Currently, there are a set number of liquor licenses available in New Mexico, based on the principle of one license per 2,000 people. That restriction dates back to post-Prohibition times. Beer and wine licenses for restaurants are separate, and there are different prices for bars than for retailers selling packaged alcohol.
Because of the limited number of licenses, they commonly go for $500,000 a pop or more-a prohibitively large sum for would-be new business owners.1
The article goes on to note that:
According to the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission website, a two-year packaged liquor retailer in Texas pays $1,500. By contrast, a recent packaged liquor license sold in New Mexico cost $750,000, according to the New Mexico Alcohol and Gaming Division. Retailers and bars pass that price on to consumers.2
All New Mexicans understand that the state has had and continues to have serious problems with alcoholism and drunk driving. On the other hand, our current licensing laws are extremely arbitrary and are not designed to address the real issue of problem drinking.
The current environment creates artificial scarcity and limits the ability of those of modest means to involve themselves in the business of serving liquor. In other words, it creates a cartel run by those who can afford to invest outrageous sums in liquor licenses. Current law, therefore, penalizes small businesspeople and their potential employees.
Rather than limiting liquor licenses based on an arbitrary population number in a way that has caused tremendous price inflation, New Mexico legislators should consider regulatory changes designed so the number of licenses enables their price to reach a market price similar to that of one or more surrounding states.
It is a bleak picture these days when it comes to New Mexico’s economy. On day 1 of the legislative session, Sen. Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, the most powerful man in the Legislature, made it clear that he will be an implacable road block to reform. With an abject lack of economic freedom and education reforms, it is unlikely that New Mexico’s economic or educational performance will improve.
What is the good news out there? Not much. The best we can hope for involves the opening of vast new markets for New Mexico natural gas (we are one of the top producers of natural gas in the nation). Free trade in natural gas could be New Mexico’s ticket to economic growth. The experts agree, natural gas exports would be a boon for this country (and the state). Margo Thorning of the American Council for Capital Formation has a persuasive column as does energy expert Michael Economides who explains that Blocking LNG Exports Helps a Few but Hurts Many.
I asked Sen. Martin Heinrich about the issue and he sounds supportive, but the ball is ultimately in President Obama’s court. Our elected and business leaders need to get engaged and make the case against the unholy alliance of radical environmentalists and big business that wants to keep New Mexico’s clean natural gas out of international markets (and China reliant on coal).
With the implacable (and now angry) Sanchez in power, we can’t expect salvation from within.
One sign of the close relationship between government employee unions and the government officials they support is the eagerness with which states (including New Mexico) have collected union dues of government employees on behalf of the very same public employee unions that are supposed to be “adversarial” in their efforts to protect employees from the unfair demands of their bosses in government.
The fact is that public employee unions in New Mexico have trouble keeping members if governments don’t collect dues on behalf of the unions. According to Bob Williams of State Budget Solutions1:
Voters in Washington State approved a “paycheck protection” law in 1992. The law stated that employees must give annual written consent before unions could collect money for political activity. Before passage, approximately 82 percent of the members of the Washington Education Association contributed to the union’s political action committee. After the law’s first year of implementation only 11 percent of teachers contributed to the union’s political fund.
In 1997, Idaho lawmakers required political committees to get annual written consent from workers before obtaining contributions through automatic payroll deductions. According to news accounts, the number of union members contributing to union political committees dropped by 75 percent.
In Wisconsin, when Gov. Scott Walker eliminated payroll deductions for union members, the Wisconsin American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) say its membership fall from 62,818 in March 2011 to 28,745 in February 2012. 6,000 of the 17,000 members of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) quit the union.
Robert Chanin, the former general counsel for the National Education Association, once said in U.S. District Court: “It is well-recognized that if you take away the mechanism of payroll deduction, you won’t collect a penny from these people, and it has nothing to do with voluntary or involuntary. I think it has to do with the nature of the beast, and the beasts who are our teachers … [They] simply don’t come up with the money regardless of the purpose.”
(Albuquerque) The Rio Grande Foundation (along with a host of organizations that support educational choice) is pleased to participate in School Choice Week 2013 which includes a first-of-its-kind trans-continental whistle stop tour.
