There has been a sustained effort by left wing New Mexico legislators, Common Cause, and New Mexico Indepth (to name just two). Last session’s tax hike failed (partially due to mistakes made by the bill sponsors), but the advocates are back again and they are pushing a massive 25 cent PER DRINK increase.

The following data are from the Tax Foundation.

For starters, NM’s $6.06 per-gallon tax on distilled spirits is ranked 24th-highest nationally.

New Mexico’s 41 cent per gallon tax on beer is ranked 15th-highest nationally

Finally, New Mexico’s tax on wine of $1.70 per gallon is 5th-highest nationally.

As we have discussed in this space the Rio Grande Foundation has been requesting public records from several state institutions regarding the existence of EV chargers. Here is information from NM Highlands.

How many total EV Charging stations are at Highlands University’s various  campuses?

The university only has one EV at this time, and it is located on the main campus. It is a level 1 unit (the slowest type).

What was the cost of each unit?

The unit cost was $11,181.47.

According to a records request received from NMSU: “New Mexico State University does not have EV charging stations installed on our main campus or branch campuses.”

The following opinion piece appeared in the Las Cruces Sun-News on January 6, 2024.

With yet another massive budget surplus awaiting the New Mexico Legislature as they convene in Santa Fe for the 2024 30-day legislative session, this column should rightly be replete with ideas for how the Gov. and Legislature can use that surplus to diversify the State’s economy and bring New Mexico out of poverty. Alas, if we learned nothing from last year’s 2023 session, it is that even at a time of surplus, the Legislature can still harm our economy.

As the Legislature convened last year with a $3.6 billion surplus, the tax “omnibus” bill included provisions that would have raised the personal income tax, “sin” taxes on alcohol and tobacco, and would have raised capital gains and corporate income taxes as well. All tax hikes must come from somewhere and they always come out of the pockets of businesses and consumers. Gov. Lujan Grisham (thankfully) vetoed the tax hikes contained in last year’s “omnibus” bill.

With another massive surplus this year all tax hikes should be dead on arrival. Ideally, Lujan Grisham would simply tell the Legislature that New Mexico state government has plenty of money and that it needs to diversify its economy, not make it harder for businesses and citizens to do business here.

While the concept of “do no harm” prevails in the medical profession, it should apply as well to New Mexico’s current economic situation. Advocacy groups are lining up to push “Paid Family Leave” legislation like last year’s SB 11. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque and passed the Senate only to be narrowly killed in the House.

As proposed, paid family leave legislation would require employees to pay $5 for every $1,000 of income and employers with five or more employees would pay $4 for every $1,000 of income into a paid family leave “trust fund” administered through the Department of Workforce Solutions. When taking paid leave, the employee who makes more than minimum wage would not receive their entire salary but a percentage of it.

The first issue is that concerns have been raised about the viability of this fund. The Legislature’s own Fiscal Impact Report cites “potential fund insolvency risk.” Of course, it is hard to predict how many workers would use paid leave each year, but solvency is likely to be a serious issue as we have seen in funds set up by the government (Medicare and Social Security come to mind but are hardly alone).

The biggest question that must be asked is why all New Mexico workers (and their employers) should be forced into paying for a one-size-fits-all paid family leave plan. If this is such a great idea, the State has more than enough money to fund such a scheme.

After all, while paid leave will benefit those who use it, to those who don’t (and their employers) it is nothing but a tax increase (or wage reduction). This comes at a time when wages have not kept up with the rate of inflation.

But, the State of New Mexico has plenty of money! The solution is simple, rather than imposing more economically harmful regulations on average New Mexicans, if the Legislature wishes to make paid leave benefits a priority, they should set aside a portion of the oil and gas surplus to do it.

I wish we were having more substantive discussions in New Mexico about how to use this amazing surplus to lower tax burdens and diversify our economy. Sadly, that’s not what is happening. But, at the very least when it comes to taxes and proposals like paid leave, at a barre minimum the Legislature should “do no harm.”

Paul Gessing is president of New Mexico’s Rio Grande Foundation. The Rio Grande Foundation is an independent, nonpartisan, tax-exempt research and educational organization dedicated to promoting prosperity for New Mexico based on principles of limited government, economic freedom and individual responsibility

In our ongoing efforts to shed light on issues relating to electric vehicles (EV) and EV charging stations at public facilities across New Mexico, here is the response from Western New Mexico University:

How many total EV charging stations are there at WNMU’s various campuses?

