Since the days of the Richardson Administration the Rio Grande Foundation has opposed the State’s film subsidies. Under Bill Richardson the subsidy was 25% of film expenses (thus Hollywood could receive up to 25% of the costs of operating in New Mexico).

That spending was capped under Susana Martinez at $50 million in annual spending. But, when MLG was elected she immediately cut Hollywood a check for $300 million and (along with the Legislature) expanded the subsidy program up to 40% of film expenses.

Now, due to a collapsing film industry (filming in New Mexico has fallen from $740 million annually down to $323 million from July 2024 to June 2025) the owners of Santa Fe Studios are looking to sell. 

Sadly, while New Mexico will actually save money due to the decline in Hollywood filming with the massive subsidy, Santa Fe studios received subsidies above and beyond the State’s 40% credit. According to the Santa Fe New Mexican, the “Studios received a $10 million grant…from the state, and (Santa Fe) County kicked in another $3.6 million worth of infrastructure improvements for the project. It also is guaranteeing $6.5 million worth of a $10 million loan the studio’s principals secured from Los Alamos National Bank.”

That’s in addition to a $22 million Industrial Revenue Bond (IRB) which exempted the facility from property taxes.

That’s a lot of money. But, New Mexico continues to pump money into other film-related programs like $40 million for the Next Generation Media Academy and millions of additional dollars supporting various film programs through the corporate welfare “LEDA” program.

Industry insiders question whether the Industry will ever recover or whether this is a “new normal” for the Industry. Only time will tell. But, rather than going all out to attract one industry, New Mexico’s political leaders should be focused on making the State an attractive destination for businesses of all kinds with low taxes and reasonable regulations.

I was not at the recent presentation by University of New Mexico Professor Manuel Montoya, but the article in the Albuquerque Journal makes it sound like Montoya is off his rocker. He compares New Mexico to the “BRICS” group of so-called “emerging” nations. (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.” But Montoya actually thinks New Mexico is MORE similar to an even more nascently emerging group of nations: Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey (he calls them MINT).

In summary, Montoya claims, ““Frankly, (New Mexico) looks, acts and thinks like the emerging economies that by the end of this century are going to become (epicenters) of the world economy.”

Say what? In 75 years (by the end of this century) New Mexico and these other nations are going to be epicenters of the world economy? Based on? Neither the BRICS nor MINT nations (nor New Mexico) are particularly fast-growing based on population numbers. Nor are their economies growing especially quickly (India and China are).

Nor are these countries (or New Mexico) adopting free market policies (like Argentina as an example).

Ultimately, COULD New Mexico “emerge” like some of these countries? Sure, we believe New Mexico has massive potential, but (like Argentina) has been held back for decades by bad public policy. Currently, New Mexico shows no signs of embracing economic policies that will generate that economic growth. In fact, New Mexico is in the process of missing out on a transformative economic boom thanks to politicians’ failure to use massive growth in oil and gas revenues to diversify and grow the State economy.

Could New Mexico still “emerge?” Of course. But, like the BRICS and MINT nations such emergence will have to come from significant economic changes.  As the Rio Grande Foundation found recently neither New Mexico’s population growth or GDP growth are on a particularly positive trajectory. 

PS: we plan to reach out to Professor Montoya to see if he’ll come on Tipping Point NM.

On the latest Tipping Point NM Paul talks to Carter Swanson. Carter has been an intern with the Rio Grande Foundation for over a year. He is heading to Australia to study abroad. Paul and Carter discuss what “the kids” in New Mexico think of free markets and freedom, his educational and career aspirations, and more. If you are concerned about the next generation this episode may alleviate your concerns!

There are several issues with this KOB 4 story which seems to imply that things are getting better on Central Ave. in Albuquerque. But let’s start with the treatment of the group Together for Brothers as if they are some kind of experts on how to improve East Central. This group actually led the way in creating the “free” city bus system which in turn led to a decline in safety and the need to hire more security on buses (covered recently by none other than KOB). 

