The story below from KOB TV discusses the well-documented situation with Democratic Rep. and Floor Leader Sheryl Williams Stapleton. While details are still coming out, there are a few major issues that RGF. has highlighted in the past.

1. While New Mexico has a citizen legislature and conflicts are part of the deal, it seems that Stapleton used her dual positions in the Legislature and at APS to commit the crimes she is accused of committing. The Legislature SHOULD prohibit its members from simultaneously being employed by entities (like APS) that they have budgetary control over. It is one thing to work in an industry that may have an issue before the Legislature and perhaps have to recuse oneself. It is another thing entirely to appropriate state dollars for an entity you work for.
2. At the VERY least the APS and other government bodies should NOT be able to pay their employees for the time they miss on the job as a legislator in Santa Fe. Rep. Bill Rehm introduce legislation to that effect back in 2015, so this is not a new issue. The practice of publicly-funded bodies like APS paying employees for missed time serving in Santa Fe was described at the time as “Triple Dipping.” Stapleton was engaged in this and other legislators continue to do it.

Today, the Senate Banking Committee, led by Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), is hosting a hearing titled, “Protecting Americans from Debt Traps by Extending the Military’s 36% Interest Rate Cap to Everyone.”

Absolutely: ensuring affordable access to credit for lower-income families and workers is a noble and worthwhile goal. That goal is not achieved with legislative proposals such as the imposition of a 36 percent interest rate cap. Lower-income individuals rely on safe and affordable small-dollar lending offered by financial institutions to cover unexpected expenses. An artificial interest rate cap restricts incentives for financial institutions to provide such small dollar lending services to subprime borrowers. Without incentives, the institutions offering these products will simply stop offering them. Without access to these vital products, borrowers might find themselves with few, if any, options.

It should also be noted that top-down interest rate advocates fail to justify their proposals by merely citing the Annual Percentage Rate (APR) of a loan. Context is critical to understanding the purpose of small-dollar high-interest loans.To suggest that small-dollar loans from reputable financial institutions are excessively expensive by pointing to their APR fails to recognize the reality of how such products are utilized. These small loans are designed to cover emergency expenditures and are often paid back by borrowers within a short period of time. To justify rate caps by discussing such a loan’s cost in terms of a year is, as the economist Thomas Sowell has pointed out, “like saying that a $100 a night hotel room costs $36,500 a year, when virtually nobody rents a hotel room for a year.”

By considering this option, Congress is taking the role of “mother knows best”. They are effectively removing the decision making ability of borrowers. It’s easy to sit in your house with electricity and heat with a functioning car to take you to your place of work in the morning and pass judgement on people of lesser means who have been shut out by mainstream lenders. Given the events of the past year and the negative impact lockdowns have had, especially on low-wage workers, it would seem that the Legislature should have higher priorities than eliminating needed financial options for working people.

One-size-fits all interest rate caps will cut off access to credit and eliminate choices in lending products. We urge Congress to refrain from further restricting the ability of borrowers from accessing credit of their choosing when emergencies arise and pushing them to worse outcomes.

Tomorrow, the Senate Banking Committee, led by Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), is hosting a hearing titled, “Protecting Americans from Debt Traps by Extending the Military’s 36% Interest Rate Cap to Everyone.”

Politicians often claim to be helping “the poor” with the policies they enact. But people with the resources to take extended time away from their work and spend months in committee hearings are inherently not “representative” of the people of New Mexico. They need to be reminded that most people live “paycheck to paycheck” and struggle to manage an expense from time to time.

If Congress and President Biden approve of extending the Military Lending Act’s (MLA) 36% rate cap for all consumers, not just military veterans, this would devastate the financially vulnerable by reducing their access to credit. It could very well push our most disadvantaged citizens to underground financial products in an unregulated, shadow economy.

“Proponents believe a cap on fees and interest would help consumers, especially subprime borrowers with less-than-perfect credit histories, by limiting what they pay on payday loans and other less-regulated short-term credit,” Credit Union National Association (CUNA) and other coalition members wrote in a letter to the Committee last week. “In reality, its impact would extend far beyond payday lenders to the broader consumer credit market to cover affordable small dollar loans (including “accommodation” loans) that depository institutions are being encouraged to offer, credit cards, personal loans, and overdraft lines of credit. As a result, many consumers who currently rely on credit cards or personal loans would be forced to turn elsewhere for short-term financing needs, including pawn shops, online lenders—or worse—loan sharks, unregulated online lenders, and the black market.”

