A recent post on this site address some ways in which, if he wanted to, President Biden COULD put additional economic pressure on Russia. People like New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich seem to believe that doubling down on unreliable energy sources is the solution to limiting Russia’s power.

Germany is constantly lauded for its “green” energy, and it has spent big to get there, but supposedly “cheap” renewables have resulted in Germany having the highest  electricity prices among major nations as seen below according to Statista. As seen below, electricity in Germany costs about 2.5 times what it does in the US.

And, when Heinrich and others make the argument that Germany’s efforts to “electrify” their grid will be enough to abandon fossil fuels, it is worth remembering that gasoline is not easily replaced in a car. Again, according to Statista, electric vehicles make up just over 1 percent of German vehicles.

One positive side-effect of the Russian invasion is that Germany is reconsidering its abandonment of fossil fuels. New Mexico would be well-served to do the same with regard to the Energy Transition Act.

The Rio Grande Foundation uses its “Freedom Index” vote tracking site to  hold New Mexico legislators accountable for their stances on individual freedom and personal liberty. We have rated all bills that impact individual freedom that received floor votes for the 2022 session and thus the current Index results are “final.”

Every bill receiving a score is rated on a scale from -8 through +8 depending on its overall impact on YOUR personal freedom. In the 2022 session the most impactful vote (-8) was on SB 14, the Clean Fuel Standard. A full analysis of that bill can be found here.

The BEST bill voted on this session was HB 163, that is the bill which includes several tax cuts (RGF analysis of that bill here). It received a +4 rating in the Index.

Rep. Stefani Lord (R) who represents parts of the East Mountains of Albuquerque scored a 45 which was the highest rating of the session.

Rep. Randall Pettigrew (R) who represents Lea County scored a 43 which was good for the 2nd-highest rating of the session.

Sen. Craig Brandt (R) who represents Rio Rancho scored 33 which was the highest rating for any senator (the Senate and House vote on different bills and the House typically takes more votes and thus has higher and lower scores).

Sen. Antoinette Sedillo-Lopez (D) who represents parts of Albuquerque scored -66 which was the lowest rating for any member of the Legislature.

Preface: I do not have cable television. According to global market research and public opinion specialist Ipsos, only 1 in 5 Millennials (19%) use cable TV, compared to nearly half of all Baby Boomers (49%). I fit right in with the rest of my generation. Because of this, I was oblivious to the New Mexico Department of Health’s reckless commercial spending until I received an anonymous tip.

Last week, a Rio Grande Foundation supporter expressed concerns that the NMDOH was running commercials on local television stations encouraging New Mexicans to get the COVID-19 vaccine. “Jane Doe” explicitly pointed to the repetitive nature of the commercials: sometimes they ran twice or more during the same commercial break.

After some digging, this version of the advertisement on NMDOH’s official YouTube channel was found. Confirming with Jane that this ad was indeed the same ad she had seen, an official request to inspect public records was submitted to DOH: how much money was spent on the production of the commercial and how much was spent on buying airtime?

“I am seeking to inspect each and every receipt for payments made by the New Mexico Department of Health for placement of these advertisements on any television network between January 1, 2021 and February 22, 2022.”

During the 14 month period from January 2021 to February 2022, NMDOH spent $20,074,331.01 on production and distribution of the commercial. 100% of these payments were made to Real Time Solutions, a self-described web based business solutions provider in Albuquerque.

13 separate invoices ranging from $319,473.48 to $3,372,899.06 were paid by NMDOH. All of the original invoices have been made available for you to inspect yourself.

A revised request was submitted this morning to include all spending between January 2020 and February 2022.

According to Investopedia, Oil and gas are responsible for more than 60% of Russia’s exports and provide more than 30% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). That’s a lot.

How can the US best push back against what amounts to a petro-state? Radical environmentalists seem to think that pushing EVEN harder toward “green” energy is realistic and will loosen Russia’s grip. Of course, countries like Germany that have gone down that path suffer from some of the highest electricity prices on the planet and even if 100% of electricity generation in Europe was “renewable” or even nuclear, McKibben fails to realize that oil is primarily used in transportation, not electricity generation. 

An alternative would be to bring down the price of Russia’s leading source of revenue to put pressure on their economy. This idea has the additional benefit of having worked in the past.