Western New Mexico University will have a total of four (4) EV charging stations at our Main Campus in Silver City, NM.  None of the chargers are operational at this time as final installation is set to be completed by this spring. There are no EV charging stations at any of our other sites.

What “level” are these stations (1, 2, or 3)?

The EV charging stations are level 3 (the fastest type).

What was the cost of each unit?

The cost of each unit, to include installation, is $101,682.91.  Of the project total cost ($406,731.64), $200,000 was covered by a donation from Freeport McMoRan.

With yet another mammoth budget surplus ($3.4 billion) facing New Mexico’s Legislature next week when it convenes for a 30 day session, there will be plenty of new spending. Sadly, neither the LFC nor the Gov.’s budgets  have any tax reductions/reform or even rebates.

The LFC is the slightly more reasonable budget with “only” a 5.9% annual increase. Unsurprisingly, MLG’s budget is more aggressive with a 10% annual increase.

Updated item: The LFC has $200 million for some kind of tax policy reforms and the Gov. has $500 million, but we have no idea what those set-asides will contain at this point. 

Since Lujan Grisham’s first term in office in 2018 (passing the FY 2019 budget) New Mexico’s budget has grown from $6.3 billion to (a proposed) $10.5 billion. That’s growth of 66.67% or 9% annually. During that time the State’s myriad “permanent” funds have grown dramatically, but taxpayers have received minimal tax relief and no significant reforms have been adopted.

The John Trever cartoon below highlights the situation nicely although Republicans have negligible power in the Legislature.

A coalition of environmental groups left-wing politicians is pushing for 245,000 acres in Luna County near Deming to be locked up as a “national monument.” Such a designation could negatively impact the livelihoods of thousands of local residents by severely limiting use of those lands.

Worse still, the process for declaration of national monuments allows the President of the United States to personally declare monuments with just a stroke of a pen. This is due to a broad interpretation of the Antiquities Act which was signed into law more than a century ago by President Teddy Roosevelt.

A group of local activists is distributing a petition against the monument via Change.org here. Please sign and share. All New Mexicans are welcome to add their names to the list of opponents.

On this week’s Tipping Point New Mexico interview Paul sits down with Donna Illerbrun, Superintendent of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe’s schools. Donna and Paul discuss the benefits of the Catholic education model, the shuttering of one school recently, New Mexico’s “birth dearth” and outmigration of families, and how the Legislature could leverage Catholic and other non-public schools to improve outcomes for New Mexico children and families.

Rio Grande Foundation president Paul Gessing took the opportunity to share his opposition (and the opposition of 750 signatories of our petition at KeepYourCarsNM) to the Gov.’s proposed regulations mandating costly EV chargers and “charger readiness” be added to new homes and commercial developments (including commercial ones) in New Mexico. 

The gist of Gessing’s remarks was that the proposed mandates are “one-size-fits-all” policy that will negatively impact those in rural areas and those that cannot afford to pay more for more expensive housing that complies with these regulations. EV’s may work for many who live in New Mexico’s big cities, but they don’t necessarily work in rural New Mexico and for those who drive long distances every day.

The CID Board will vote on the proposal in a few weeks. Sadly, a majority of those speaking were from environmental groups supporting the regulations.

We will post video once it is available.

Happy New Year! On this week’s conversation Paul and Wally discuss the holidays and some of their activities over the last few weeks.

The Gov.’s EV charger mandate will be heard by CID on Wednesday, January 3rd.

With all the subsidies for wind and solar, the State Land Office took in just 0.16% of its revenue from those sources. The State did generate record revenues from oil and gas, however.

The latest Census data offers mixed news for New Mexico. Paul and Wally share the details. 

Now for something different: NM historical ties to Ohio.

According to news reports the proposed merger between PNM and Avangrid has collapsed and will no longer take place.  The Rio Grande Foundation never took a position on the issue one way or the other (we’ll explain why here), but considering that PNM is by far the State’s biggest publicly traded company and given the ongoing push for “renewables,” this is momentous news.

Pros (why the merger would have been a good thing): Given the push for an “energy transition” Avangrid is likely better equipped from an expertise perspective to handle this.

Also, having an outside company invest in New Mexico represents a vote of confidence for the State’s economy and the ability to make money even in a heavily-regulated sector.

Cons (why the merger would have been negative):

Several stipulations within the agreement would have been nothing more than giveaways to various special interests (inevitably paid at taxpayer expense).

PNM will continue to be HQ’d and run locally with a focus on New Mexico.