Few banks offer personal loans and credit union loans designed for subprime borrowers. Referred to as “payday alternative loans,” these borrowers represent less than 1% of the 100 million Americans who make up the non-prime consumer market. The reality is that most traditional lenders simply will not or cannot make these loans to borrowers with lower credit scores.

One-size-fits all interest rate caps will cut off access to credit and eliminate choices in lending products. We urge Congress to refrain from further restricting the ability of borrowers from accessing credit of their choosing when emergencies arise and pushing them to worse outcomes.

RGF will be represented at the Albuquerque protest this Saturday. Help us fight back against these anti-science mandates.

The following is from GOBankingRates as reported on Yahoo News here. 

GOBankingRates took a look at a variety of economic factors, from year-over-year GDP and unemployment rates to wage changes and the percentage of a state’s population that is living in poverty. States were divided into the top 15 and the bottom 15 and ranked in reverse order. Thus, the state in the worst current economic shape appears as No. 1 at the end of the “failing economies” section, while the only state in the nation thus far that shows a year-over-year percentage gain in employment appears as No. 1 under the “thriving economies” section.

New Mexico is the Number 1 “failing” economy while neighboring Utah is the Number 1 “thriving” economy. The power of public policy.

On this week’s podcast discussion, Paul and Wally discuss the Gov.’s new “back to school” policies including mask requirements for elementary students/teachers and vaccine verification for junior high and high school students.

Last week was a very busy media week for RGF. It included a conversation with Fox Business Channel on film subsidies, Paul in the ABQ Journal discussing how Sen. Martin Heinrich is coming for your natural gas appliances, Patrick Brenner discusses Richard Branson abuse of New Mexico taxpayers in The Federalist.

One radical environmentalist NM Senator Soules is a big hypocrite when it comes to private jets.

“Shockingly” New Mexico’s education system has failed to improve under the Yazzie lawsuit. Paul discusses how Regis Pecos was one of Speaker Lujan’s top advisors but when we came to him with education reforms he didn’t do anything.

Mayor Keller plans to force taxpayers to pay $65 to $70 million for a stadium for the United soccer team and that doesn’t include land acquisition or cost overruns. 

Journal cartoon “nails” a lot about NM politics. Paul explains.  

While the Rio Grande Foundation continues to monitor the rapidly-unfolding situation regarding school reopening and COVID 19 policy, the broader issues within New Mexico’s education system made headlines recently. We wanted to make sure to highlight them.

Recent interim testimony involving the Yazzie case by a prominent Native American leader led to some seeming realizations among New Mexico legislators that the government schools we spend so much money on are failing. Here are a few quotes:

Rep. Derrick Lente, D-Sandia Pueblo, “Native American children have been left to rot because of where they come from” for many years.”

“How much longer do our children have to fail for us to get this right?” Lente asked.

Rep. Javier Martinez, D-Albuquerque said he had “started to question whether more money is actually needed beyond what we’ve invested.”

“I think we’re losing steam,” Martinez said, “I’d hate to be back here in 20 years talking about how nothing has changed.”

Back in 2017, the Rio Grande Foundation argued publicly that more money (thanks to the lawsuit) was not going to “move the needle” on K-12 results. It looks like several “progressive” legislators are at least coming to realize that.

Unfortunately, unions are some of the biggest contributors to Democrats’ elections. So, while they MAY say some reform-minded things for public consumption, we haven’t seen them even contemplate serious education reform for more than a decade and the failure of additional money to improve New Mexico’s poor education results is unlikely to move the needle toward actual reform in the Legislature. We will work as hard as we can to put reform on the agenda nonetheless.

According to numerous news reports Anthony Fauci and the Biden Administration are considering reimposing mask mandates to include vaccinated Americans.

Meanwhile, Gov. Lujan Grisham is expected to reveal her Administration’s plans for back to school including masking or not-masking of kids in classrooms and outdoors. This should happen in a matter of days. New Mexico is one of 7 states in the nation with a statewide mask mandate in place for children and interested observers expect Gov. Lujan Grisham to continue with strict policies.