Here are some specific ideas that would have two salutary benefits: 1) Boosting the US economy/Relationship w/ Europe and 2) reducing global energy prices.

1. Move aggressively to open the Keystone XL pipeline;
2. Reopen federal lands to drilling and oil/natural gas exploration, including ANWR. Revoke Biden’s order banning oil/gas leases in the Outer Continental Shelf;
3. Aggressively work to eliminate unnecessary regulations on the US energy industry producers and refiners;
4. Work to bring new energy sources to Europe in an effort to replace Russian sources.

Of course, all of this has the ADDITIONAL benefit of benefiting New Mexico’s economy. As New Mexico Congresswoman Yvette Herrell recently wrote, the Biden Administration has dramatically slowed leasing on federal lands (an issue of special interest to New Mexico) in the wake of a judge’s ruling tossing out the moratorium on such leases.

HT: South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem

The following appeared in several newspapers in the wake of New Mexico’s 2022 legislative session including the Carlsbad Current-Argus on February 23, 2022.

The 2022 30-day legislative session could have been much worse. It is no secret that we at the Rio Grande Foundation have disagreed with most of Michelle Lujan Grisham’s major efforts as Governor. She surprised many of us in her State of the State speech when she proposed elimination of the Social Security tax in New Mexico.

After three years of ruling as a hard left “progressive,” the Governor’s change of tune heading into the 2022 session was notable. Is her move solely due to her impending reelection? We’ll never know, but it is a welcome shift.

The most notable good legislation that passed this session was the tax cuts (HB 163). Unfortunately, the Social Security tax was not completely eliminated, but it will no longer apply to a vast majority of taxpayers. As a bonus, military pensioners received a break on their pensions for at least the next 5 years.

The State gross receipts tax rate will be cut under the tax reform package (barring a drop in state revenues) and a small child tax credit was added. Finally, the Legislature acknowledged that gross receipts tax pyramiding on business-to-business service inputs is a problem, but they only addressed the issue for manufacturers.

These tax cuts, if fully enacted, will reduce tax revenues by $400 million or so annually, are dwarfed by the massive increase in government spending. Spending rose by $1 billion this year alone.

All of this is thanks (mostly) to the booming oil and gas industry which shows no sign of slowing down, but money being printed up in Washington also played a role. Of course, while the Gov. will tout the raises for government employees in general and teachers specifically, with the current rate of inflation, those raises won’t be as helpful to families’ bottom lines.

Numerous bad bills were considered during the session that (thankfully) died. Most notable among these was SB 14 the “Clean Fuel Standard.” While rising gas prices have contributed to the State’s budget surplus, for average New Mexicans high gas prices are just another sign of inflation. Given those high prices it was a shock that Lujan Grisham made it her mission to pass this legislation, which would have increased gas prices at the pump by 35 cents/gallon.

The bill became even more confusing when, in the waning days of the session, an amendment was added to keep the San Juan Generating Station coal fired plant in Farmington open through next summer. PNM which owns the plant is nervous that it won’t have enough electricity to keep the lights on when the plant closes in June to comply with Lujan Grisham’s 2019 “green new deal” legislation.

Thankfully, with only hours to go in the session, SB 14 died on a tie vote in the House.

Another bill that, thankfully, died was the so-called “election reform” bill. Starting out, this bill was SB 8 and it had straight party voting, a “permanent” absentee voter list, allowing 16 and 17 year olds to vote, and, most outrageously, a provision allowing mailed ballots to be collected as late as the Friday after the Election Day.

Through a series of amendments and changes the election reform bill became SB 144. It was still problematic due to the unnecessary loosening of voting rules, but it died on the Senate floor as time expired.

Plenty of bills never received a floor vote. The Democrat-dominated Legislature (again) failed to restore a seat at the table for itself in emergencies. On the positive side of things, Las Cruces Sen. Bill Soules’ absurd SB 204 which would have appropriated $1 billion as part of a down payment on a high-speed train from the border with Mexico to Colorado, went nowhere as well.

This session could have been a lot worse. But, a moderately-successful 30-day session with November’s elections staring the Gov. in the face does not an ideological shift make.

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

On this week’s podcast discussion Paul sits down with Rep. Stefani Lord to discuss the recently-completed New Mexico legislative session.

