That's according to State Rep. Kathy McCoy, R-Sandia Knolls, who is on the House Finance Committee. She said that the Republican minority is united in its opposition to tax increases. However, they were unable to stop a budget — with a $330 million deficit — from making it to the house floor. That includes a $76 million expansion in education funding.

"What the majority is counting on is tax increases to fill the gap," she said. "If we looked at other avenues, I don't think we would have to do tax increases."

She said cuts to education and the state government employees' pay would have gone a long way towards avoiding a tax increase.

"My real issue is, yes, the economy has been bad, but the real reason we have a huge deficit is because of overspending by the state," she said. "I don't think that we should penalize taxpayers for a problem that was caused by the state."

The Legislature just doesn't have the stomach to make the needed cuts, she said, despite government workers' yearly pay averaging well above private employees in the state. She also said she sees a lot of waste in education, and that cuts to educational funding don't mean children in classrooms would necessarily have to suffer.

"I believe there is fat to cut from education without cutting classrooms," she said. "Not in every single district."

McCoy said she has been in contact with educators at Albuquerque Public Schools who are indignant about the waste in the system.

According to McCoy, teachers have complained that, throughout the district, many mid- and low level positions, such as secretaries, are redundant and the employees serve no purpose.

McCoy said it is often difficult for legislators to know exactly what goes on in the schools, and it is not good for the state to micromanage school districts, but changes can and should be made, she said.

"That's something that I wish we knew more about," she said.

Aside from the budget, the Legislature is also considering domestic partnership legislation this session. A bill passed a senate committee Tuesday, but the panel also threw another hurdle that may worsen the bill's already-bad prospects for passage.

The Senate Public Affairs Committee voted 5-4 for the bill (SB183), which would create domestic partnerships for same-sex or heterosexual couples that would provide virtually the same rights as marriage.

Lawmakers also voted 5-4 to tack on a referral to yet another committee. In addition to going to the Judiciary Committee, the bill will also have to clear the Senate Finance Committee. The Judiciary Committee was heard at the Judiciary Committee on Wednesday .

Although similar legislation has passed the House previously, it was defeated 25-17 in the senate last year. The membership in that chamber hasn't changed since then.

The 800-page bill would allow couples to register with county clerks, pay $25 and get nearly all the benefits accorded to married couples under state law.

The legislation would change 281 New Mexico laws to add domestic partners in areas such as inheritance rights, health care decision-making, community property and even prison visitation.

Brad Sears, executive director of the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, a think tank on sexual-orientation law and public policy, told lawmakers Tuesday there are about 4,100 co-habitating same-sex couples in New Mexico. Half of those couples would be expected to register as domestic partners, according to Sears' estimates.