But, there is NO CRISIS when it comes to COVID deaths in the US as the following chart from Word O Meters makes clear:Kids are hardly vulnerable to COVID and there are questions over whether giving the vaccine (if/when approved) to kids under the age of 12 is safer than possible exposure to COVID.

Notably, 90% of people 65 and older are vaccinated.  That group has been far and away the most vulnerable to the Virus.

Many New Mexicans, especially those concerned about the impact of indefinite and unnecessary masking of our kids, are protesting throughout the State on Saturday according to John Block of Piñon Post.

On Saturday, July 31, citizens are organizing protests against school mask policies statewide, from Albuquerque to Carlsbad. So far, seven cities are participating, but the list of areas joining in the effort is expected to grow.

• ALBUQUERQUE – 10am – 1005 Osuna, Vista del Norte Park – Contact Erin at Erinmg23@gmail.com or Karen at naturallyhealthykaren@fastmail.com
• ARTESIA – 10am – corner of Main & 7th – Contact Stacey at 575-343-1234
• CARLSBAD – 1pm – Eddy County Courthouse Lawn – Contact Christy Bryant at 575-361-7779
• FARMINGTON – 10am – Main Street, Grassy Area in Front of Applebee’s, Near the Mall– Contact Lorna at 480-589-3856
• LAS CRUCES – 10am – Albert Johnson Park on corner of Main and Picacho – Contact Daniel at freepeopleofthesouthwest@gmail.com
• RIO RANCHO – 10am – Corner of Southern and 528
• SANTA FE – 10:30am – Salvador Perez Train Park at 601 Alta Vista – Contact Kristi at 505-204-8261 or kristi7issues@gmail.com

UPDATES: In less than 24 hours since this post was made, the Lujan Grisham Administration released its “back to school” rules for COVID in New Mexico schools, including private ones.

And, while the CDC hasn’t acted yet, widespread media reports indicate that the CDC will recommend that EVERYONE in K-12 schools wear a mask.

The following appeared on July 21, 2021 in The Federalist:

The world is in awe that billionaire Sir Richard Branson has finally accomplished his 17-year goal of achieving spaceflight. On July 11, 2021, Virgin Galactic’s spaceship Unity reached 53.5 miles above the Earth with a crew including Branson. They spent a few minutes in zero gravity and returned safely to the runway of Spaceport America near the small town of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. Congratulations!

The international scene is abuzz with this latest and undeniably impressive addition to Branson’s resume: but at what cost? Branson launched his flight from Spaceport America, a project initially conceived as early as 1992 when the Southwest Space Task Force was formed to develop and advance New Mexico’s space industry. The project received seed funding through a taxpayer-approved initiative in April 2007 when voters in Doña Ana County approved the spaceport tax.

Almost every year since, supporters of Spaceport America have announced the “upcoming launch” from their facility or the need for additional tax dollars to expand the Spaceport and its capabilities. To bolster their claims for additional tax money, Spaceport America commissioned a study by the consulting firm Moss Adams of Albuquerque. The study made headlines with the implausible claim that Spaceport America began producing net benefits for New Mexico as early as 2013.

In March 2020, the Rio Grande Foundation tallied up the total costs to taxpayers, determining that New Mexicans have borne a total project cost of $275 million, while revenues approach only $54.3 million for the state over the last 12 years. The vast majority of taxpayer-funded spending related to capital projects and nearly $10 million in operational expenditures. In fact, new information shows New Mexico shelled out an additional $1.5 million in advertising expenses related to the Virgin Galactic flight.

Branson is already a billionaire. Why are New Mexico’s politicians lining the pockets of these already wealthy and successful entrepreneurs through taxpayer-funded, industry-specific subsidies? The impact of corporate welfare disproportionately affects the economically disadvantaged, especially in impoverished communities like Doña Ana County and New Mexico as a whole.

In 2019, the state suffered from one of the highest poverty rates in the nation. The impact of the coronavirus pandemic and the corresponding economic lockdown of the past 15 months has certainly exacerbated our financial woes.