Why does KOB give extensive airtime to this group even though their single policy achievement is a failure? Good question. More importantly, while they accurately note that Albuquerque is the second-deadliest city in the country for pedestrians and that East Central is a big part of that problem, the situation is not going to change with a “road diet” (which will make driving on East Central more difficult and shift traffic elsewhere) or more and better crosswalks. The problem is too many drug addled and homeless who throw caution to the wind when walking on and around Central.

Of course, the Keller Administration and New Mexico’s politicians have a long track record of throwing money at problems when the issue has nothing to do with money or the latest big government project. You can bet this will wind up as another costly mistake on Central.

In 2023 and against the wishes of most conservatives (including the Rio Grande Foundation) New Mexico’s Democrat-controlled Legislature passed “automatic voter registration.” The new system under which people are registered when they head to the DMV or deal with nearly any other government agency (like signing up for SNAP) took effect on July 1, 2025.

Here is the experience of one RGF friend:

I needed to renew my driver’s license yesterday so I went to my normal vendor on 4th street.  It was a simple renewal, new pic, eye test, but at the end of the process I was required to register to vote – I saw no option to opt out, I didn’t see a button that said “no thanks, already registered”.  I even queried the employee and said, I’m already registered, why must I fill all this out?  She didn’t have an answer.

The process is all on-line and you sign the vertical screen with your finger – good luck matching signatures with that system down the line.

So, presumably, I’m now registered as a voter twice.

This could be solved with a “No thanks, I’m already registered” button, but if it was there, I missed it.  I really don’t think I had an option…

So, existing inaccuracies in New Mexico’s voter rolls will be worsened as already registered voters may be registered under duplicate names or with slight variances in their names and addresses…and to what end? So a bunch of people who can’t be bothered to register to vote will be registered whether they want to or not.

On this week’s Tipping Point NM conversation Paul and Wally discuss:

New Mexico’s impending demographic disaster.

State Sen. Harold Pope is running for Lt. Gov., but all he can talk about is Trump.

Surprising absolutely no one, a Wallethub report finds New Mexico dead last in education.

Trump cancels $4 billion in federal funding for CA high speed rail.

RIP Ed Fuelner of Heritage Foundation.

Paul discusses his family vacation to DC, Philly, and NYC.

The Rio Grande Foundation is pleased to announce that we have received a completed candidate survey from Christopher Sedillo. Sedillo is running for Albuquerque City Council in District 3 which is currently occupied by Klarissa Peña.

You can find Christopher Sedillo‘s survey. It is also embedded in the post below:

A few years ago the Rio Grande Foundation filed an ethics complaint (you can read it here) with the New Mexico Ethics Commission regarding campaign finance concerns over documents linked her to a nonprofit once led by convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, longtime associate of Jeffrey Epstein. RGF had received an anonymous tip that Stansbury was involved in TerraMar Project, a now-defunct nonprofit founded and led by Maxwell. Our hope at the time was that an investigation would be undertaken by the Commission to understand what involvement Stansbury had (if any) with Epstein and Maxwell. Sadly, no such investigation ever took place and allegations relating to Stansbury have swirled since shortly after she was elected to Congress.

Recently, with so much attention focused on the “Epstein list” and other issues relating to the case the Pinon Post wrote a piece citing RGF’s ethics complaint and Daniel Chacon of the Santa Fe New Mexican wrote a story for which we provided public comment. Both stories are worth a read if you are and they include comments from Stansbury as well. What is the truth? We may never find out.

But, as John Block notes in his Pinon Post article:

Only after the Rio Grande Foundation filed a public complaint linking the disclosure to Maxwell did Stansbury amend her form. On April 21, 2021, she quietly changed it to say “Terramar Consulting Group – Santa Fe, NM.” Then, in a 2022 disclosure, she listed a third variation: “Terramar, Inc.,” another Santa Fe entity, which had been incorporated and dissolved by Cristina Mormorunni — behind the “Terramar” entity in Santa Fe — and campaign donor to Stansbury.

The following appeared in Eastern New Mexico News and other outlets throughout July of 2025.

