place in Florida and Virginia, as well as existing protections in the state’s economic development statutes, in reworking this bill.

“It provides very narrowly focused protections for companies,” Hicks said. He said that despite the changes, the bill still will give companies at the spaceport the operational protections they need.

Hicks has argued that, because of the hyper-competitive nature of the commercial space industry and the need to shield experiments and new developments from the competition, companies at the spaceport need greater protections than what is in existing law. Even something as seemingly innocuous as information on a change in the lease could tip off competitors, he said.

The New Mexico Foundation for Open Government continued to oppose the measure, according to The Santa Fe New Mexican, calling it overly broad and saying it exempts the spaceport from complying with requests for public records that other agencies must provide.

"Everybody wants the Space Authority to be successful, including FOG. But, as you know, secrecy never results in a better outcome," Susan Boe, a board member of the foundation, told The New Mexican.

Sen. Cisco McSorley, D-Albuquerque, expressed concern about the bill.

“It’s pretty much, ‘trust us and everything will be OK.’ There’s an inability to verify that gives us pause,” he said.

But McSorley joined with all other committee members in approving the bill.

“It got a unanimous do-pass in the Judiciary Committee, which is a very thorough and inquisitive committee,” Hicks said. “They did a good job of asking questions, but I think they all saw the value of ensuring the economic engine that the spaceport can provide.”

Papen said that she was confident in getting the bill passed, even though time is running out before the end of the session at noon Thursday.

"I feel very confident with our chances on the floor," he said.

Walter Rubel can be reached at 575-541-5441, wrubel@lcsun-news.com or @WalterRubel on Twitter. 

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