In summary, there were arguments on both sides. RGF never saw a clear and convincing case that one side had a clear and convincing case based on free market principles. What do you think? Let us know in the comments. 

Major media outlets and some politicians question why Americans don’t like the economic conditions facing their families and the nation as a whole. While Biden correctly notes (albeit sneakily) that the inflation RATE is down, the fact is that under Biden (unlike Trump) overall WAGES have dropped and dropped rather significantly for ALL employees. This happens regardless of numerical wage increases when inflation outpaces wage gains.

Biden could easily solve this problem by reducing federal spending and putting a stop to the myriad new regulations coming out of Washington (and the states), but that would require a complete revision of his economic approach.

The chart above is from the Committee to Unleash Prosperity.

A lack of economic freedom (and dynamism) is among New Mexico’s defining characteristics. The latest (2023) edition of the Canada-based Fraser Institute’s “Index of Economic Freedom of North America” again places New Mexico in the “least free” quadrant.

In fact, after a modest improvement to 43rd in the 2022 edition of the Index, New Mexico slid back two spots to 45th overall.

This is no surprise to us at the Rio Grande Foundation as New Mexico is in the midst of a once-in-history oil and gas revenue boom. Sadly, rather than reducing tax burdens and working to grow New Mexico’s private sector, the Gov. and Legislature have mostly just grown the size of government.

Perhaps you missed it in all of the pre-Christmas shuffle and other news, but New Mexico’s Land Office recently announced its revenues for FY 2023 and, despite Commissioner Garcia-Richard’s general skepticism of oil and gas and support for so-called “renewables,” the Land Office generated a record-breaking $2.75 billion in revenues for the year with $2.66 billion of that total coming from the oil and gas industry.

Wind and solar provided a combined $4.4 million to the Land Office or 0.16% of the total. Whatever you think of the so-called “energy transition,” New Mexico is going to be MUCH poorer IF it happens.

We gave her a hard time about her to-say-the-least “aspirational” logo (below) a few years back.

We had heard a rumor that there were some faulty/malfunctioning EV charging stations on campus so we recently submitted a detailed request for public records relating to CNM’s EV charging stations. Here they are (along with CNM’s responses in bold):

1) How many functional EV charging stations does CNM have on its campuses and where are they located (distribution by campus)? CNM has 4 functional EV charging stations, all located on Main Campus.

2) Are there any non-functional EV charging stations at any of CNM’s various campuses (if so, where are they located)? No

3) What was the cost to install each charging station? $45,000

Based on the specs, these are “level 2” charging stations. RGF’s president recently had an opinion piece in the ABQ Journal in which he stated that the cost per EV charger was $18,000. It is hard to say why CNM’s are more expensive, but it is also worth noting that New Mexico is hardly the only state mandating and subsidizing EV’s. As that is done their price will inevitably rise.

Normally this space is dominated by political/policy news, analysis, and commentary, but this post is more of a discussion of interesting history quirks: specifically the unique relationship between New Mexico and Ohio. Full disclosure: RGF president Paul Gessing was born and raised in Cincinnati, OH but his family has ties to New Mexico dating back to WWII.

We at RGF are ALWAYS looking for patterns in the data so we don’t believe the unique ties between NM are by chance. Here are some of them:

1. New Mexico became a state in 1912 with the stroke of President William Howard Taft’s pen. Taft was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio.
2. Did you know that New Mexico has 5 counties named after presidents? Those presidents/counties are: McKinley, Grant, Harding, Lincoln, and Roosevelt. What may be most surprising is that all five of those presidents were Republicans (considering New Mexico’s deep “blue” Democratic Party voting history for nearly 100 years. But, for our purposes it is equally interesting that three of those five presidents (McKinley, Grant, and Harding) are Ohioans.
3. There aren’t many Albuquerque mayors of the distant past that have strong name ID in the City, but Clyde Tingley is likely the one. It helps that he was ALSO Governor during the New Deal which truly shaped New Mexico. Tingley was born in Ohio and his name adorns Tingley Beach, Tingley Hospital, and now a downtown hotel.
4. The Teapot Dome scandal (the Watergate of its time) involved Ohio-born President Harding and his New Mexico-born Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall. 
5. Ohio-born William T. Sherman (shortly after the Civil War) helped negotiate the 1868 Treaty with the Navajo that sent them back from the unsuitable Bosque Redondo in Eastern New Mexico and gave them the current Reservation northwestern New Mexico and other neighboring states.
6. NFL hall of fame quarterback and Dallas Cowboys great Roger Staubach was from Cincinnati, Ohio and played for Roswell’s New Mexico Military Institute before moving on to the Naval Academy.  

