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Just the Facts ... and Then Some

from NMS March 22

by Livestock Publishers

from NMS March 22, page 36

To Save Western Forests, Cut T...

JUST THE FACTS ... & THEN SOME

by Caren Cowan, Publisher New Mexico Stockman

Another Legislature Is In the Books

While there may be some legislation that was missed, there always is something, but by and large most of the really bad stuff died. There over 500 bills introduced, but only 67 of them made it to the Governor’s desk.

Here are some that died:

SB 8 Voters’ Rights Provisions – SB 144 Intimidation of Election Workers: Maybe one of the most important wins of the session was stopping this legislation that would have seriously jeopardized election integrity in our state.

HJR 2 – SJR 2 Environmental Rights Constitutional Amendment, these measures would have given the environment a ‘constitutional right’ and allow for lawsuits to be filed on behalf of the environment.

SB 14 Enacting Clean Fuel Standard Act and HB 6 Clean Future Act: These bills would have imposed unrealistic environmental ‘net zero’ standards that would have raised gas taxes and other daily expenses were rejected.

HB 75 Public Banking and HM 20 – SM 10 State Level Public Utility: The idea of having state government using tax dollars to create a bank and run our utilities met with an overwhelming message of, ‘No thanks!’

HB 71 Limit Property Tax Valuation Increase: While this bill would keep the existing three percent cap on property tax increases per year on primary residences, it would have raised that cap to ten percent per year for residential property that was

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A few of the bills that were passed and sent to the governor include:

HB 163 Tax Changes: This omnibus bill reduces the statewide Gross Receipts Tax by .025 percent over two years (as long as state tax revenue remains at current levels) and exempts social security income (SSN) from state taxes for single taxpayers making $75,000 or less and married, filing jointly, taxpayers making $150,000 or less. A good start, but not nearly enough. An amendment to prohibit municipalities from raising GRT failed in committee and the SSN exemption should be for ALL New Mexicans.

HB 68 Criminal Code Changes: Another omnibus bill with some positive parts including stiffer penalties for violent offenders, recruitment, and retention stipends for police officers, and removing a statute of limitations on second-degree murder charges. However, other parts of this bill are problematic, and overall major ‘tough on crime’ legislation was rejected by the majority party in control of both chambers.

There is much more to discuss and evaluate from the legislative session that ended at noon on February 17, 2022. There was a massive expansion of government with a nearly $8.5 billion dollar budget. That’s a whopping 14 percent increase over the previous budget. Because it is funded by the highest ever windfall tax revenue from oil and gas in history, it is clearly unsustainable unless a miracle occurs, and the state becomes attractive as a business-friendly destination. Otherwise, it will take significant tax increases or budget cuts during lean oil and gas revenue years that will happen, as they have in the past.

This report is courtesy of the New Mexico Business Coalition and Better Together New Mexico who worked tirelessly during the Session to keep us informed and provide timely calls to action for us to respond to.

All of these bills and more will be back in 2023 unless there are changes made to the Legislature and the Administration in the November 2022 Elections. NOW is the time to start helping candidates!!! ▫