In fact, New Mexico trails the southwest in employment recovery. A recent report by WalletHub highlights the state’s 620 percent increase in unemployment claims, referring to the change in the number of initial unemployment insurance claims in the week of July 5, 2021 compared to the week of July 8, 2019. How can a state in this state afford to help send a billionaire to space?

Sir Richard Branson is now an astronaut. But from my perspective as a New Mexican and taxpayer, he sure seems like a wild-west robber baron, holding up taxpayer stagecoaches of the poorest state in the country to fulfill his personal vendetta of beating fellow billionaires Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk in the billionaire space race. He’s “Six-Gun” Branson, 21st-century robber baron, a stark reminder of our 19th-century industrial past.

In the end, his mission was accomplished. But Six-Gun Branson has only proven that he can launch his spacecraft from any airport with sufficient runway length. I’d hazard a guess that soon he’ll be riding off into the sunset while my fellow New Mexicans are left holding the $275 million bag.

To say that we’re fans of Albuquerque Journal editorial cartoonist John Trever may be a bit of an understatement. But the Sunday cartoon (below) is particularly genius because of its multiple meanings about the way New Mexico politics and policies work.

1. Private success vs. Public sector failure: While we have certainly criticized Bill Richardson’s decision to build a $200+ million Spaceport for Richard Branson, in the bigger picture both Bransons’ and Bezos’ successes are achievements for the private space industry. New Mexico’s schools are overwhelmingly government-run and funded. It would be nice if those who are rightly frustrated by the failures of this system would join us in focusing their efforts on bringing private sector competition and competence to bear on the difficult challenge of improving literacy in NM.
2. A SECOND interpretation of the cartoon is yet another common theme of New Mexico government. Rather than doing the basics (like education) well, elected officials prefer to pursue expensive, high profile projects that really aren’t appropriate functions of government. The Spaceport is one such example, but Mayor Keller’s plans to build a new soccer stadium (with a starting price tag of at least $65-$70 million just to build, let alone property acquisition and inevitable cost-overruns) is another. Again, crime and public safety are crises demanding resources and attention, but Keller would rather build a stadium instead.

Las Cruces state Senator Bill Soules paints himself as a radical supporter of the environment. In 2021 Soules introduced a proposal to eliminate ALL nuclear energy, coal- or gas-fired energy production within New Mexico. He also tried to force the State to purchase 75% electric vehicles. 

But Soules seems to set aside his environmental stance as long as the issue involves New Mexico’s Spaceport. Set aside the use of fossil fuels for Richard Branson to GET to space which involves the use of large quantities of CO2 emitting rocket fuel.

The folks attending Branson’s launch (and those likely to travel to isolated Upham, New Mexico for future launches) won’t travel by car, they’ll fly on private jets. According to a report from the UK, Private jets: can the super-rich supercharge zero emission aviation?  a four-hour private flight emits as much as the average person does in a year.

See Sen. Soules’ post-launch Twitter post (with “glowing” commentary on the number of private jets) below:

Are you wondering what is happening in the local real estate market and what State, local, and even federal policies are impacting home prices and availability? RGF board member and realtor Evan Jones discusses the situation in this informative podcast.

The good news is that Fox Business Channel (unlike many news outlets) actually gave a platform to critics of New Mexico’s film subsidy program to discuss the program’s financial shortcomings.

The bad news is that like nearly all media outlets they badly misunderstand the financial implications of New Mexico’s incredibly-generous film subsidy program. Check out the story below which includes a brief clip of RGF president Paul Gessing discussing Hollywood film subsidies. Below that is a page from a 2019 Legislative Finance Committee report on the cost of Hollywood subsidies which provides details on the direct subsidies (not additional LEDA funds which are yet another subsidy).

In 2019 changes were enacted to New Mexico’s film program that made New Mexico’s already-generous subsidies even MORE generous. Here’s the LFC’s take on the financial implications. 

The following appeared in the Albuquerque Journal on July 21, 2021. While the newspaper cannot include hyperlinks to the data used in the piece we have added those links here:

Natural gas is a clean and affordable fuel they use to cook, heat their water, and provide warmth in the winter. Millions of Americans appreciate its benefits, even if they don’t think about them.