7. Sister Blandina Segale is currently up for sainthood in the Catholic Church. She was born in Italy, but came to Cincinnati, Ohio early in life and joined the Sisters of Charity. She worked throughout New Mexico and Southern Colorado during the late 1800s. You can find an excellent video extensively set in New Mexico done by a Cincinnati TV station here.

Are we missing any connections between New Mexico and and Ohio or other states?

On this week’s interview Paul sits down with 2022 New Mexico Republican candidate for Gov. Mark Ronchetti. Ronchetti and his wife Kristy currently create the No Doubt About It podcast, but Paul and Mark discuss the 2022 race, whether Republicans can win in New Mexico, and the impacts both the abortion issue and Donald Trump on his campaign. You don’t want to miss this episode!

RGF was in the ABQ Journal over the weekend discussing the Gov.’s proposed EV charger mandates and how New Mexicans can push back. 

In related news Paul did a request of CNM. They said each level 2 EV charging station cost $45,000.

LFC report says New Mexico’s welfare programs are ineffective despite spending $10 billion annually (they also find the best anti-poverty program is a job).

New Mexico will be blessed once again by a mind-blowing oil driven budget surplus, but the obsession continues over theoretical declines.

I recently sat down with KOAT to discuss IRB’s and their use for the soccer stadium. This is a good time to discuss Industrial Revenue Bonds.

A few reports have come out from the US Census Bureau which highlight New Mexico’s slow population growth (or even population declines) in recent years. It is important to understand this data for a few reasons:

1. While a lot of data highlights positive and negative economic and social trends, population growth or decline is the result of people actually moving. Thus, it shows what their actual preferences are.
2. New Mexico is in the American Southwest, the fastest growing area in the nation which means it should be compared against those states.
3. New Mexico is in the midst of an unprecedented oil and gas boom and has been for several years. This windfall could be used to make New Mexico a more attractive place for businesses and families. So far, that has not been done.

The good news is that unlike last year, New Mexico DID see a slight population uptick this year (of course none of New Mexico’s neighbors have had declines and some of them have been among the fastest growing states in the nation):

Looking at the data through a longer lens (April 1, 2020 through July 1, 2023) highlights New Mexico’s population challenges with the State experiencing a loss of 6,088 people. No neighboring state lost people over that time period. Shockingly, New Mexico saw states like West Virginia, Vermont, Kentucky, Maine, and Alabama grow, while it shrank.

Thanks to Phil Kerpen (an excellent follow on Twitter) for the information.

Industrial Revenue Bonds are one of New Mexico’s myriad economic development incentives. As as a far inferior option relative to reforming New Mexico’s tax and regulatory structure, there ARE worse economic development incentives (film subsidies come to mind).

What KOAT 7 wanted to know in this story is whether IRB’s are effective when used to subsidize development of a soccer stadium. The answer to that is “no.” To the extent that IRB’s are to be used (they technically don’t COST taxpayers money, but provide generous property and GRT breaks), they should be used to bring major businesses like Intel (discussed in the story) to our State.

Check it out below:

This week it was reported that New Mexico will indeed have a surplus (thanks largely to its booming oil and gas industry) of approximately $3.5 billion. The state is expected to generate a total of “$13 billion — exceeding annual spending obligations by one-third.”

As usual, the discussion that SHOULD be happening in Santa is over how to leverage this utterly unique opportunity for one of the “poorest” states in the nation to better diversify its economy and boost overall growth, but that seems to be a lost cause with Gov. MLG at the helm.

Instead we get statements like “By the end of the decade, oil income is likely to begin a long, steady decline, becoming a drag on revenue growth as global demand wanes.” Will oil and gas demand drop?

MLG and most other Democrats seem hell-bent on killing oil and gas, but despite more than a trillion dollars spent on “renewables” just since the Pandemic, demand for traditional energy sources continues to grow.

The International Energy Agency just raised its demand estimates for oil next year.

In what seems to be yet another power grab by the Lujan Grisham Administration (this time through the Public Education Department), regulations have been quietly put forth (with a public hearing scheduled for Monday, December 18 and a written comment deadline of 5pm that day).

