Fresh off a big win at Albuquerque City Council (defeating ranked choice voting) the Rio Grande Foundation will be participating in a free debate event this Saturday being put on by the local Braver Angels group.

Saturday, May 30 Community Debate

Join us for an in-person Community Debate exploring the pros and cons of Ranked-Choice Voting (RCV).  The city of Albuquerque recently voted against using RCV in city elections, while this system has been adopted in other New Mexico municipalities.

Come share your thoughts and concerns about adopting this voting system.

Please register HERE

Saturday, May  30
2:00-4:00 pm
UNM Continuing Ed Center
1634 University Ave NE
Albuquerque, NM

Albuquerque’s City Council will be discussing and likely voting on a proposed minimum wage increase which would take the City’s mandated wage rate to $15 an hour AND index it to the  average of the consumer price index and the rent at the average rent in our community.

You can reach out to all the city councilors here. It will take 5 minutes.

Here are a few talking points that are worth including in your comments:

Raising minimum wages can squeeze out low-skilled workers and increase the cost of living and doing business.

California has a $20 an hour minimum wage for fast food workers. According to a study by UC Santa Cruz this has “reduced in employee hours, increased automation, and increased menu prices.”

Minimum wages are just one of many ways that Albuquerque is NOT business friendly. Fast food chain Wendy’s just closed numerous locations putting dozens of people out of jobs. Policymakers at the city and state levels should work to reduce the cost of living by returning money to workers in the form of tax reduction and by tackling the housing affordability challenge.

Rent in Albuquerque is not particularly expensive. According to a Wallethub study of 182 major US cities Albuquerque renters paid 33rd LEAST rent as a percentage of their incomes. 

Use these talkers to contact all the city councilors here. It will take 5 minutes.

If you’d like to speak at the City Council meeting itself it is at City Hall in downtown Albuquerque at 5pm on Monday night. You can sign up for public comment ahead of time (we recommend general comment which takes place earlier in the meeting). You should be able to sign up starting Friday evening. 

CABQ Council proposes $15 an hour minimum wage. Paul and Wally discuss the proposal and issues with minimum wages, especially among cities and how there is no such thing as a “free lunch” in economics.

Overregulation is among many economic problems facing NM. A report from Cicero Institute highlights the issues and a path forward.

The LFC study released dealing with tax breaks (discussed last week) has been put out. Paul and Wally have further details and thoughts.

NM is actually ahead of the curve on something!

Recently, based on limited information, RGF commented on the outline of a new report that the Legislative Finance Committee has put together in which they claim that the “$520 million New Mexico spent on economic development tax incentives in fiscal year 2025 found taxpayers didn’t get much in return” according to the Santa Fe New Mexican. The full report can be found here. 

To be clear, RGF has LONG opposed actual spending on Hollywood. That should be obvious. To her credit, Rep. Susan Herrera, D-Embudo told the New Mexican that she “advocated for a ‘revamp’ of the state’s tax incentives, particularly on the film production tax credit.”

Genuine tax incentives ARE a mixed bag and should be evaluated, but what the politicians quoted in the New Mexican refuse to understand is that most of our problems could be addressed by simply reforming the gross receipts tax and eliminating the incentives necessary to paper over the fact that we have this absurd policy in the first place.

Here’s how the Legislature should consider reforms:

Reform the GRT to make it more like a sales tax (eliminating tax on business inputs);

Eliminate the personal and corporate income tax;

Eliminate ALL incentives that involve spending tax money (LEDA and Film);

Once those have been accomplished further analysis can be undertaken of the need (or lack thereof) of various tax breaks and incentives.

Sadly, the LFC which ultimately answers to the Legislature, won’t come out and make these bold policy prescriptions because the Democrats who control the Legislature don’t want to give up their power over businesses that they gain by limiting and narrowly targeting one-off incentives.

New Mexico is perpetually behind when it comes to quality of governance and efforts to make sure our tax dollars are used effectively. So, it is worth recognizing when New Mexico is actually doing something right. According to reports from Source NM and others New Mexico is one of just six states using A.I. to comb through documents submitted by those receiving Medicaid who are subject to new requirements contained in the federal Big Beautiful Bill that they obtain work or education for 80 hours a month.

RGF supported and continues to support these work requirements for moral and policy reasons. They are also supported by more than 60% of Americans and even NM Gov. MLG has not criticized them recently.

We believe that able bodied people should not be handed a check every month and just left alone. They SHOULD be receiving training or have the benefit of providing for themselves in some way. This is good for their self-identity and keeps them engaged in society as opposed to sitting at home.