Just because you don’t think about natural gas doesn’t mean radical environmentalists (including New Mexico’s senior US Senator Martin Heinrich) aren’t. Heinrich recently wrote in the New York Times that “working to electrify our vehicles, homes and businesses is a critical part of achieving economywide net-zero emissions.”

He’s pushing legislation in Congress and for funding in the “infrastructure” bill for “electrification” – which is really another way of saying phasing out or banning your natural gas stove, oven, and furnace and requiring you to use electric heat and stoves.

Sacramento recently became the 46^th US city to begin “phasing out natural gas in new buildings.” It’s not just happening in California. According to the Wall Street Journal, “Seattle, Denver and New York have all either enacted or proposed measures to ban or discourage the use of the fossil fuel in new homes and buildings.”

Just a decade or so ago the Sierra Club and other environmental groups supported natural gas as a cleaner-burning alternative to coal. Now, Senator Heinrich – counter to the economic interests of the state he represents (New Mexico is a major natural gas producer) and against the expressed preferences of consumers who use such appliances – is pushing to eliminate natural gas.

The push for a natural gas ban is premised on the idea that we should replace fossil fuels with wind and solar technologies that put us on a path to “net-zero emissions.” Of course, we’re not just talking about replacing all existing electricity generation; just 10% of current electricity production comes from wind, solar, and geothermal combined. Experts say “electrification” would increase US electricity consumption by 40 percent.

To say the least, Sen. Heinrich’s “electrification” scheme will require astonishing amounts of new electricity generation (at great economic cost) not to mention batteries to ensure reliability and new transmission lines to distribute it. We’ll be the ones paying for all that new redundant generation.

It’s an even bigger problem considering the reliability and demand issues already facing the Western United States this summer and utilities’ (including PNM’s) difficulty bringing new “renewables” online.  

And then there are consumer preferences for natural gas, which for some reason get casually ignored. You will have to search far and wide to find an electric stove in your favorite restaurant. That’s because natural gas is superior to electricity for cooking on both food quality and price.  Banning natural gas in restaurants means you would be waiting longer for your favorite meal while also paying more.

Any serious push for “electrification” of our economy will require massive government subsidies (thus Heinrich’s push in the current “infrastructure” bill), with electricity reliability already an issue the reliability of natural gas can be a literal lifesaver.

We all want clean, affordable, and reliable energy. Natural gas provides all three. And while the US has been steadily-reducing CO2 emissions for over a decade, China now emits more CO2 than the rest of the developed world combined (that includes the US, Canada, Europe, and Australia). Sen. Heinrich’s forced-shift to all-electric in the US will be costly and won’t achieve the environmental gains he seeks.

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.

Paul recently took another trip. He reports on mask mandates on airplanes & public transport among other things.

Jeff Bezo joins Richard Branson as a billionaire having been to space.

Pediatrics group wants ALL kids and staff to wear masks this fall. MLG still hasn’t announced a specific policy.

RGF settles w/ Keller Administration regarding open records. 

RGF has never been a fan of public financing of elections and we fought this w/ Democracy Dollars. Mayoral candidate Manny Gonzales recently received a reminder of how “public” financing can be politicized. 

New Mexico’s unemployment rate is tied for highest in USA. RGF also looks at the workforce participation rate.

For once ProgressNow DOES have a point about oil and gas.

More talk about reform of NM’s GRT. 

How do we address homelessness? An excellent Prager U video has some ideas.

People who follow the news in New Mexico are undoubtedly aware that the State’s unemployment rate at 7.9% is the highest in the nation.

But, unemployment rate is only one tool for measuring state economic policy. Workforce participation rate is another. We wanted to look at how New Mexico’s workforce participation rate had been impacted since COVID started, so we looked back to January 2020 and looked at data which is available through June of 2021. Here is the BLS workforce participation rate data.

As you can see below, New Mexico struggles with workforce participation and lagged the region before COVID. Of course, NM STILL lags the region, but more concerning is the fact that it seems like New Mexico’s recovery line has stalled.

On July 7th, Santa Fe New Mexican Government Reporter Daniel Chacón penned an article criticizing Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s staffers for using private messaging apps on their government-issued cellphones that use end-to-end encryption designed to keep conversations secret.