The tour will stop in Albuquerque on Saturday, January 26, 2013 and includes a reception to begin at 5:30pm at the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History near Old Town.
Rio Grande Foundation president Paul Gessing will be among the speakers – a list that includes elected officials, parents, and children who have benefited from school choice – on-hand to explain why school choice is important.
Said Gessing, “It is only fitting that – 150 years after construction began on the first transcontinental railroad – supporters of educational reform embark upon a whistle stop tour on behalf of educational choice. After all, the transcontinental railroad opened up a continent that had previously been closed to all but a select few; school choice will open up children’s’ minds and grant educational options to all children, not just a select few who’s parents can afford educational choice.”
The Rio Grande Foundation has, and continues to support, all forms of school choice including charter schools, education tax credits, vouchers, digital learning, and home schooling. As such, it advocates from the perspective that parents, not bureaucrats and politicians, know what is best for their children and will, if given the choice, find suitable educational options for their children.
Noted Gessing, “This year’s School Choice Week celebration is a truly unique opportunity for New Mexico as we are one of only 14 stops on the national whistle stop tour. Given our state’s historically poor educational performance, relatively limited choice options, and the onset of the 60 day legislative session, we hope that our state’s political leaders will take notice of the strong support school choice has in this state.”
Additional information on the Whistle Stop tour, including how to attend, can be found at www.riograndefoundation.org or can be attained at: 505-264-6090. Further details on the route of the tour, dates, and other participation opportunities can be found here: http://www.schoolchoiceweek.com/train
“Collective Bargaining” for government workers began in New Mexico in 1992. The law lapsed in 1999 and Gov. Gary Johnson wouldn’t sign a bill to renew it. But in 2003, Gov. Bill Richardson signed a collective-bargaining bill that, unlike the first one, did not have an expiration date.1
The term “collective bargaining” is defined as: “a process of negotiations between employers and a group of employees aimed at reaching agreements that regulate working conditions.2”
It sounds innocuous on its face and is often called a “right” by government employee unions and their advocates, but it really represents a closed-circuit whereby government unions organize their members for political power, elect politicians, and then “negotiate” with those very same politicians who are largely dependent on the government employee unions for their campaign donations and political support.3 The union representing many government workers, the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) was the largest outside spender of the 2010 elections.4
Allowing government employees to collectively bargain was opposed by prominent liberals like Franklin Delano Roosevelt who said “The process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service.5” Even George Meany, the president of the AFL-CIO, seemed to oppose collective bargaining for public employee unions, “The main function of American trade unions is collective bargaining, it is impossible to collectively bargain with the government.6”
Collective bargaining is bad for taxpayers and has led to government growth beyond what is economically-supportable along with unfunded government employee health care and pension obligations in excess of $25.8 billion.7
The problem with collective bargaining is that government employees do not operate in a free market environment. Union workers do not compete in the same way as private sector workers (union and non-union alike).
Surprising to some, collective bargaining is not necessarily popular with union members. It is very popular, however, with union leadership. In 2005, Indiana Governor Daniels signed an Executive Order eliminating collective bargaining for state employees. At that time there were 16,408 dues paying union members. Today only 1,490 out of 28,700 are dues paying union members – 95 percent chose not to pay union dues when given the choice.8
The New Mexico Legislature must pass legislation to abolish public employee collective bargaining in the state. Employees are individuals and should be treated as such.
I discuss the likely path of the 2013 legislative session and what that means for New Mexico’s struggling education system and economy. Click the interview link here.
Health care is among the most heavily-regulated areas of the economy. One particularly costly regulation requires health insurance companies to be licensed and regulated within their respective states. Among other things, this forces young, healthy individuals looking for "bare bones" insurance plans to pay for a slew of coverage items that they have no need or desire for and that dramatically increase the prices of their plan. New Mexico’s 59 mandates are more than all but a handful of states, thus driving insurance prices in the Land of Enchantment higher than necessary.1
Aside from the mandates, New Mexico is a relatively sparsely-populated state that allows fewer opportunities for "risk pooling" (the very point of insurance).2 This drives up the cost of health insurance plans in the state. Enabling additional health insurance companies to do business in the state along with larger risk pools will inevitably drive down the cost of this insurance.