Stefani, a Republican, represents the East Mountains outside Albuquerque. She was the top performer in the Foundation’s Freedom Index vote tracking site during the 2022 session. Paul and Stefani discuss why she ran for the Legislature in the first place, some of the big news stories (not just legislation) of the session, and then address the most important legislative successes and failures of the recently-completed session.

If you want to understand what just happened in Santa Fe and how it impacts you, don’t miss this conversation!

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With the failure of legislation that would keep the San Juan Generating Station open in order to prevent rolling blackouts next summer, the Public Regulation Commission acted quickly to make sure PNM knows it is allowed to keep the San Juan Generating Station open through the heat of next summer. PNM says it will now close the plant on September 30, 2022.

That is good news for utility customers concerned about electricity outages next summer and for Gov. Lujan Grisham’s reelection chances, but it doesn’t solve New Mexico’s long-term electricity problems as the Energy Transition Act is implemented.

As the Albuquerque Journal noted in a recent editorial (and we have as well), the electricity reliability issue does NOT go away assuming we get through the coming summer.

So, we SHOULD be okay for 2022 and that is good news. At least MLG won’t be dealing with blackouts as she runs for reelection!

In the dynamic world of COVID, many assertions, especially those made by members of the media and public health officials have been proven VERY wrong. Milan Simonich writes a political column for the Santa Fe New Mexican. He is NOT a reporter, rather he has axes to grind and is not shy about grinding them.

Here is a column Simonich wrote back in April of 2020. In it, he praises Michelle Lujan Grisham and rips Florida’s Ron DeSantis and South Dakota’s Kristi Noem, both of whom, far from being “lazy” actually worked VERY hard to keep their states open despite tremendous pressure to bow to the media narrative and that of Dr. Fauci and lock down and/or mask kids in schools etc.

As you can see below that in World O Meters COVID data downloaded on February 22nd, 2022 (a few days after MLG dropped New Mexico’s mask mandate), Florida and South Dakota have outperformed New Mexico in terms of COVID deaths as a percent of the population (4th column from the right led by Georgia at 3,287).

“Laziness” and “respect for individual freedom” may be easily mistaken by those who believe government has all the answers when in reality, the “laziest” politician usually just follows the media narrative or the politically-expedient approach.

At long last, New Mexico’s mask mandate has finally been lifted. Most, but not all schools and school districts have also ended their mandates although UNM and CNM have not. Here are some things that STILL need to be done to restore freedom in New Mexico. The unions have also changed their position on masks while ALSO acknowledging that masking kids had a negative impact on learning.

While she will tout the amount of money she and the Legislature will spend on education, no amount of money can save MLG’s awful education track record.

Another Democrat lawmaker behaved badly recently. Rep. Georgene Louis was arrested for DUI and also facing charges of speeding and failing to show her vehicle registration and proof of insurance, according to jail records. House Speaker Egolf announced after the session that he is leaving the Legislature. His chief of staff will run for his seat.

Paul offers his take on the most important bills that passed or did not pass in the recently-completed session. SB 14 Clean Fuel Standard, SB 8 (SB 144), HB 6 (Net-Zero), HB 163 (tax cuts), and HB 132 (interest rate limit). Track how your legislators performed on the Rio Grande Foundation’s Freedom Index.  How did your legislators vote?

Finally, Paul and Wally discuss the numerous bills and developments regarding utility reliability in New Mexico. What happened during the session and what’s next? Will we have electricity in July and August?

After thirty-two months of litigation and negotiation, the Rio Grande Foundation is pleased to announce the settlement of the lawsuit related to Bernalillo County’s lack of transparency and openness. The actions of the county have proven to be antithetical to the principles of open government.

In 2019, Bernalillo County considered enacting the Employee Wellness Act which would require businesses with a physical presence and at least two employees in unincorporated parts of the county to provide at least one hour of paid leave for every 32 hours worked. This was to be voted on by the county commission during the summer of 2019.

The Rio Grande Foundation requested Bernalillo county voters submit feedback in opposition to the policy. In order to track the sentiment of the population, the Foundation submitted a request to inspect public records on June 21, 2019. The requested records were emails sent from the public related to the ordinance.