If you haven’t heard already, over the 4th of July weekend, President Trump signed the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” (BBB) into law. Setting aside the merits and demerits of the legislation, you have to hand it to President Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson for achieving the President’s goal of signing the bill by July 4.

Considering the complexity of the bill and the narrow majorities held by Republicans (with implacable opposition from Democrats), there was not much wiggle room for compromise or lost Republican votes. Needless to say, New Mexico’s hyper-“progressive” delegation universally opposed the bill, but so did Trump’s erstwhile ally Elon Musk and libertarian leading Kentuckians Sen. Rand Paul and Rep. Thomas Massie (both Republicans).

Paul and Massie voted in opposition to the plan due to insufficient spending reduction and the potential of the plan to increase the federal debt.

New Mexico Gov. Lujan Grisham and the entire Congressional delegation also unsurprisingly opposed the BBB. They didn’t oppose it for reasons of fiscal restraint. Rather, they opposed the bill because it cuts taxes and eliminates subsidies for so-called “green” energy and Medicaid.

Lujan Grisham called the bill “an abomination.” Rep. Vasquez said “It’s gonna devastate New Mexico’s health care system.” Other reports claim that the reductions to Medicaid spending growth could shutter half a dozen hospitals in the state.

In reality, the BBB doesn’t actually cut Medicaid. According to health care expert Michael Cannon, it slows federal Medicaid spending growth from an annual rate of 4.5 percent to 2.7 percent. It does this by eliminating some widely recognized gimmicks like provider taxes that both Joe Biden and the Obama Administration opposed. The new law also imposes enhanced work (including education and job training) requirements for Medicaid and SNAP (food stamp) recipients.

Whatever the impact of these plans, the fact is that Medicaid is long-overdue for reform. If New Mexico policymakers truly wish to keep these benefits flowing, they have every tool available to keep them in place.

Not only does New Mexico have a mind-blowing $61billion in various “savings” accounts. Just last year the Legislature created a new $2 billion “Medicaid Trust Fund” for the express purpose of shielding New Mexico’s Medicaid program from prospective cuts.

The Rio Grande Foundation opposed this legislation (SB 88). That’s because we believe New Mexico’s massive “savings” should be returned to the taxpayers to diversify the State’s struggling non-oil-and-gas private sector economy.

But, if the Legislature and Gov. want to restore federal spending cuts, they can certainly afford to do it. Federal welfare programs like Medicaid are found nowhere in the US Constitution. More importantly, as designed, Medicaid’s incentive structure is all wrong. It incentivizes states to game the system to bring in more federal money and disincentivizes recipients from seeking gainful employment and higher pay (lest they lose their benefits). New Mexico’s heavy dependency on Medicaid is also a major factor in New Mexico’s health care provider shortage.

Even the overall health impacts of Medicaid are inconclusive at best. A June 25, 2025, headline from the liberal online news Source New Mexico stated, “New Mexico health outcomes fail to improve despite massive spending increases.” That is based on recent data from the Legislative Finance Committee. Those increases were largely thanks to Medicaid and they highlight the program’s questionable impact on patient outcomes.

Whatever the future holds for Medicaid and health care spending in New Mexico more broadly, the State has the resources to either continue existing programs or even improve upon the current situation. It’s time to stop whining and use our own considerable resources for the benefit of New Mexicans.

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.

As night follows day and the seasons change you can just about set your clock to the fact that New Mexico’s K-12 schools are as bad as they come in the United States. Yet another data point can be found in the latest Wallethub report “States with the Best and Worst School Systems.” New Mexico comes in at 51st overall.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the report is the following chart which shows New Mexico to have the worst schools in the nation but ranked 29th in spending per pupil.

One can certainly argue about the specific methodology of the report, but when your dropout rate and median SAT scores are tied for dead last and your Math and Reading scores ARE dead last, it is pretty easy to see that your school system needs quite a bit of work. While improvements take some time, the fact is that New Mexico has had numerous opportunities to improve its schools. The latest is the Trump tax credit for school choice contained in the Big Beautiful Bill. Will New Mexico Democrats embrace that credit or continue to reject opportunities to improve New Mexico’s education system? We’ll be watching.