The Public Regulation Commission should allow any insurance company licensed in another state to do business in New Mexico. Absent that ideal situation, the PRC should negotiate "compacts" with other states to allow reciprocity agreements between states to allow insurance companies licensed in one state to practice in both states.
The Legislature should undertake an effort to reduce or eliminate regulations, perhaps making them optional under certain low-cost health plans targeted at young people. Foisting 59 mandated coverages on anyone who purchases health insurance is like mandating that a young or poor person purchasing a car must buy a fully-loaded BMW or go without a car.
Day 12: Eliminate or Dramatically Overhaul
New Mexico’s Costly Renewable Portfolio Standard
In March, 2004, then Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico signed into law Senate Bill 43. This bill required sources of renewable energy to make up 5 percent of the investor-owned electric utilities sales by 2006, and 10 percent by 2011. In 2007 the law was expanded by Senate Bill 418, which accelerated the timeline and increased the mandate such that renewable sources account for 10 percent of all power generated by 2011; 15 percent for 2015; and 20 percent for 2020 and thereafter.1
Renewable sources include energy from solar, wind, geothermal, biomass and small hydroelectric facilities. One might assume that any combination of “renewables” would be adequate in achieving the standard, but this is not the case. The standard was made even stricter by the Public Regulation Commission (PRC) which has adopted diversity requirements for Investor Owned Utilities (IOUs). These mandates require proscribe that the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) must be fulfilled with:
No less than 20% Wind;
No less than 20% Solar;
No less than 10% Other technologies;
No less than 1.5% Distributed Generation (2011-2014); and
3% Distributed Generation by 2015.2
According to the report “The Economic Impact of New Mexico’s Renewable Portfolio Standard,” New Mexico’s RPS will cost utility rate payers $2.3 billion over the decade from 2011 to 2020.3
In this situation, both the PRC and the Legislature can have an impact. The PRC should consider eliminating the provisions mandating that certain percentages of various sources of power be used. The Legislature should reduce or eliminate the RPS levels entirely at least until new more cost-effective technologies are in place that make wind and solar economically viable absent a regime of subsidies and mandates. Nationally, wind and solar combined generate less than 5 percent of electric power generation.4
Day 11: Adopt Teacher Certification System
Based on Student Outputs, Not Inputs
There is increasing evidence that excellent teachers are among the most important factors in improving educational outcomes in public schools.1 Unfortunately, there is also a great deal of evidence that traditional teacher certification tools do not have a significant impact on teacher quality.2 The following chart illustrating the small impact of teacher certification.
It is widely-recognized that more, better, teachers are essential to improving our educational system, yet government licensing policies are designed to limit supply. A PhD physicist who has retired from Sandia Labs would need years of additional schooling to put their considerable schools to work as a teacher in the classroom.3
Teacher licensing is an issue both for those who would like to become teachers through alternative paths and for accomplished and effective teachers who would move up in terms of pay much faster absent the “three-tiered licensing” system New Mexico has in place.4
According to the New Mexico Effective Teacher Task Force:
The current teacher recognition process in New Mexico places emphasis on years of experience and credentials obtained. Members of the Task Force recognize these factors are important; however, they fail to offer teachers any acknowledge of student achievement. Many New Mexico teachers see the growth of students in the classroom, but work in a system that does not recognize or reward them for it.5
The Legislative Finance Committee recently confirmed the fact that teacher licensing in New Mexico is ineffective, saying: “New Mexico’s three-tiered career ladder system does not align pay with student achievement.”6
The New Mexico Legislature must enact legislation to allow for truly alternative teacher certification paths for qualified professionals. Eliminating the “three tiered” licensing system (which measures inputs) in favor of a system that measures and rewards outputs in terms of student achievement would also be sensible.
If labor unions were like any other private club or organization, an individual could choose whether or not to pay dues and become a member. Unfortunately, unions have been granted government protections over the years that have allowed them to dominate certain industries.