This is a good step in acknowledging the ongoing transparency debacle currently plaguing the Lujan Grisham administration. In response, Patrick Brenner wrote the following complement to Chacón’s column.

The following appeared on July 13, 2021 at the Santa Fe New Mexican:

In Daniel J. Chacón’s recent article (“Encrypted apps appear active on employees’ work phones,” July 8) he alleges that members of Gov. Michelle Luan Grisham’s administration have private messaging apps on their government-issued cellphones.

I’ll call your bet and raise you: It’s not just the staff of the executive branch; it’s dozens of state agencies. They are using encrypted messaging platforms, and they’re also enforcing the automatic deletion of messages after 24 hours.

I grew suspicious in the aftermath of the Searchlight New Mexico report on the Children, Youth and Families Department. The report was solid, but left some loose ends that needed tidying up. Specifically, I had questions about the official document retention guidance and how it was developed.

The document itself is disturbing. The bottom line is that the administration allows any employee to “delete any text message that is a routine communication and is not ‘required to control, support or to document the operations of government.’ ”

This record deletion allowance is antithetical to the principles of transparent and open government. Aren’t all routine communications necessary to document the operations of government?

Several official public records requests were submitted to a number of state agencies to ascertain the origins of this document. Eventually, we came across another interesting piece of documentation, from New Mexico’s Department of Information Technology. This is the agency responsible for deployment of resources like Microsoft Office and the corresponding productivity suite.

This email was a directive coming from the executive branch. Certain configuration changes were being implemented that would affect the Teams chat functionality. Microsoft Teams is a business communication platform that allows employees to instant message each other. Teams is currently utilized by over a dozen state agencies, including CYFD and the Department of Information Technology.

New configuration changes included a policy that all Teams chat messages would be deleted after 24 hours.

Chacón reports that Nora Meyers Sackett said “only one of the staffers has sent a message on such an app.” I can’t contest the validity of this statement, pertaining explicitly to Signal and WhatsApp. However, I can say that numerous state agencies are using Microsoft Teams, which is essentially just another messaging app by a different name.

Sackett and others routinely delete text messages. I requested all the text messages that Sackett sent or received during the month of April. The official response, from an attorney with the Governor’s Office: “We have conducted a search of records maintained or held by the Office of the Governor and we have located no records responsive to your request.”

By the time I submitted my public records request, the records were already deleted. Since then, I have been submitting new records requests daily, requesting all the text messages sent by Sackett for the previous 24-hour period.

Daniel, it’s worse than either of us could have imagined. State agencies are still using encrypted messaging platforms, and the administration is encouraging periodic destruction of documents by redefining records classifications and subjecting these newly classified records to document retention periods that facilitate their automated deletion with alacrity.

Santa Fe New Mexican: State Secrecy Goes Beyond Executive Team

For Immediate Release: July 19, 2021

For further information, contact: Patrick Brenner (505) 377-6273

After eighteen months of litigation and negotiation, the Rio Grande Foundation is pleased to announce the settlement of the lawsuit related to the City of Albuquerque’s lack of transparency and openness. The actions of Mayor Tim Keller’s administration and City Clerk Ethan Watson have proven to be antithetical to the principles of open government.

The voters of Albuquerque defeated Democracy Dollars in November of 2019, and the Rio Grande Foundation’s exposure of numerous flaws in the proposal played a pivotal role in the downfall of the ballot measure. Furthermore, the Foundation filed an ethics complaint against Mayor Tim Keller for his use of the City’s website (CABQ.gov) in which he specifically called for voters to approve Democracy Dollars. Mayor Keller’s actions were found to be in violation of city ordinance by the Board of Ethics and Campaign Practices.

Following the ethics complaint, the Rio Grande Foundation requested a reasonable collection of text messages and emails sent to and from specific city employees leading up to the posting of Mayor Keller’s pleas on the city’s website to vote “YES”.

The public records request was filed under New Mexico’s Inspection of Public Records Act and was accepted by the City in December of 2019. After dutifully paying the invoice to receive these records, the City of Albuquerque failed to provide all responsive records for over ten months. Patrick Brenner, the Foundation’s policy analyst, filed the original request.