One argument that I occasionally hear about New Mexico’s manifestly failed public policies is that voters don’t want the State to grow too fast and take on attributes associated with places like Phoenix or Denver (crowding, traffic, outsiders moving there). That argument doesn’t hold water (of course) because New Mexico suffers from worse social and economic outcomes than ANY of our neighbors thanks in large part to the failed policies our elected officials have implemented over many decades (but especially recently).

However, the BIGGEST SINGLE THREAT TO NEW MEXICO is the loss of our young people. Check out the following chart from Wire Points Illinois. The chart shows the growth or decline of people 18 years of age and under in certain US states between 2020 and 2024. You can see the chart below. As can be seen, New Mexico saw the 2nd-biggest decline in its youth population during the time period.

Ultimately, we recommend that New Mexico politicians and those running for office highlight this demographic decline and its implications for the future. Of course a powerful question to prospective voters could be: If you want your kids and grandkids to remain in New Mexico we need to provide them good jobs and diverse economic opportunities and a functional education system. This is clearly not currently the case and it is the failed policies of those who have run New Mexico for decades who have failed us.

Noteworthy as well are the low tax, reasonable regulation states that see tremendous growth in their younger populations. Four of the top-ten have no personal income tax and are also “right to work” states.

There are many factors that make Gallup a unique place to do business.  Paul visits with Bill Lee of the Gallup Chamber of Commerce about the challenges and opportunities that businesses face.

We are pleased to announce that Albuquerque mayoral candidate (former Bernalillo County Sheriff and former Secretary of the New Mexico Department of Public Safety) Darren White, has completed and submitted the Rio Grande Foundation’s mayoral candidate survey. You can find that survey embedded below and linked to here. 

You can also find White’s campaign website here. 

Harold Pope is one of the most left-wing members of New Mexico’s VERY left wing Legislature. He tied left-wing Antoinette Sedillo Lopez with a -163 Freedom Index score in the 2025 session. It won’t surprise any of readers to know that he’s not our favorite legislator in Santa Fe even though he DOES “represent” RGF’s president (who resides on Albuquerque’s West Side) in the Legislature.

That said, we have plenty of disagreements with plenty of legislators and we don’t write posts about them in this space. So, what’d Pope do? Check out this opinion piece he wrote in the Albuquerque Journal. It is a lengthy diatribe about Trump and the recently-passed/signed Big Beautiful Bill. None of his critiques (like those of New Mexico’s other Democrat politicians) are especially insightful or unique.

In fact, the major difference is that Pope is a state legislator (Senator) and he happens to be running for Lt. Gov. Does he have any solutions (or tout any state-level successes?) No. Rather, we get just another leftist ranting about policies he has no control over and isn’t even running to change.

Pope is running against Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard in the Democrat primary for Lt. Gov., a position that has had very little impact in New Mexico dating back decades. Will Pope (or Garcia Richard) campaign on their accomplishments and New Mexico’s needs for this state-level position? Only time will tell.

The latest from Channel 13 KRQE reports on some of the massive increases in commercial real estate property taxes. Lance Sigman owner of Allen Sigman Real Estate Group reports a 76% increase in the values of our commercial properties.

According to Rhiannon Samuel, Executive Director of NAIOP New Mexico, “There’s a lot of folks who are deeply concerned and frustrated when they get a letter that says their property has gone up 704%.

We talked to commercial real estate developer Doug Peterson about spiraling property tax assessments on a few recent episodes of Tipping Point NM as well. 

Residential property taxes also have their issues as this RGF supporter shared (he attempted to challenge his tax assessment). 

Recently, a friend of RGF emailed Bernalillo County Assessor to better understand how New Mexico’s property tax system works. Here’s his reply:

Clearly, if this is the case, New Mexico’s property tax structure is in need of reform (like the rest of our tax structure). And this doesn’t even touch all of the special “inducements” like Industrial Revenue Bonds (IRB’s) which are a massive property tax break, TIF’s, and other exemptions that impact property taxes.