Simply put, "Right to Work" laws prohibit employers and unions from requiring membership in a union or payment of union dues as a condition of employment.
According to economist Dr. Richard Vedder, both population and income growth have been significantly faster in the 22 states with right-to-work laws than in those states that allow forced unionism. Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona and Utah all have right to work laws in place. Indiana became the latest state in the nation to adopt such a law. A recent Rio Grande Foundation paper found that New Mexico would have New Mexico’s employment in 2011 would have been approximately 21 percent higher had a Right to Work law been enacted in 1980.1
If New Mexico’s political establishment wants to stand up to special interests and create jobs, there are few policy prescriptions with better track records of success than passage of a "Right to Work" law.
New Mexico’s Constitution contains no requirements for individuals who are running for Legislature to collect a particular number of signatures in order to get on the ballot.1 The advent of of new ballot-access legislation prior to the 2012 filing period threw the ballot access process into into chaos due to insufficient attention to detail among more than a dozen legislative candidates (including several incumbents).2 Notably, these undue burdens, while impacting Democrats and Republicans alike, disproportionately impact third-party candidates.
Ballot Access Expert Richard Winger has cited New Mexico’s signature requirements along with Illinois, Massachusetts and New York as being among the most onerous in the nation.3 These regulations have repeatedly resulted in lawsuits against the state being filed by candidates of both major parties and third parties. The current ballot access laws are unwarrented and should be repealed. As long as the candidaye meets that Constitutional requirements (age, resident of the district, etc.) they should be allowed to run.
Competition is beneficial in politics, not just economics.
New Mexico’s Public Regulation Commission (PRC) is responsible for approving utility prices, regulating insurance, and licensing motor carriers.1 Among its broad regulatory powers, the PRC enforces "common carrier" regulations which fix the rates and limit the amount of individuals who can legally provide services such as tow trucks, taxis, moving vans, buses, shuttles, ambulances and railroads.2 Prospective companies seeking to enter the market must file a "certificate of public convenience and necessity" according to a report by Think New Mexico.3
These certificates are significant barriers to entry leading to higher prices and fewer options for consumers. It is not unreasonable to lable this relationship a cartel, which benefits the few well-connected and protected businesses at the expense of everyone else. Arguably, this marriage between public regulators and private businesses creates a symbiotic relationship that continues to block competition as well as engender an environment ripe for corruption. Clearly, the success of Carter-era deregulations discussed in our "Day 2" E-mail could be brought to New Mexico.
As well as being subject to the regulations of the PRC, motor carriers of passangers and household goods are also regulated by the New Mexico Department of Public Safety (DPS).4 These unwarrented burdens on businesses who seek to provide transportation services etc. must be challenged and abolished. The issue of safety should be exclusively regulated by the DPS and the PRC should curb its meddling in the transportation sector. By maintaining the status quo New Mexicans suffer from higher prices, innovation is stifeled, and fewer entrepreneurs are able to pursue their business ideas.
In 2009 the New Mexico State Legislature passed SB 33, which mandates that prevailing wages be set by collective bargaining agreements.1 The law attempts to ensure that workers who are hired for public works projects are paid a prevailing wage which is equal to collectively bargained union wages. This regulation holds despite the fact that only 8.7 percent of private-sector construction workers in New Mexico are union members.2 By negating the merit system which was used by 92 percent of the construction industry, the law places wage setting power among the 8 percent who do use collective bargaining agreements.
Economically speaking, this is a form of price fixing which pushes out competitors who are willing to work for lower wages. The federal Davis-Bacon law (1931) is estimated to raise costs to taxpayers by 15 percent on federally funded projects.3 Additional legislation such as SB 33 only raises this cost, and arguably siphons money that could be used for other projects.
Resources are scarce. Adding costs to construction projects means fewer roads and schools for New Mexicans. The Legislature should repeal SB 33 and any other New Mexico law that forces taxpayers to pay a higher-than-market price for public works projects.