On May 12, 2020, after exhausting all other avenues to obtain these public records, which included assistance from the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government when Director Melanie Majors sent a letter of complaint to no avail, the Rio Grande Foundation filed a legal complaint in District Court against the city.

Repeated requests from the Foundation to confirm that these records were not being deleted had been continually ignored by Ethan Watson, City Clerk, and the Custodian of Records, Yvette Gurule.

During mediation, the Foundation also tried to address the city’s responsiveness to open government requests. After being presented with specific policy recommendations, the city refused to improve the process, leaving in place the glaring problems that resulted in the months-long delays. Rather, the city offered a sizable settlement that the Rio Grande Foundation will use to further its open government advocacy and transparency efforts.

In the interest of transparency, the Rio Grande Foundation is making the settlement agreement available here.

On this week’s podcast, Paul discusses the PNM/Avangrid merger with RGF energy and utility analyst Kenneth Costello. While RGF doesn’t have a position one way or the other on the merger, it does care deeply about New Mexico utility customers and the potential for power disruptions and rate increases. This is one of the most pressing issues facing New Mexico policymakers this summer.

On this week’s discussion: Richard Branson makes it to “space.” Does this mean the Spaceport was a good idea? What’s next for Spaceport America?

New COVID rules for school children have been handed down by the CDC. What do they mean for kids who will be starting school in a month?

Sen. Heinrich is coming for your gas stove/heater/water heater/ and gasoline car.

RGF in National Review Online.

Socialism is rising among NM’s leadership.

The Kids County Report is reasonable. The partisan spin is not.

Talk is again heating up in Santa Fe over potential reform of New Mexico’s broken gross receipts tax. The Albuquerque Journal has a write-up in today’s paper. For it’s entire history, the RGF has focused attention on what we’ve called “the original sin” of New Mexico tax policy. Here is one of many reports we’ve written on the issue.

As the Journal correctly notes, over the years GRT rates have risen while in some ways the “base” has been narrowed (with fewer items being taxed).

Unfortunately, with “progressives” in charge, the main focus of “reform” (if indeed Democrats finally decide to address the GRT) will likely be on pushing more of the burden onto high income New Mexicans rather than addressing the actual harm of the tax.

Here are a few basic principles to consider in the GRT reform discussion:

1. Any reform must address the harm done by taxing business inputs and services (bookkeeping, accounting, web management, doctors, and many more). Any “reform” that doesn’t address most or all of these isn’t really reform (See HB 6 in 2019). The “base” was also broadened in 2019 with taxes on Los Alamos National Lab and certain health care items imposed as well as taxes on certain online sales;
2. New Mexico is swimming in tax revenues and has raised taxes multiple times in recent years (also SB 317). The bill should be revenue-neutral or even a tax cut regardless of whether the GRT’s “regressive” nature is addressed or not;
3. Ideally the Legislature would put some kind of protections into the Tax Code to both make it more difficult for local governments to raise rates AND for the Legislature to provide one-off tax breaks for special industries. That may be a challenge, but it is worth considering so we don’t wind up in this situation again.

via GIPHY

The folks at PragerU make all kinds of informational videos on a variety of policy topics.

The video below caught our attention because at the Rio Grande Foundation we have seen the explosion of homelessness in Albuquerque, especially near our downtown offices. We have our thoughts on what to do about the problem and this short video not only reflects many of those thoughts, it adds data and experience to the mix to make a convincing case for what Albuquerque’s current or future mayor could do to address the issue.

One thing that MUST be part of any discussion of homelessness is property rights, not only for private owners, but also for the public’s use of taxpayer-owned properties.

Most New Mexicans are well aware that oil and gas generates close to 40% of the New Mexico budget in any given year. Of course, the industry is highly competitive and thrives on the types of efficiency and cost-cutting inherent in any free market enterprise.

Among other things that means replacing workers with new technologies. This is good economics as the remaining workers tend to be better-trained and higher paid. It also means less “grunt” work and improved safety as well as lower costs.

But good economics is not good politics as oil and gas regions of New Mexico are badly-outnumbered politically in New Mexico. And, we know that once that oil and gas money hits government it is not only misused, but the beneficiaries tend to forget its provenance.