New Mexico is low (34th in property tax burdens) according to the Tax Foundation. But that doesn’t mean the system works well or is fair to taxpayers.

According to CNBC’s “Best States for Business” 2025 report New Mexico is among worst states. That’s troubling, but what is really concerning is how fast it has fallen in the report over the past decade.

The US Supreme Court lets Trump fire Education Department employees. Is it finally the end for USDOE?

The recent Ruidoso flooding is yet another blow to one of New Mexico’s prettiest communities. Paul and Wally discuss.

Santa Fe tops Travel & Leisure list. Wally and Paul explain why Santa Fe performs well on tourism lists, but not in the data WE care about.

A recent KRQE story covers problems with the commercial real estate valuation situation. Paul also has received information from a residential property owner who recently challenged his property taxes.

Albuquerque is working to increase bus safety while the situation has deteriorated thanks largely to the “free” bus program. 

The Rio Grande Foundation is always on the lookout for interesting ways of ranking the State among the 50 US states when it comes to the economy, education system, and other social metrics. Sometimes we disagree with the measuring stick used, but we always look to explain the issue with each rating.

To that end CNBC recently published its “Best States for Business” Rankings for 2025. Not surprisingly the index ranked us 44th. Variables included (with New Mexico’s ranking in parentheses): Economy (46th), Infrastructure (29th), Workforce (31st), Cost of Doing Business (23rd), Business Friendliness (39th), Quality of Life (33rd), and Technology and Innovation (35th). New Mexico’s best ranking was 23rd for Cost of Doing Business and 46th on Economy. Check out the screen shot below.

But, this is a report that has been published for many years. We were curious what New Mexico’s performance looked like over time. So, we went back a decade to the 2015 version of the same report. This would be during the Susana Martinez Administration. The results were shocking. The categories then (along with New Mexico’s rankings) were Workforce (16th), Cost of Doing Business (23rd), Infrastructure (5th), Economy (24th), Quality of Life (24), and Technology Innovation (38th).

So, if you’re keeping score at home, in addition to dropping from 24th to 44th overall, we dropped from 24th to 46th on the Economy, Infrastructure fell from 5th to 29th, and Quality of life went from 24th to 33rd. Needless to say, things have gone in the wrong direction in this report over the last decade of MLG’s term and a more “progressive” Legislature.

On this week’s interview Paul talks to Connor Boyak. Connor is founder and president of the Utah-based state think tank Libertas Institute (now the Libertas Network). Though Libertas works on a wide variety of issues Connor is the author of dozens of books and  targeted at bringing the ideas of liberty to the next generation. These, particularly the Tuttle Twins series, have been extremely popular including with Paul’s own daughters. Conner and Paul discuss these and other ways to reach the youth and ensure that the ideas of liberty do not die with the current generation. Check out this important discussion!

In its ongoing efforts to ensure that voters are fully informed about the views and plans of the various candidates for Albuquerque Mayor.

The latest candidate to respond is Eddie Varela. His survey can be found here. Varela’s campaign website can be accessed here.

You can also see images of Varela’s survey answers below:

On this week’s Tipping Point NM conversation Paul is on vacation in the Washington, DC area with his family, but Paul and Wally discuss the recent passage of the Big Beautiful Bill and what it really means for New Mexicans. They also discuss the broader policies contained in the bill especially the many conservative policy successes.

Of course, environmental groups and the wind/solar lobby are upset about eliminating green subsidies. But they also claim to be the cheapest source of electricity. Paul and Wally discuss the reality of the situation.

MLG and other New Mexico Democrats are upset about the BBB passing, but they just sent $2 billion out of state.:

According to Forbes a solar magnate (not oil and gas titan) is once again New Mexico’s richest person and only billionaire ever.

An incredible opinion piece from ABQ Journal highlights NM’s education problems.