According to the Institute for Justice, there exist 52 low-income occupations that require licensing in New Mexico, including everything from funeral attendants to animal trainers.1 These requirements order individuals to pay fees as well as invest a considerable amount of time in training and education. For example, an individual must commit approximately two years in experience before receiving a license to become a pest control applicator, while an aspiring emergency medical technician is required to invest 42 days and pass two exams.2
These licensing requirements for low-income occupations create barriers to entry for those who can’t invest the time or money simply in order to gain governmental permission to work. This results in fewer businesses, which means less competition and higher prices for consumers. If such professions were deregulated and the mandatory licensing system was abolished more entrepreneurs could enter the market and provide their goods and services. The current system solely benefits those businesses that have already attained their licenses, providing protection from potential competitors.
To advocate for abolishing the absurd licensing requirements in New Mexico is not to take the position that standards are unnecessary, rather to promote the idea that such standards should be brought about by consumers and not arbitrarily established by bureaucrats. If state licensing was optional, businesses would have the choice of pursuing or abstaining from going through the licensing process. Consumers could then choose to pay the additional premium set by a licensed business or opt for an unlicensed service that would in most cases be cheaper.
New Mexico needs to rid itself of these unreasonable licensing standards. With fewer state sanctioned obstacles in the way of entrepreneurs, both consumers and small businesses will benefit.
1Dick Carpenter II, Lisa Knepper, Angela C. Erickson, John K.Ross, "License to Work," The Institute for Justice, May 2012, http://www.ij.org/licensetowork
Due to Gov. Richardson’s Executive Order #06-001, New Mexico law currently requires all public buildings over 15,000 ft2 to be LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver certified.1 According to the U.S. Green Building Council, these building requirements are intended to promote "sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality".2 The reality is that this effort to make public buildings in New Mexico more "green" increases costs and doesn’t necessarily provide more energy-efficient buildings.
LEED standards can include building a minimal number of parking spaces in order to encourage the use of car pooling or public transportation, the addition of charging facilities for electric cars, and installing large numbers of bike racks.3 Certification for new schools constructed throughout New Mexico has added between $2,350 to $ 7,950 per building, not including additional material or design.4
The added costs of LEED Silver would be a small price to pay for buildings that are more efficient and better for the environment, but there have been numerous examples of LEED certified buildings failing to meet their long-term efficiency goals.5 This failure has even been recognized by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), which noted in its own study focusing on 121 certified buildings that "more than half – 53 percent – did not qualify for the Energy Star label and 15 percent scored below 30 in that program, meaning they used more energy per square foot than at least 70 percent of comparable buildings in the existing national stock".6
The truth of the matter is that in many cases the efforts led by the USGBC have created more costs while failing to provide more energy-efficient buildings. Executive Order #06-001 should be overturned immediately so that tax-payers are not put in the position of funding inefficient building projects that do little or nothing for the environment.
1U.S. Green Building Council, "LEED Public Policies," May 1, 2009.
The Construction Industries Division (CID) in New Mexico requires that any individual who is engaged in construction-related contracting must be licensed. This includes "general construction work, electrical, mechanical and plumbing and LP gas."1 Due to these current licensing requirements of the CID, construction-related projects are significantly more expensive to carry out, reaching levels as costly as an increase of 25 percent.2
Contractors who pursue construction-related contracting without obtaining a license risk being ineligible for licensure for one year. The CID can also suspend construction on the project.3 This prevalence of such barriers to entry varies greatly from state-to-state. In neighboring Oklahoma, construction contracting is almost entirely unlicensed.4 New Mexico would benefit greatly by abolishing the current onerous licensing system which would remove unnecessary cost burdens on contractors and provide incentives for individuals who would have otherwise pursued construction outside of the state, thus reducing construction costs in New Mexico.
The total abolition of the current CID licensing system is indeed a radical proposal, but one which should be seriously considered. In the absence of such a step, the CID should be restricted to simply approving initial construction plans and the final construction. This would allow construction to take place without the costly burden of unnecessary micromanaging by the CID.
Efforts such as the recent "electronic plan review system" which will allow businesses to submit their proposals online for a faster review process that will save both time and money are modest steps towards improving contractors’ ability to get to work.5 Much more is necessary in order to provide a free market environment for New Mexico’s contractors, and it begins with limiting the regulatory power of the CID.