After repeated delays and inaction from the county, the Foundation filed a petition for a temporary restraining order against the Bernalillo County Commission to halt any further action on the pending ordinance. Judge James Noel denied the temporary restraining order but considered the case to compel the production of records.

Eventually the county produced some records, although the records were improperly redacted. The responsive documents included emails from residents of Albuquerque. However, the residents in favor of the ordinance had their email addresses redacted from the responsive documents while those against the ordinance were not redacted, presenting the county’s bias.

In September of 2020, Judge Victor Lopez ruled that the county’s redactions were correct but the delays were not. This decision was appealed to the New Mexico Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals ruled in the Foundation’s favor on issues of both timeliness and improper redactions in 2021, awarding the Foundation fines and fees in accordance with the Inspection of Public Records Act. The award included attorneys fees and a monetary settlement.

The Foundation’s President, Paul Gessing, applauded the decision: “This is a victory for transparency. Bernalillo County was clearly at fault in not providing timely access to public records. We are pleased that the Court of Appeals found in favor of the public’s right to know. We are hopeful that Bernalillo County adopts new policies and procedures to ensure that lawful requests to inspect public documents are promptly honored.”

The following quote is from this article in the Santa Fe New Mexican. It was published after Gov. MLG lifted the mask mandate. What is worse, the slavish adherence to whatever the Gov. decides in terms of masking policy (after months of supporting her) or finally acknowledging that there are negative impacts on student learning from not being able to see faces and read lips after months of remaining quiet on the issue.

The unions have never cared about your child and this is just the latest example.

Recently, an email was sent out to GOP delegates to the upcoming pre-primary convention that included a logo and various branding that closely-resembled that of the Rio Grande Foundation. The group was calling itself “Nuevo Rio Grande” and its website (since removed) was at: https://nuevonewmexico.com/.

This organization was NOT affiliated with the Rio Grande Foundation and we have asked the organization to rebrand their efforts (they are in the process of doing so).

February 17, 2022 was a great day in New Mexico as the legislative session ended with minimal harm (and even some success) and Gov. MLG FINALLY ended New Mexico’s statewide mask mandate. But, just because we (especially our children) at long last have facial freedom, doesn’t mean the work is done. Here are some tangible things that MUST be achieved:

1. School unmasking: As of Monday morning, Feb. 21, several districts have not decided whether to make masks optional in schools. At this time Santa Fe, Bernalillo, and Los Alamos are among the school districts still mandating masks. Here is a list of what some districts are doing, but there are many NOT listed. We know that UNM and CNM are also requiring masks still, but NMSU is NOT. It is up to parents and activists in those areas to push to make masks voluntary. We will assist in those efforts in any way we can.
2.  Businesses unmasking their employees:  One of the most notable aspects of mask policy is the way in which “the help” has often remained masked even while the customers (or in some cases rich celebrities) have not. While businesses have “the legal right” to impose mask mandates on their workers, the customers have the right to take their dollars elsewhere. And, more importantly, businesses tend to be very responsive to public pressure. Posting firm but factual messages on social media or sending messages to comment “mailboxes” can be a good way to encourage businesses to unmask their workers. Of course, in this tight job market workers can often put their own pressure on businesses to change their policies, but this will be a relatively long and painful effort. Consumers have the power to change businesses’ masking policies.
3. Ending the Emergency (and executive control of emergencies): Just because masks are “over” doesn’t mean the COVID “emergency” is. New Mexico has been in a COVID emergency since March 10, 2020. It is time to end that emergency, but only Gov. MLG can do that (unless she is unelected). And that is the rub. While bipartisan reform legislation has been filed repeatedly in the New Mexico Legislature to limit the duration of single-person power, the Democrats in the Legislature have not seen fit to seriously consider them. Addressing this issue is a top priority of the Rio Grande Foundation and we need political leaders including a governor and legislators who will address the issue.

After nearly two years of unscientific masking of people and especially our children, the Gov. has lifted the mask mandate. Follow up with the Public Education Department indicates that local school districts will have the final decision on masking kids. So, GET TO WORK parents and make sure that your children’s beautiful faces are uncovered at school.

Also, never forget this dark time in New Mexico history and help Rio Grande Foundation continue to work to restore balance in the State’s emergency laws.

The flood of “more money than they know what to do with” into the New Mexico budget set the stage for unprecedented government spending growth. And, that definitely happened with the budget growing by more than $1,000,000,000 in a single year.