But, as critics of work requirement have pointed out, “Medicaid work requirements generally cost more than they save due to high administrative burdens and complex IT system upgrades.” Partially that’s because training doesn’t pay at all and these tend to be workers at the marginal economic level who are paying relatively low/no taxes. So, while A.I. shouldn’t and can’t make final decisions on whether someone is making the needed decisions in order to receive Medicaid, it would seem that A.I. will have positive impacts in reducing the burden of processing all of those documents.

On this week’s Tipping Point NM Paul sits down with former New Mexico Democrat State Senator Jacob Candelaria. Candelaria is the attorney for plaintiffs in the case against Gov. Lujan Grisham’s “free” childcare program which was set up by the Gov. without legislative approval on November 1, 2025. Paul and Jacob have a detailed conversation about the case including a thorough analysis of the program’s provision of child care funded by New Mexico taxpayers for the benefit of those in the state illegally.

Additionally, in 2019 Candelaria was the sponsor of New Mexico’s Energy Transition Act which Paul calls “the worst bill passed during Lujan Grisham’s time in office.” They discuss the legislation, why it has created the need for PNM to find a suitor (currently Blackstone, a private equity firm), and other flaws. You don’t want to miss this conversation about two of the most important policy issues in New Mexico!

Several Albuquerque city councilors are proposing an increase in the City’s minimum wage to $15 an hour for regular workers and a tipped wage of $7.20 an hour. Currently, the City has an $11.85 minimum wage but that rate is preempted by the state’s $12 an hour wage. If this law passes the regular wage will rise from $15 an hour and be indexed to inflation. The tipped wage for restaurant workers and others would be indexed to rise with inflation.

According to Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn, “workers’ average earnings are about 20% below the national average, while rent is often higher.”

Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a free lunch. Raising minimum wages can squeeze out low-skilled workers and increase the cost of living and doing business. California, for example, has a $16.90 minimum wage with fast food workers earning $20 an hour. Impacts have included “reduced employee hours, increased automation, and increased menu prices.” Study after study (like this one from the Congressional Budget Office) has shown such wage mandates cause job loss. 

It is also worth noting that rent in Albuquerque is not particularly expensive. According to a Wallethub study of 182 major US cities Albuquerque renters paid 33rd LEAST rent as a percentage of their incomes. 

You can find the legislation here. It starts it’s legislative journey on June 1.

How can a state that has beautiful weather, wide open scenery and spaces, and nearly unlimited money thanks to the oil and gas industry, still be among the most impoverished in the nation? It takes terrible management by the political class and compliant voting.

But, it also takes bad policymaking on many different fronts. One of these is regulations. Unnecessary government regulations slow economic growth and make doing business more difficult than it needs to be. Sadly, on top of New Mexico’s high/complicated taxes, poor education system, generous welfare program, having to compete for talent with the Labs and others, and high crime, according to a report from the Cicero Institute New Mexico ALSO harbors a business-unfriendly regulatory structure. New Mexico ranks tied for dead-last 48th nationally in the Cicero Institute report.  Only Georgia and Pennsylvania tied New Mexico. Neighboring Colorado and Utah were tied for 1st place while Arizona ranked 5th.

Among the factors included in the report were regulatory sunset provisions, requirements for cost-benefit analyses, independent review, and venue flexibility. The report includes great information about how these abysmal rankings can be improved and how New Mexico’s political leaders can turn things around.

The oil and gas boom has helped grow the size of New Mexico government, but the State has NOT improved overall because its policies have generally gotten even further away from free market. An effort to at least provide cost benefit analysis of legislation and even sunset outdated and unnecessary laws could help New Mexico move in a more positive direction, but only if voters and policymakers act.

It’s time to vote early in New Mexico. Paul and Wally discuss early voting and some of the issues on the primary ballot.

ABQ spends considerable amounts on the arts. Where does the money go?

Whatever happened to taxpayer subsidized Unser Crossing.

New Mexico politicians “grapple” with the oil and gas boom.

New Mexico sees limited benefit from tax incentives.

The NY Times highlights NM’s lousy education outcomes.

Friend of the show and private sector space analyst Doug Messier calls Virgin Galactic “Zeppelins of Today.”

According to a new report from the Legislative Finance Committee New Mexico’s economic development incentives aren’t very effective. According to the LFC, “The $520 million the state of New Mexico spent on tax breaks for economic development in fiscal year 2025 didn’t generate much of a return.”

“The state’s economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, grew just 1.4% as a result of the more than half a billion dollars committed to the 24 tax exemptions, deductions, credits, and other benefits for business and business activity,” according to an LFC newsletter.

We would need to see the full analysis before agreeing or disagreeing with the report’s conclusions, but here are a few thoughts:

1. 1. Tax breaks ARE NOT spending. Letting people (and businesses) keep their own money should not be called or considered “spending.” The LFC should change its language.
   2. Related to #1, film subsidies are spending. LEDA is spending, but offering tax credits for certain investments is NOT spending and is both economically and morally better. Lowering tax rates or even eliminating certain taxes is the BEST tax policy.
   3. Reducing taxes or providing economic incentives generally will not INCREASE government revenues. That is NOT a good reason to reject them. New Mexico government is sitting on more than $70 billion in its permanent funds and has seen budget growth in excess of 75%. That spending and that permanent fund haven’t improved New Mexico’s status. Robust tax cuts will (and have).
   4. If the Legislature and Gov. wish to improve on these economic outcomes they should do the following: Eliminate payouts for economic develop, carefully evaluate ALL tax credits and deductions for performance and desirability, and focus instead on lowering taxes across-the-board using the state’s considerable revenues.
2. 

It was hard to decide whether to laugh or cray when I saw this Associated Press article. To summarize, New Mexico’s “leadership” (Democrats) are having a hard time with the fact that New Mexico is the #2 producer of oil and gas in the country and that this is a difficult fact for them to come to grips with.

Of course, the REAL story isn’t (or at least shouldn’t be) Democrats’ “discomfort” with New Mexico’s dependence on oil and gas. The story SHOULD be: How is New Mexico so poor and dependent on Medicaid when the State is sitting on $70 billion and oil and gas money keeps rolling in?  

Sadly, the media never hold New Mexico Democrats responsible for their myriad policy failures. Sadly, the “plans” put forth by gubernatorial candidates Deb Haaland and Sam Bregman are weak tea indeed. Their various tax credits rebates will do nothing to move the needle and the same is true for “free” childcare schemes like the one implemented by MLG.

Republican candidates for Gov. include much more aggressive plans and ideas that are apt to actually improve New Mexico’s abysmal outcomes (like eliminating NM’s personal income tax).

New Mexico has a long history of spending taxpayer dollars on failed developments that don’t pan out. Going back nearly 20 years to the Unser Crossing development (originally slated for Unser and Central) was one such plan. Of course, RGF loves economic development. We want to see jobs and businesses locate to our state, but what we don’t like is when government spends our money on projects that don’t pan out or fail to deliver as promised.

In Albuquerque one such project was called Unser Crossing. It was supposed to bring development and amenities as well as jobs to Albuquerque’s West Side. To say the least it has not panned out, but the City spent millions on infrastructure.

RGF’s president recently talked to KOAT 7 about the situation.

Paul talks with Linda Stover, candidate for Bernilillo County Assessor about the importance of the office and how her planned administration of the position would differ from the current Assessor.  Learn about the importance of this office and the issues that have impacted property owners in Bernalillo County in recent years.

Saturday, May 16, marks the start of Expanded Early Voting for New Mexico’s Primary Election happening June 2nd.

This is the first year of New Mexico’s “semi-open” primaries, so if you are registered as an independent/decline to state you can now vote in EITHER the Republican or Democrat primaries.
As you know, the 2026 election cycle is crucial to New Mexico’s economic and business future. We need all New Mexicans to vote in both the primary and general elections. According to the New Mexico Secretary of State site, the overall turnout rate of eligible voters in the 2022 primary and general elections are abysmal:

• primary election turnout: only 25.52%
• general election turnout: only 52.38%

Should cities subsidize various art programs? This is in addition to what we believe is a big waste of money (this is in addition to the 1% for the arts program which requires 1% of city construction and capital improvement bond proceeds to be set aside for purchasing and commissioning public art). 

Here is a list of the funding including funding information from the last few years. Funding includes $15,000 annually for the Lowrider Supershow, $60,000 for Railyards Market, $5,000 for ABQPridefest, and $25,000 for World Refugee Day. Clearly, however, if you look at the hundreds of millions of projects that have been funded in recent years, the annual number is down.

Mayor Keller says the City’s budget situation has forced the City to cut back on some of these spending items. That’s why many of the items have no line item for 2027. What do you think? Are these events worth your taxpayer dollars being spent? Should the City be cutting elsewhere (like Mayor Keller’s highly paid and fast growing staff or taxpayer-funded buses) to name two.

On this week’s Tipping Point conversation New Mexico’s Steve Pearce was confirmed to head up Bureau of Land Management on a 46-45 vote. New Mexico Senators Lujan and Heinrich opposed him.

The Santa Fe New Mexican covers overspending in New Mexico’s “free” childcare program. Paul also highlights his recent Tweet on the program. Also, MLG’s early childcare claims are without evidence as NM’s workforce participation rate has plummeted since November 2025.

Another court rules against Trump’s tariffs w/ RGF signed on as an amicus. Wally and Paul discuss the case and why RGF takes issue with the tariffs.

APS adopts massive budget totaling $36,859 per student. Paul and Wally explore the situation.

MLG/NM courts are attempting an end run around Congress on EV mandates.

NM’s heavily subsidized film industry is failing (according to them, not us).

Talk about burying the lede! The Albuquerque Journal had a puff piece on Sen. Heinrich “pushing back against the rising cost of living.” Of course, he cares not at all about actually making living costs more affordable for New Mexicans, but that’s not what this story is all about. The article includes a woman named Giovanna Urbina, a film worker and member of IATSE (film union) local 480 where she says the following:

She may lose her health insurance by the end of September if she doesn’t secure a new film production job. At one point Urbina said there were between 10 and 15 film productions filming in the state. Now there’s only one.

It’s a huge industry that we’ve seen all but disappear in New Mexico.

In other words, count Hollywood among the biggest Democrat-supported (both Richardson and MLG, not to mention the Legislature) have poured subsidies into Hollywood at taxpayers’ expense.

Under Richardson we (taxpayers) paid Hollywood back for 25% of their expenses in New Mexico.

Due to a cap imposed by then Gov. Susana Martinez, the State’s payouts were limited to $50 million annually which resulted in subsidy “debts” piling up. So, upon here election in 2019, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed legislation to pay off an estimated $225 million to $300 million backlog in film tax rebate debt accumulated under the previous administration.

MLG and the Legislature ALSO increased the film subsidy to up to 40% of filming costs.

Seemingly, as the industry and economy change, even 40% film subsidies aren’t enough to goose demand. The upshot is that YET ANOTHER industry specific scheme undertaken by politicians in New Mexico has failed. Taxpayers have ALSO directly subsidized multiple studios (Santa Fe and Farmington to name two) IN ADDITION to the industry itself. But, to no avail. For the 100th time (at least), cut taxes, reform the GRT, make New Mexico a more attractive place to do business and let the jobs and industry flow into our state.

Back in July of 2025 Santa Fe Film Studios (recipients of more than $10 million from taxpayers) went up for sale. To date we know of no buyers.

How dependent is New Mexico on the federal government compared to other states? Paul talks with Mary Connaughton and Liam Day of the Massachusetts based Pioneer Institute regarding their recently released study “Dependency Index – Federal Money to the States.”

See how the various states compare using the Dependency Index using the study’s interactive web-based data analysis and display tool.

The Albuquerque Journal does a fantastic job in their article on the Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) budget in terms of providing context. Among many impacts Rio Grande Foundation has had over the years, helping to transform how the media covers the size of education budgets is one of the big ones.

As the Journal points out:

• APS’ budget shakes out to a cost of about $36,859 per student — (that’s 22% more expensive than the $30,118-a-year tuition at the area’s most expensive private school, Albuquerque Academy).
• APS’ operating scale is so large, its budget surpasses the city of Albuquerque’s projected budget for next fiscal year by 60%, or $880 million.
• More than 20% of the entire New Mexico state budget for next fiscal year will go to APS.
• APS’ enrollment is down 20% from pre-pandemic levels (even as budgets continue to grow). The district had 63,726 students enrolled on the 40th day of this school year, down from 80,109 in 2019.
• The $2.35 billion total budget includes capital outlay funds — next year, APS has allotted almost $729 million for construction and renovation. The district plans to build a new special education facility on Albuquerque’s West Side, which will cost an estimated $15 million funded through bonds.

A few thoughts:

1. The amount of money APS (and New Mexico) spends has grown with no impact on student outcomes;
2. APS spends MORE per-pupil than ANY private school in New Mexico. Obviously results have not kept pace;
3. APS and NM’s Legislature/PED could easily “right-size” the District’s footprint in terms of buildings and employees, but has no incentive to do so;
4. APS’ enrollment is going to go down much further for the foreseeable future. A rational approach MUST be developed in order to at least allocate the District’s considerable resources to worthwhile spending.

According to Albuquerque Journal coverage of a New Mexico Appeals court the State of New Mexico can still plan to requires that electric vehicles comprise 43% of new passenger cars and light-duty trucks delivered to New Mexico for model year 2027, which starts this year. This, despite the fact that Congress (including New Mexico Democrat Gabe Vazquez) repealed California’s ability to set its own “clean air” standards and thus the ability of several “blue” states like New Mexico to follow along with those standards. 

As the Journal article notes there is simply no way (and never was) for New Mexico auto dealers to comply with the 43% EV sales mandate considering that EV’s comprised only 3.23% of vehicles sold in New Mexico in 2025.

Of course, New Mexico adopted its EV mandate via an unelected board with the members appointed by the Gov. Congress is at least elected.

Will New Mexico’s courts eventually back down? Will they attempt to foist EV sales requirements despite federal law to the contrary? Will New Mexico car dealers be pushed to accept and sell EV’s or will they simply ignore the law?

None of these questions have easy answers. We asked Carlos Garcia of Garcia Honda (interviewed in the Journal article) and he didn’t have any thoughts beyond what he expressed in the article.

No kings (or queens) indeed!

A lawsuit by Gov. candidate Duke Rodriguez voids MLG’s “free childcare.” What’s next?

MLG reinstates restaurant inspections by the NM Environment Department after the Department claimed they didn’t have enough money to do them.

Sens. Heinrich & Lujan cosponsor bill to kill federal school choice program.

RGF calls out ABQ turf waste on KOAT 7.

Las Cruces is in a budget deficit. Why? What could be done to improve the financial position of New Mexico cities?

Ebon Solar pulls plug on a proposed Albuquerque solar panel plant.

Developers overhaul Project Jupiter’s energy plan. What does it mean? Will it win support from the environmental groups?

RGF applies for certiorari to the US Supreme Court on a donor privacy case. Will RGF’s case soon be heard by SCOTUS?

Closure of Spirit Airlines highlights overreach by federal regulators.

In the Albuquerque Journal (today, May 6) Gov. Lujan Grisham is quoted as defending her unconstitutionally enacted “free” childcare program in the following ways:

“If we don’t build the workforce in the future and give parents real choices, you will not have a workforce in the future” She also claimed to be “as confident as you could be” that the courts will affirm the program’s legitimacy even though she created it w/o the Legislature back on November 1. While predicting actions of New Mexico’s courts is a challenging proposition the reality is that this case is clearly based on legitimate concerns over the process and the idea that the Gov. can create massive new government programs without legislative approval.

But what about the results of the program since November? We have a few months of data. Has New Mexico seen an influx into the workforce? Far from it. On November 1, 2025 when the program went into effect New Mexico’s workforce participation rate was 58.1. By March 2026 the rate had dropped significantly to 56.8. If this program is supposed to bring more workers (especially women who previously took care of children in the home) into the workforce it would seem that the rate should not plummet upon adoption of the program.

During the Gov.’s rollout AND legislative debate over “free” childcare there was NO evidence provided that the program would do anything to boost workforce participation in New Mexico let alone that this program was the most efficient way to boost New Mexico’s workforce. Low workforce participation IS a real problem in New Mexico, however as can be plainly seen in the chart below. Research for yourself here.

We’d rather see real reform to New Mexico’s tax structure, reform of the GRT and elimination of the income tax, but this Gov. and the Legislature believe New Mexico is JUST ONE MORE government program away from success. Sadly, even this limited workforce participation data seem to show otherwise.

A lawsuit by Gov. candidate Duke Rodriguez voids MLG’s “free childcare.” What’s next?

MLG reinstates restaurant inspections by the NM Environment Department after the Department claimed they didn’t have enough money to do them.

Sens. Heinrich & Lujan cosponsor bill to kill federal school choice program.

RGF calls out ABQ turf waste on KOAT 7.

Las Cruces is in a budget deficit. Why? What could be done to improve the financial position of New Mexico cities?

Ebon Solar pulls plug on a proposed Albuquerque solar panel plant.

Developers overhaul Project Jupiter’s energy plan. What does it mean? Will it win support from the environmental groups?

RGF applies for certiorari to the US Supreme Court on a donor privacy case. Will RGF’s case soon be heard by SCOTUS?

Closure of Spirit Airlines highlights overreach by federal regulators.