Regulations are expensive (national total regulatory costs for 2011 came out to $1.752 trillion)1. In economics, there is no such thing as a free lunch. Laws designed to protect consumers and the environment cost money both to enforce and in terms of lost economic activity. That’s not to say that any and all regulations are not worth it, but that there are always some tradeoffs. The tradeoffs between human health and pollution, for example, vary over time and by both individual and culture.
But, that doesn’t mean that all regulations are created equal or that we can’t come to some decisions about the necessity or lack thereof in terms of certain government regulations.
Currently, New Mexico lacks requirements for review of new regulations and rules, and although the state Administrative Procedure Act is still in place (who’s purpose was to impose procedural duties for agencies that chose to opt in), it has failed to be self-enforcing on agencies2. Due to the absence of a centralized review process, agencies may or may not use their own procedures such as the use of legal council review, internal review committees, and economic analysis3.
In 2005 the Small Business Regulatory Advisory Commission (SBRAC) was created to review regulations that might have been unnecessary. Unfortunately the commission has not met for years, and according to Administrative Law Division Director John Martinez, "Less than 10 rules were actually reviewed by the SBRAC in the short time that they met regularly. During that time period, over 800 rule actions took place."4
Several of New Mexico’s neighbors have developed procedures of regulatory review that should be noted. Colorado’s "Department of Regulatory Agencies" reviews regulations and presents all cost-benefit analyses to the public, allowing for further participation concerning the review process5. Arizona’s "Governor’s Regulatory Review Council" regularly hosts "seminars for agencies on rule writing, periodic reviews, and the preparation of impact statements"6. Utah has both the "Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget" as well as the legislature’s "Administrative Rules Review Committee" that work collaboratively in the regulatory review process7. None of these mentioned processes are perfect, and all are need of improvement, but the unfortunate reality is that New Mexico is still very far from any of these modest review mechanisms.
New Mexico desperately needs a strong, centralized regulatory review process. By implementing such a measures and allowing for a cost-benefit analysis to be provided to the public, exposing undue regulations and furthering government transparency. A regulatory review process which would grant rescission powers to the governor in order to repeal unfair or unjustified rules would certainly help to remove the numerous arbitrary burdens which New Mexican businesses face today.
New Mexico’s Neighbors:
Texas: Currently, Texas lacks a single, centralized regulatory review process. There do exist individual legislative subcommittees, but these groups rarely use their authority to review rules. Overall, the situation in Texas is very similar to New Mexico.
Arizona: Arizona has what is known as the "Governor’s Regulatory Review Council" (GRRC) which does play a more active role in the review process than the state’s largely inactive legislative review committee. It appears that the GRRC, which is a slight improvement from New Mexico’s abject lack of controls, contains shortfalls as well, such as too narrow of distributional analysis (viewing small business impacts while ignoring public benefits etc.)
Colorado: Colorado has the "Department of Regulatory Agencies" which reviews proposed rules submitted by various agencies. The cost-benefit analyses are provided for public use which is certainly a plus concerning transparency. One issue that needs improvement is the State’s legislative review provisions which can "leave regulations in a state of limbo for up to a year"8.
Oklahoma: Oklahoma currently has both executive and legislative forms of regulatory review, but reviews often arrive too late during the rule making process and lack the analysis of benefits. The executive review process lacks transparency as well as consistency.
Utah: Utah has both the "Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget" as well as the legislature’s "Administrative Rules Review Committee" that work with agencies throughout the review process. Utah has also fared well concerning transparency due to the "Division of Administrative Rule" Website. Although the process is much more effective than New Mexico’s, Utah’s focus on compliance costs while neglecting benefits is an area that needs improvement.
New Mexico has been lagging its regional neighbors for many years. Throughout its 100 years of statehood, New Mexico has missed out on a great deal of private-sector economic development that has instead flowed to more economically-free states such as Colorado, Texas, and Arizona. New Mexico has instead relied on a steady and ever-growing flow of tax dollars from Washington for economic growth.1
Unfortunately, this reliance on Washington has not made New Mexicans prosperous or their state wealthy. Rather, New Mexico has the highest poverty rate in the nation according to the Census Bureau.2
And, while economic trends are best understood over the long-term, New Mexico has again been lagging behind its regional counterparts as the growth of federal spending has stalled. The following chart from the Albuquerque Journal shows that New Mexico is the only state in the West that lost jobs between August 2011 and August 2012.3
It is often said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. One area where this is true is in the area of government regulations. New Mexico suffers from overregulation of its economy. These regulations increase economic costs to businesses and consumers alike and enrich well-connected special interests. The Rio Grande Foundation has compiled a list of regulations that should be eliminated or at least modified in ways that liberalize markets. Most of these regulations are economic in nature, but some of these regulations are simply silly and place unnecessary burdens on those looking to run for the Legislature (as one example). It is often said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. One area where this is true is in the area of government regulations. New Mexico suffers from overregulation of its economy. These regulations increase economic costs to businesses and consumers alike and enrich well-connected special interests. The Rio Grande Foundation has compiled a list of regulations that should be eliminated or at least modified in ways that liberalize markets. Most of these regulations are economic in nature, but some of these regulations are simply silly and place unnecessary burdens on those looking to run for the Legislature (as one example).
Notably, deregulation is not a partisan issue; at least it has not been during recent U.S. history. President Carter and Congress deregulated the airline, freight rail, and trucking industries, as well as the micro-brew industry that has spawned an entire new craft beer market in the last decade.4
Every day for the next several weeks, the Rio Grande Foundation will be E-mailing its "Burdensome Regulation of the Day." Our hope is that as we approach the 2013 legislative session, policymakers in Santa Fe and around the state – many of our proposals are not targeted at the Legislature – will consider addressing these issues in ways that make New Mexico more attractive to businesses and entrepreneurs while encouraging the spirit of free and open competition that has been so integral to the fabric of American life and economic growth.
Unlike so many other economic development schemes, these regulators issues can be addressed without any cost to taxpayers. If there are "costs" associated with demolishing these regulations, they come from removing privileges given by government to special interests. Those benefits will, in turn, accumulate to the population at large instead.
As mentioned in yesterday’s E-mail, President Jimmy Carter and Congress worked to deregulate several major industries during the late 1970s and early 1980s. These regulations set the table for the incredible economic growth of the 1980s and into the 1990s. As the following charts illustrate, deregulation produced significant benefits for consumers in terms of lower costs and increased options.
The following chart is from The Economist "High-Speed Railroading," July 22nd, 2010.
This chart is from Jonathan Chait and appeared in the The New Republic on August 5, 2010.
The following chart comes from Susan Carey and Scott McCartney and appeared in the Wall Street Journal on October 5, 2004.
As these charts clearly show, deregulation in a various industries has reduced consumer prices and increased competition in several major industries over the last three decades.
Watch Your E-mail Inbox Tomorrow For the Next Installment
See the links below for prior articles in this series.
It is a new year and another opportunity for New Mexico to turn over a new leaf by becoming a freer, more economically-prosperous place. We at the Rio Grande Foundation provide the intellectual ammunition policy makers need.
The latest policy area to cause us concern involves regulations right here in New Mexico. Some regulations may be necessary, but many regulations do nothing but protect well-connected special interests at the expense of consumers.
To publicize the negative impact regulations can have and explain what can be done to make New Mexico’s regulations work for consumers, not special-interests; we at the Rio Grande Foundation are going to send an E-mail every day starting tomorrow. These E-mails will explain:
How deregulation can spur competitiveness and economic growth.
That deregulation is not a partisan issue.
How some of New Mexico’s unnecessary regulations hinder our economy and thus make us all poorer.
What we can do to make regulations in New Mexico work FOR consumers and businesses rather than against them.
The Legislature start meeting in mid-January. It is important that if you find the ideas contained in these daily E-mails compelling and interesting that you share these ideas with your friends and family as well as your legislators.
Please forward this and subsequent E-mails to those who you think might be interested and encourage them to sign up for the Rio Grande Foundation’s E-mail list. Also, keep an eye out for media appearances relating to the need for regulatory reform.