But, it’s an election year and the Democrats who control the Legislature know that New Mexicans are feeling the pinch from high inflation (including the very gas prices that are fueling New Mexico’s spending growth). So, we got modest tax cuts this year totaling approximately $400 million in the form of HB 163.

While annual spending growth more than doubled the “cost” of tax cuts, there are some good tax reductions in this legislation. Here are the reductions. We’ve bolded the BEST reductions. Alas, the GRT reduction goes away if revenues drop by 5% or more from current, inflated levels.

The session did not eliminate the Social Security tax. True gross receipts tax reform in the form of eliminating taxes on business service inputs was not accomplished either, but there were some worthwhile tax cuts enacted this session.

SB 14, the Clean Fuel Standard, was one of the VERY worst bills in the 2022 legislative session. Here is a write-up on the bill that we did early on in the session which would have resulted in substantial increases in the price of gasoline. But, as if that were not enough, at the very last minute (a day before the session ended) a provision was added in the House Judiciary Committee to allow the San Juan Generating Station to operate through October of 2022 (instead of being shuttered in June).

As we discussed recently, the “rumor” that we had been hearing about extending the life of San Juan was very truthful. So, the Democrats on House Judiciary amended SB 14 to close the bill in October as opposed to June in order to get PNM past this summer (AND past MLG’s reelection) for the purpose of avoiding blackouts and brownouts. The idea was to ram the entire mess through before the end of Session (today, Thursday at 12).

Well, it appears to have failed in the House on a tie vote. Here is a picture of the vote. This will be one of the most important votes in our Freedom Index. How did your Representative vote? Thanks to Rep. Stefani Lord for posting this on her Facebook page.

Dem. State Rep. Georgene Louis was arrested for DUI and also facing charges of speeding and failing to show her vehicle registration and proof of insurance.

Super Bowl fans and celebrities attend the game (largely indoors) sans masks despite being in LA County. Kids in California (and New Mexico) continue to attend school in masks.

Numerous (blue) states continue to drop masks both indoors and in schools. New Mexico has not and will likely be among the last to do so. 

More coverage on PNM in New Mexico media. Where’s discussion on the Energy Transition Act? What will happen next?

The GOP introduced a bill to allow natural gas plants to be considered “renewable” and extend the life of San Juan. HB 220 Sierra Club opposed.

Have you noticed the sudden increase in gas prices? We have. Here’s how the Biden Administration has contributed and here’s what the Legislature is doing to increase them:

New Mexico’s AG Balderas signs NM onto anti-natural gas brief pushed by city of Berkeley, CA natural gas ban case.

As the 30-day Legislative session hurtles to a close, we discuss the dysfunctional Legislature and where things stand at this point.

Freedom Index votes are being tallied in real time at the Rio Grande Foundation’s website. How are your legislators voting?

The new City of Albuquerque Council is starting to discuss numerous important issues. Efforts are underway to repeal the plastic bag ban, reduce taxes, remove emergency powers, ban vaccine mandates.

Gov. Lujan Grisham made it a point to dramatically increase education spending this legislative session. She had plenty of money thanks to both federal bailout $$ and the booming oil and gas industry to increase teacher pay and spend more on K-12 education.

But nothing she can or will do can make up for her mismanagement of New Mexico schools during COVID. The worst decision she made was keeping New Mexico students out of school for so long. This is something that numerous health and education experts including prominent Dr. Jay Bhattacharya noted in the following tweet:

As you can see below from Burbio, New Mexico students lost more time in the classroom than students in all but a handful of (mostly heavily-populated, more broadband-connected) states.

This chart does not even include the loss of two cycles of student testing from 2020 and 2021 meaning that little data exists to show how far behind students are as a result of all this. According to the respected consulting firm McKinsey, poor and minority kids will be hit hardest by this loss of classroom time with the “AVERAGE K–12 student in the United States losing $61,000 to $82,000 in lifetime earnings (in constant 2020 dollars), or the equivalent of a year of full-time work, solely as a result of COVID-19–related learning losses.”

Considering that New Mexico students lost much more time than average, Lujan Grisham’s fateful decisions could have dire long-term impacts on New Mexico children.

Here is our letter as a PDF, but you can read the full letter below:

We write to you to express our opposition to H.B. 132, a bill that would impose a 36% rate cap on most consumer loans. New Mexico Republicans must stand united for consumer choice and access to credit. There has been a great deal of misinformation spread on the matter of interest rate caps, but little attention focused on what a rate cap would mean for the citizens of New Mexico.

Making small dollar loans more affordable for consumers is a goal we can all get behind, but this bill will eliminate consumer choice and hurt consumers. In other states with a 36% rate cap on small dollar loans, we’ve seen what happens: responsible lenders are forced out of the state taking jobs and financial opportunities with them. Workers and families that need credit to make ends meet some months are left with fewer choices – and less desirable ones at that.

The fact of the matter is 40% to 50% of New Mexicans have access to bank accounts, savings, credit cards, and lines of credit to draw upon to meet their financial needs.  But there are more than 500,000 New Mexicans, whether because they do not have bank accounts or due to subprime credit scores, who do not have access to any form of credit other than short-term installment loans.

It is an indisputable fact that financial institutions cannot make a small dollar loan at 36% and make a profit unless it for an amount of about $3000. The National Commission on Consumer Finance study confirmed it.[i] The CFPB’s Taskforce on Federal Consumer Financial Law report confirmed it. [ii] A Federal Reserve study on interest rate caps confirmed it.[iii]

But most customers don’t want or need a $3000 loan.  In New Mexico, more than 60% of small dollar loans are for less than $1000.

Credit unions in New Mexico claim they will “step up” to fill the vacuum in the wake of this legislation’s passage and offer small dollar loans. But New Mexico’s credit unions haven’t offered these small dollar loans to the subprime customers who will be impacted the most.

The president and CEO of the credit unions’ national association, Jim Nussle, has stated that rate caps will not work for his members. “[T]he establishment of a national all-in rate cap applicable to all creditors is an unproven one-size-fits-all policy, the consequences of which will likely include reduced access to credit from reputable lenders.” iv

State financial regulators in North Carolina and Georgia have reported real economic suffering in the wake of 36% rate cap impositions.v  Should you support this legislation you will be denying more than 500,000 of your fellow New Mexico citizens and constituents access to the only form of credit they have today.

There must be a more responsible way to approach this issue.

Conservative advocates agree. Oppose HB 132.

Respectfully,

Paul Gessing
President, Rio Grande Foundation

Carla Sonntag
President and Founder, New Mexico Business Coalition

Heather R. Higgins
CEO, Independent Women’s Voice

David Williams
President, Taxpayers Protection Alliance

Jeffrey Mazzella
President, Center for Individual Freedom

Matthew Kandrach
President, Consumer Action for a Strong Economy

Saulius “Saul” Anuzis
President, 60 Plus Association

Mario H. Lopez
President, Hispanic Leadership Fund

Stephen Pociask
President and CEO, American Consumer Institute

CC: All Members of the New Mexico Legislature

[i] National Commission on Consumer Finance. Consumer Credit in the United States. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1972.

[ii] Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Taskforce on Federal Consumer Financial Law [hereinafter CFPB Taskforce]. (2021, January). Taskforce on Federal Consumer Financial Law Report. Retrieved from https://www.consumerfinance.gov/documents/9449/cfpb_taskforce-federal-consumer-financial-law_report-volume-1_2021-01.pdf..

[iii] Chen, L., Elliehausen, G. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (2020, August). The Cost Structure of Consumer Finance Companies and Its Implications for Interest Rates: Evidence from the Federal Reserve Board’s 2015 Survey of Finance Companies. Retrieved from https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/the-cost-structure-of-consumer-finance-companies-and-its-implications-for-interest-rates-20200812.htm.

iv Credit Union National Association. (2021, July 15). Proposed ‘all-in’ rate cap would reduce access to credit. Retrieved from https:// news.cuna.org/articles/119673-proposed-all-in-rate-cap-would-reduce-access-to-credit.

v North Carolina Office of the Commissioner of Banks (2018). Consumer Finance Annual Report. Retrieved from https://www.nccob.gov/Public/docs/News/Pub%20And%20Research/2018_Annual_Report_Final.pdf.

For many years now the Rio Grande Foundation has tracked floor votes made by individual members of the Legislature. Every vote taken has a score ranging from -8 for the most anti-freedom bills to +8 for the most pro-freedom bills.

You can access the Index here. It is updated every day as bills are analyzed and votes are taken. You can also click on the image below which offers a representation of how the page looks and the information you might find about individual members and their votes.

This afternoon at Albuquerque City Council, a bill  O-22-3 , will be discussed at the Albuquerque City Council Finance & Government Operations (FGO) Committee meeting. If adopted, the ordinance would repeal the City’s ban on plastic bags.  The meeting is today, February 14^th at 3:00 PM (agenda attached).  

You can help repeal the City’s absurd ban on plastic bags. SUPPORT O-22-3 by click here  to contact City Councilors directly; to speak at Monday’s FGO meeting or submit your written public comments, click  here.

It is time to restore bag freedom in Albuquerque.

TAX CUT 0-22-1

This ordinance introduced by Councilor Lewis Repeals 2018 Council Bill No. 0-18-9 which imposed a 3/8 percent gross receipts tax  (Sponsored by Councilor Lewis)

It is scheduled to be heard in the Finance and Government Operations Committee today (Feb 14) at 3pm

• Committee Sub rescinds 1/8 of a percent of the tax

• Reduces GRT tax by $20 million dollars annually

• Designates remaining ¼ cent tax to public safety ($29 million) and homelessness ($18 million) with a 5-year sunset

• Click here  to contact City Councilors directly

REPEALING EMERGENCY POWERS

0-22-2 (Lewis) Updating the Civil Emergency Powers Ordinance relating to public health orders

• Scheduled for Finance Committee Feb 14, 3pm

• Removes the mayor’s ability to order shutting down city streets, mass assemblies such as churches, closing of private businesses, and other declarations related to public health emergencies.

• Gives the mayor the ability to advise and make recommendations but not orders.

• Click here  to contact City Councilors directly

PROHIBITING VACCINES

R-22-2 (Lewis) Amending the Declaration of Local Emergency due to Novel Coronavirus COVID-19 to ban vaccine requirements for city employees; setting policy for future declarations

• Scheduled for Finance Committee Feb 14, 3pm

• Prohibits the city from mandating COVID-19 vaccines to city employees

  • Click here  to contact City Councilors directly

The following is a chart from Gasbuddy.com. Since right before Joe Biden took office a little over a year ago, prices have been rising rather quickly. Of course, prices really started to go up AFTER he took office. Here is a list of 25 ways in which Biden’s policies have contributed to those higher prices.

As if that isn’t bad enough, the New Mexico Legislature is considering SB 14 and HB 6, both of which will dramatically increase gas prices. SB 14, the “Clean Fuel Standard, would increase gas prices by 35 cents a gallon or more. It remains very much alive in the 2022 session.

The oil and gas industries are markets and prices vary in markets, but when government gets involved, prices go up.

The Rio Grande Foundation has firmly and repeatedly pushed back against the organized efforts of radical environmentalists and their left-wing politician allies (like Sen. Martin Heinrich) to get rid of natural gas for heating and cooking in peoples’ homes.

But Heinrich was recently joined in his opposition to natural gas in the home by left-wing New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas. How so? Balderas just signed the State of New Mexico on to an Amicus brief in support of the City of Berkeley, California in its case against the California Restaurant Association which is suing in opposition to the ban on natural gas which also applies to businesses.

Berkeley was the first city in the U.S. to approve such a law, when its City Council unanimously agreed in July 2019 to prohibit natural gas infrastructure (such as gas hookups) in any new buildings that applied for permits after Jan. 1, 2020.

Despite “representing” one of the most important natural gas producing states in the nation here in New Mexico, Balderas saw fit to sign on in support of Berkeley. Whether you are just a New Mexican who benefits from the money natural gas benefits for the State of New Mexico or whether you heat your home or cook with natural gas, Balderas represents radical environmental groups, not you.

On this week’s podcast conversation Paul discusses New Mexico’s election system with former Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones. During her tenure in the Legislature Arnold-Jones was known for her work on government transparency. She has been working hard to educate voters on SB 6 and SB 8, two election bills moving forward in the current legislative session. While concerned about SB 6, Arnold-Jones has dire concerns about SB 8. Paul and Janice discuss both as well as the current state of New Mexico’s election law.