I agree with you although not for the same reasons. O&G does generate 40% of NM’s budget, but the politicians in NM do an awful job w/ that money. NM’s O&G industry WOULD do itself a favor if it hired more people b/c they could compete electorally w/ big “blue” cities.

— Paul Gessing (@pgessing) July 9, 2021

The following appeared on July 9, 2021 at National Review’s Capital Matters:

On June 15, 2021, U.S. District Court Judge Terry Doughty issued a preliminary injunction halting the Biden administration’s moratorium on new oil and gas permits on federal lands and in federally controlled offshore areas in the Gulf of Mexico. The lawsuit was filed by 14 states that were set to lose out on significant oil and gas development if the moratorium remained in place indefinitely.

Ironically, of all the states impacted by Biden’s moratorium, increasingly deep blue New Mexico had the most to lose. According to an analysis from the American Petroleum Institute, New Mexico would be expected to lose over 62,000 jobs and $1.1 billion in revenue from the moratorium. Ranking third among all states in oil production and a leader in natural-gas production as well, New Mexico would have lost nearly half of total production in both had the moratorium stuck.

Wyoming, the next-most-affected  state would have lost just a bit over half as much revenue ($641 million) as New Mexico. And, with an annual General Fund budget of $7.4 billion, that is a lot of revenue to make up. Unfortunately, in this world of “red” and “blue” states, self-interest was not enough to get New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas to join the lawsuit.

So, no thanks to any of our own elected officials (or former New Mexico Congresswoman, now Interior Secretary, Deb Haaland), New Mexico likely just dodged a dagger aimed straight at the heart of the state’s economy. Better still, a combination of market forces and geological discoveries means that New Mexico’s oil and gas industries (like America’s) could be heading into an era of unprecedented prosperity, if  the political forces arrayed against them can be held at bay.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, oil production in New Mexico’s Permian Basin (which it shares with Texas) had been growing rapidly. As recently as 2010 New Mexico was the 7th-leading oil-producing state in the nation with 65 million barrels a year. By 2020 (despite the pandemic), annual production had risen to 379 million barrels.  

Now, it appears that New Mexico is on the verge of surpassing North Dakota to become the nation’s 2nd-largest crude-oil producer. March 2021 data (the most recently available) from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) show New Mexico producing 1.16 million barrels of oil per day compared to 1.11 million in North Dakota.

Like most of New Mexico’s post-2010 surge, the state’s continued growth is being driven by new discoveries that are accessible through new technologies; notably, “fracking.” Furthermore, as the Permian Basin  has already been producing large quantities of oil and natural gas for decades, the infrastructure to access and move the product is already in place.

As if all of these convergent factors acting in support of New Mexico’s oil and gas industry weren’t enough, while motorists may not be thrilled, prices at the pump clearly show that the industry is doing quite well in the wake of COVID-19. If analysts from Bank of America are right, the boom is just getting started. They predict that by 2022 crude-oil prices could hit $100 per barrel. This means even more jobs and tax revenues flowing into New Mexico and it means reliable (if not necessarily cheap) energy for Americans.

Ironically, despite all of this good economic news for the state, New Mexico’s history of rule by left-wing Democrats has left it in pretty bad shape, thanks in no small part to the intense lockdowns during the pandemic. Oil and gas and the money it brings may help, but if the state’s political leadership doesn’t do a better job managing the boom, the next bust could be harder to manage.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics data for May, New Mexico’s unemployment rate is 2nd-highest in the nation at 8 percent. Worse, due to the state’s poor performance on a variety of education, economic, and crime rankings, New Mexico was recently ranked as the worst state in the U.S. in which to live. Agree with the data or not, the Land of Enchantment has some deep-seated and serious issues to deal with.

And, while most problems are made easier with money as opposed to without it, a system where politicians have plenty of resources to spend regardless of the success or failure of their economic policies is not a great system. In fact, it is a system that has fueled awful government in places like Saudi Arabia and Venezuela (to name just two poorly governed petro-states).

Will things be different this time for poor New Mexico? The political and economic situation are extremely volatile and it is hard to tell. With energy largesse flowing in, the Land of Enchantment  could finally add a strong economy  to its name. Political will has always been the missing ingredient.

PAUL GESSING is president of New Mexico’s Rio Grande Foundation.