For more information on this and other important economic issues to New Mexicans, check out our Website: www.riograndefoundation.org.
Recent press reports indicate that state workers are lobbying for higher pay. That’s no surprise because we all want higher pay.
The question that needs to be asked and perhaps studied is: “Is New Mexico government losing high-performing employees to the private sector or jobs in other states?” Surely the government has these data…
After all, we at the Rio Grande Foundation understand that governments don’t operate in anything resembling a competitive free market. Before blindly offering raises to government workers simply because “they deserve it,” policy makers should analyze whether the labor market is indicating that New Mexico government workers are indeed “underpaid.” Our past analysis indicates that government workers in New Mexico are both too plentiful and highly paid. Is that still the case?
As we approach the fiscal cliff with Obama simply unwilling to agree to any deal that doesn’t massively increase taxes (and Republicans unwilling to press the issue on spending), I see this story about an airport in New Hampshire that is basically giving flights to Boston away so that the airport can tap into $1 million of our tax dollars.
As Margaret Thatcher famously said, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” Unfortunately, with the printing presses revved up to full speed in Washington, we won’t realize we’re off the cliff (both fiscal and the overall economic cliff) until it is too late.
Every day that passes and we find out more about ObamaCare makes the law look worse and worse for average Americans. Soon, a series of major tax hikes resulting from the health care law will take effect.
But, as RGF scholar Deane Waldman points out in his new article at American Thinker, the law’s supporters have “drunk the Kool Aid” and will not be deterred.
Ballot Access Expert Richard Winger has cited New Mexico’s signature requirements along with Illinois, Massachusetts and New York as being among the most onerous in the nation.3 These regulations have repeatedly resulted in lawsuits against the state being filed by candidates of both major parties and third parties. The current ballot access laws are unwarrented and should be repealed. As long as the candidaye meets that Constitutional requirements (age, resident of the district, etc.) they should be allowed to run.
These certificates are significant barriers to entry leading to higher prices and fewer options for consumers. It is not unreasonable to lable this relationship a cartel, which benefits the few well-connected and protected businesses at the expense of everyone else. Arguably, this marriage between public regulators and private businesses creates a symbiotic relationship that continues to block competition as well as engender an environment ripe for corruption. Clearly, the success of Carter-era deregulations discussed in our "Day 2" E-mail could be brought to New Mexico.
Economically speaking, this is a form of price fixing which pushes out competitors who are willing to work for lower wages. The federal Davis-Bacon law (1931) is estimated to raise costs to taxpayers by 15 percent on federally funded projects.3 Additional legislation such as SB 33 only raises this cost, and arguably siphons money that could be used for other projects.
Texas: Currently, Texas lacks a single, centralized regulatory review process. There do exist individual legislative subcommittees, but these groups rarely use their authority to review rules. Overall, the situation in Texas is very similar to New Mexico.
Arizona: Arizona has what is known as the "Governor’s Regulatory Review Council" (GRRC) which does play a more active role in the review process than the state’s largely inactive legislative review committee. It appears that the GRRC, which is a slight improvement from New Mexico’s abject lack of controls, contains shortfalls as well, such as too narrow of distributional analysis (viewing small business impacts while ignoring public benefits etc.)
Colorado: Colorado has the "Department of Regulatory Agencies" which reviews proposed rules submitted by various agencies. The cost-benefit analyses are provided for public use which is certainly a plus concerning transparency. One issue that needs improvement is the State’s legislative review provisions which can "leave regulations in a state of limbo for up to a year"8.
Oklahoma: Oklahoma currently has both executive and legislative forms of regulatory review, but reviews often arrive too late during the rule making process and lack the analysis of benefits. The executive review process lacks transparency as well as consistency.
Utah: Utah has both the "Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget" as well as the legislature’s "Administrative Rules Review Committee" that work with agencies throughout the review process. Utah has also fared well concerning transparency due to the "Division of Administrative Rule" Website. Although the process is much more effective than New Mexico’s, Utah’s focus on compliance costs while neglecting benefits is an area that needs improvement.