Among the MANY provisions contained in the “Big Beautiful Bill” is one that allows to claim tax credits for up to $1,700 annually for donations to Scholarship Granting Organizations (SGOs). These organizations provide scholarships that can be used for tuition, transportation, school supplies, and other educational expenses.

That is a big win for school choice that encourages donations to nonprofits that help families pay for private or alternative K-12 education. But, in a compromise, states will be able to opt in or out of the program. The question inevitably arises, will New Mexico join the program?

According to the plan’s lead legislative advocated Sen. Ted Cruz, “This tax credit provision will unleash billions of dollars every single year for scholarships for kids to attend the K-12 school of their choice.”

Under the bill, the credit is permanently written into the tax code with no expiration date or national cap on donations. Families earning up to 300% of their area’s median income are eligible to receive scholarships.

All 50 states could adopt the program immediately if the bill becomes law, but each state must choose to opt in. Currently, 35 states operate similar scholarship programs.

To qualify, SGOs must be 501(c)(3) nonprofits — not private foundations — and must award scholarships to at least 10 students attending different schools. They must dedicate at least 90% of donated funds to scholarships, keep eligible donations in separate accounts, and prohibit donors from earmarking funds for specific students.

With New Mexico’s education system objectively failing to educate our children one would think that the State’s politicians and interest groups would be thrilled with passage of this plan (whether they support the BBB or not). We shall see whether New Mexico opts in under MLG or whether we have to wait and hope for the next governor to act.

New Mexico’s richest person isn’t very rich compared to the richest in several other states. In fact, it is somewhat more difficult to be rich in a state that has so few publicly traded companies (3 at last count) and is generally hostile to business. But, one might at least think that with New Mexico in the midst of an unprecedented oil and gas boom that the richest person in the State might be from that industry.

You’d be wrong. According to Forbes, Ron Corio of Array Solar is not only New Mexico’s richest person, he’s also the State’s first-ever billionaire. You can find the full list here.

Considering the hostility of so many New Mexico elected leaders to earned wealth you probably haven’t heard them say anything about Corio as he is in a “favored” industry. Will the solar marketplace survive the elimination of so many of its subsidies thanks to the Trump Administration’s (and Congress’) Big Beautiful Bill (and Trump’s additional Executive Order)?

Only time will tell. Solar electricity isn’t going anywhere. There IS a market for it and many states subsidize or mandate it (like New Mexico). So, we’ll see in a year or two how Mr. Corio and his company are doing.

On this week’s interview Paul talks to Albuquerque Mayoral candidate Daniel Chavez. Chavez owns a company that manages parking lots, so Paul and Daniel discuss some of the issues facing that industry. Then they discuss the issues Chavez plans to take on in his campaign including permitting, crime, homelessness, and other critical issues facing the City. Don’t miss this important conversation!

Chavez recently completed his candidate survey which the Rio Grande Foundation has sent to candidates for mayor and city council. You can find that completed survey here and below.

There are plenty of reasons to dislike the Big Beautiful Bill (separate versions of which have passed both houses of Congress and now must be reconciled). We like the bills overall due to their tax relief and some good policies contained within them, but, for New Mexico’s leftist political elites any reduction in federal Medicaid spending costs them money (since the feds pick up 75% of New Mexico’s overall spending).

Go. Lujan Grisham has been particularly active in lobbying against the bill.

But the BBB as passed in the Senate doesn’t ACTUALLY cut Medicaid as the following chart from Cato Institute health care expert Michael Cannon notes:

Also, while RGF (and others) have repeatedly pointed out through this debate that New Mexico is sitting on $61 billion in oil and gas “savings.” The State Investment Council JUST sent $2 billion to investment firms out of state. Also, as the visual below highlights, revenue from New Mexico’s investments outpace revenues from the personal income tax. If New Mexico policymakers like MLG and others are SO concerned about federal spending cuts impacting New Mexico you’d think they could use this money to pick up the slack instead.

Better still, New Mexico should have constrained spending, improved its economic policies, and diversified/grown its economy so as to not NEED so many federal dollars in the first place.