RGF has two major concerns with the proposal that we addressed in our comments below: 1) a requirement of 180 days of school (as opposed to setting the number of hours in the classroom as is done now). This appears to be a direct attack on rural districts with four day school weeks.

The other is a seizure of power by the PED over accreditation of non-public schools in New Mexico. Information on the public hearing can be found at the link above (as well as the regulations themselves). You can submit comments by Monday at 5pm here: Rule.Feedback@ped.nm.gov

Our comments are below (please note the relevant code in your comments as per PED’s instructions).

I write today on behalf of the Rio Grande Foundation, New Mexico’s free market think tank, to express opposition to proposed rule changes being considered by the Public Education Department in two major areas: 6.10.5 NMAC, School Calendar Requirements and 6.81.2 NMAC, Requirements for Nonpublic Schools and for Public Education Department Accreditation.

On the issues of School calendar requirements, PED has proposed a requirement of 180 days of school. Simply put, there is no research supporting the idea that increasing the number of school days improves student outcomes. According to a 2018 report both Missouri and Kansas have had 4-day work weeks in place for dozens of rural communities.

A move (to four-day weeks) that originally began as a cost-saving measure has resulted in students having have 25 more instructional hours than before, and that’s brought a couple added bonuses.

“Our ACT scores have really shown some improvement. If there was anything, that’s one area we’re up. The first four years, up every year, and five out of the last seven, they’ve been increased,” said Lathrop School District superintendent Chris Fine.

Attendance has also improved for students and staff. According to one parent, “Mondays, we get all our doctor appointments in, orthodontist, so we don’t have to miss school ever. That’s my favorite thing.”

I shouldn’t have to remind you that New Mexico struggles badly with student absenteeism. The four-day week may not work for all districts, but it may work for some. There is no reason to eliminate it.

Secondly, I write in opposition to changes proposed for 6.81.2 NMAC, Requirements for Nonpublic Schools and for Public Education Department Accreditation

Requirements for Nonpublic Schools and for Public Education Department Accreditation. I am concerned about the dramatic changes to accreditation, annual reporting to PED, and to PED assuming authority to “observe the operations” of non-public schools. Considering the impact of these potential changes it is hard to understand why neither non-public schools, nor their accrediting bodies were notified about these changes. This alone raises serious questions about the fairness and transparency of the process.

Per 6.81.2.8 (D) NMAC, the only authority given to PED regarding nonpublic schools reads; “The Public Education Department maintains a list of all nonpublic schools in the state and the list must include the school’s name, mailing and email addresses, name of the Head Administrator, phone number, and accrediting entity.  Nonpublic schools accredited by educational accrediting agencies identified in rule, or since approved by the Division, shall be deemed to be acknowledged by the Department unless the accrediting entity’s accreditation status is suspended, limited, or terminated by the Department or unless the schools’ accreditation status is suspended, limited, or terminated by its own accrediting entity.

Currently, nonpublic schools are not regulated by the PED, which makes it unfair to impose rules and regulations through a rule making process that has not been well-publicized and was not done at the behest of the Legislature itself. In attempting to acquire authority to “observe the operations of non-public schools,” PED is overstepping its boundaries without any statutory oversight.

If PED were to allow tax dollars to follow students to the school of their choice, PED’s case for this significant increase in its own power would be more justifiable.

Paul Gessing
President
Rio Grande Foundation

On this week’s interview Paul sat down with Gabriella Hoffman. She recently spoke at an RGF luncheon on “Government’s Quiet Land Grab.” You can view her slides here. 

Gabriella is director of the Center for Energy and Conservation at Independent Women’s Forum. She is a freelance media strategist, award-winning writer, and Townhall.com political columnist. She hosts the District of Conservation podcast and CFACT original video series “Conservation Nation.”

Among other topics in our conversation is the recently-announced planned 245,000 acre monument in southern New Mexico which would put a large tract of land off limits to most uses.

 Learn more about her work at http://www.gabriellahoffman.com.

Gov. Lujan Grisham is pushing yet another mandate designed to foist electric vehicles on an unwilling population. This time she’s mandating that parking spaces be outfitted with expensive chargers or be outfitted with the electrical connections to enable the addition of those chargers. 

We’ve rebooted our KeepYourCarsNM.com campaign and are focused on this latest EV mandate. Act now because the deadline for this latest mandate is January 2nd.

We have pre-written responses on our website, but here is RGF president Paul Gessing’s letter to the Construction Industries Division on the topic (feel free to use all or part of this). You can send messages directly to Quindi.Otero@rld.nm.gov: