To her credit (and unlike many so-called “progressives” in the Legislature) Gov. Lujan Grisham acknowledges the harm being done to New Mexico by the Biden Administration’s moratorium on oil and gas permitting.

But, the Gov. doesn’t REALLY support the Industry against Biden. She is instead attempting to balance economic reality and New Mexico’s dependence on the Industry against pressure from radical environmentalists who form much of her political base.

IF the Gov. and her compatriots in New Mexico government (specifically AG Hector Balderas) truly cared about defending New Mexico workers and the economy, they’d be eater to join the 14 states that have filed suit against the Biden Administration over its permitting moratorium. I’m not holding my breath. And yes, while the Gov. doesn’t “control” the AG, she can certainly call publicly for action on his part on behalf of New Mexico. I’m not holding my breath.

The following analysis by American Petroleum Institute illustrates just how dependent New Mexico is on federal oil and gas leases. 62,000 jobs and $1.1 billion in state revenues are at stake.

Bad Bills that failed:

SB 149 Ban fracking;

SB 66 Would have limited credit options for low-income New Mexicans;

SB 11 So-called “Clean Fuel Standard” would mandate use of “alternative fuels” in vehicles to reduce CO2 emissions;

SB 130 Would require 75% of state vehicles be electric;

HB 206 provide two-tiered utility pricing for “poor”;

SJR 3 “Green” Constitutional Amendment;

Several bills to restrict gun rights;

HB 236 Sets up a bank to be run by the State of New Mexico;

SB 168 5 cents/gallon gas tax hike;

HB 110 $15/hour minimum wage;

Good bills that failed

Several bills to reduce/eliminate Social Security taxes;

Various bills/amendments to restrict a Gov.’s power in “emergency”;

HB 12 Marijuana legalization;

HJR 7 and HJR 11 would have granted school choice to New Mexico families

Other bills that failed

SB 155 Amend Energy Transition Act

The following appeared at KRWG and other news outlets on or around March 18, 2021. It was written by Policy Analyst Frank Pagurko:

On this week’s podcast conversation, Paul and Wally discuss the conclusion of the 2021 Legislative session. Gov. Lujan Grisham plans to call a special session to deal with marijuana legalization. Wally and Paul discuss whether that is a good idea. They discuss allegations of “bullying” and they discuss some of the most important bills that passed or failed in the legislative session.

Over the weekend rallies were held across New Mexico in support of reopening the State. Paul discusses what he saw at the Albuquerque rally.

Gov. MLG says New Mexico stands to lose $709 million between this fiscal year and 2025 if there’s a 10 percent decline in production.

Deb Haaland has been confirmed as Secretary of Interior. A CD 1 special election is set for June 1. The GOP field grows and the State central committees of both parties will soon be meeting to discuss the respective candidates.

And in a special segment, Paul visits with Grace Philips of the New Mexico Association of Counties about the impact House Bill 4, NM Civil Rights Act, will have on counties in New Mexico.

RGF tracked all of the bills in the 2021 Legislature and rated them based on their impact on your freedoms. You can find out about those bills and how your legislators did here at our Freedom Index site.

The following are some of the very worst bills that passed the 2021 New Mexico Legislature

SB 42: increases taxpayer contributions to the Education Retirement Board (ERB) with no additional input from employees. The bill also fails to make the fund solvent;

SB 317: Among other issues this bill increases taxes on certain health insurance policies from 1 percent to 3.75 percent. The legislation represents a tax hike of $153.2 million annually initially;

HB 20: Mandatory paid sick leave (government employees were ultimately not included);

SB 112: Sustainable economy task force: creates a task force with the express goal of reducing reliance on oil and gas. Of course, New Mexico’s Democrat-controlled Legislature has had ample time to enact public policies to “diversify” New Mexico’s economy;

SB8: Gives local governments the ability to enact more restrictive air quality regulations than are imposed by the federal government;

HJR 1 Increases withdrawals from New Mexico’s Land Grant Permanent Fund by 1.25% increase and dedicates 60% for “early childhood” programs/40% for K-12;

SB 84: Community Solar: Further reduces reliability of electrical grid by providing special incentives for solar providers;

HB 2: The New Mexico budget increases spending by an already-bloated State government and provides already-well-compensated and economically-stable State employees with pay raises;

HB 4: The so-called New Mexico Civil Rights Act would actually do little to protect New Mexicans’ civil rights and instead simply opens local governments throughout the State up to more litigation.

The New Mexico Legislature adjourned on Saturday. While most of the bills passed were NOT good, there were a few highlights which we’ll discuss in further blog posts this week. Gov. Lujan Grisham has announced (see this rather bizarre video) where she indicates she’ll soon call a special session to pass marijuana legalization legislation.

Here are a few of the BEST bills to pass this session:

HB 255: Liquor licensing reform. While the bill is messy and not entirely pro-freedom, the effort to undertake reform of New Mexico’s anti-business liquor licensing laws is probably the best pro-business legislation this session. RGF supported this legislation once a tax hike was eliminated from the bill on the Senate floor;

HB 177: Reduce restrictions on sale of non-perishable homemade food;

HB 278: Eliminates gross receipts tax pyramiding for certain “business to business” sales of manufactured goods;

HB 55: Increases transparency for capital outlay projects by requiring the publishing on the legislative website a searchable list of capital projects passed beginning with the 2022 Legislature;

SB 304: Creates legislative redistricting commission to draw lines for various political seats including Congress and the Legislature.

Various COVID related tax rebates and exemptions, especially those targeted at bars and restaurants also passed with bi-partisan support.

You can find out more about these and other bills along with (tentative at this point) ratings of legislators at the Foundation’s Freedom Index.

The following appeared in the “Speak Up” section of the Albuquerque Journal on Thursday, March 18, 2021. As the parent of students that HAVE attended Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) in the past, I wholeheartedly agree that “bashing” teachers is harmful. There are MANY hard working teachers at APS and other districts across our State.

HOWEVER, I DO wish more teachers who want to be in the classroom would have spoken out in some public way in favor of going back into their classrooms during the Pandemic. Unfortunately, the unions are very good at giving the impression that they are supported by ALL or MOST teachers.

More importantly, we have a systemic problem in American education. While my family (and others) can and will remove our children (as the author suggests) from a system that failed them, those resources simply revert to the District.

The FY 19-20 APS budget (mostly pre-pandemic), for example, was $1,475,755,646  to serve 79,363 students (also found in the budget document. That comes to a per-pupil expenditure of $18,595. If parents and families could access even a significant fraction of that cash in order to educate their kids at home or in a school of that family’s choosing, there would be considerably less animosity toward “teachers” and their unions.

Of course, it is noteworthy that the leading special interest group that opposes such choices in Santa Fe and other state capitols is the teachers union. Paying twice for education (once in the form of taxation and once for tuition) stinks, but after a year of home schooling my family is sending at least two of our children to school outside of APS.

On this week’s interview, Paul talks to Bruce Bunker about the science of climate change. Bunker is a chemist who studied the issue at Sandia National Labs. His professional work led him to write the book “The Mythology of Global Warming: Climate Change Fiction vs. Scientific Facts.” Bunker takes a scientific approach to the issue of man-cause climate change and the idea that it will have serious, negative repercussions for the planet or for humanity.

Corey DeAngelis is a national education expert who has led the push for school choice and getting kids back in classrooms in person nationwide. He will be in Albuquerque speaking to the Libre Initiative at the offices of Americans for Prosperity (see address below). The particulars (including Zoom information to watch the event online) are below. The event is FREE.

In late January of 2021, the Biden Administration imposed a moratorium on oil and gas permits on federal lands. New Mexico is heavily-dependent on oil and gas drilling on federal lands while Texas is not. You can see the results of the moratorium below. Gov. Lujan Grisham’s own Energy Department has noted the shift in rigs from New Mexico to Texas. 

New Mexico is in a budget surplus situation thanks to oil and gas, but as the following chart shows, that situation won’t last under these restrictive policies. Undoubtedly New Mexico is in a precarious position with regard to Biden’s moratorium.

This afternoon, at a time known only to the committee chair, the Senate Finance Committee will meet to hear a slate of bills. Among them is HB 291, yet another attempt to broadly raise taxes and stifle New Mexico’s economy. The property tax hike on second homes was amended out of the bill, but it still contains an added top income tax bracket and higher corporate taxes, among other changes. This is the last committee HB 291 needs to clear before it goes to the Senate floor.

You can watch the meeting webcast here, or contact the committee with your comments through the information contained here.

The Rio Grande Foundation has submitted testimony in opposition to HB 291.

On this week’s conversation, Paul and Wally discuss the fact that New Mexico’s COVID situation continues to improve. More counties are moving into turquoise, green, etc.

When will the Gov. relinquish her powers? There’s no indication of that. Paul works out with a mask on for the first time. The mainstream media is starting to acknowledge that lockdowns haven’t done anything to improve COVID outcomes.

NM unemployment rate is 8.7%, 48th in the nation. There is a clear pattern among the lowest and highest unemployment states.

The New Mexico Legislature is coming down the stretch with its conclusion on Saturday, here are some bills/issues to watch:

HB 291 is an economically-harmful tax hike. Recent changes make it even worse. Plus, why is the Legislature considering raising taxes with a surplus AND federal money flowing into NM?

The mandatory paid sick leave bill, HB 20 is likely to pass. It is headed to the Senate. The bill makes no exceptions for small businesses. According to the New Mexico Chamber of Commerce, it would apply to babysitters, a leaf-raker hired for a single day’s work or a mom-and-pop shop with one part-time employee. All employees would accrue at least one hour of sick leave for every 30 hours worked, capping at 64 hours annually. It wouldn’t apply to government workers.

SB 42 pension bailout for the Education Retirement Board is unhelpful. 

HB 4 Civil Rights Act ready for final passage in Senate.

The Legislature still hasn’t passed a budget although initial appearances are that the Senate will go with pay hikes for state employees. Could there be a special session?

SB 130 which would have mandated that 75% of New Mexico’s fleet vehicles be electric failed in committee over the weekend:

No action will be taken this session on constraining Gov.’s powers. No bills OR the constitutional amendment are moving.

Trouble for HJR 1 pre-K amendment and pot legalization?

Rail Runner took a year off but you’d never know from looking at their budget.

What energy sources REALLY failed a few weeks ago in Texas?

Surprising absolutely no one (who, like us follows these things), the latest report from Wallethub (released today), finds New Mexico to be the VERY MOST dependent on the federal government. See the interactive map below and the two images below that which show that New Mexico is heavily-dependent both on federal grants AND contracts.

Given the spending binge going on in Washington and the incredible amounts of debt being taken on ($50 billion and rising fast at last count), reliance on the federal government is a precarious place to be, but that is how New Mexico “rolls.”

New Mexico’s Health Department recently released data indicating that 43 percent of the State’s population was on Medicaid. We commented on that here. Those comments were reflected in an Albuquerque Journal editorial that  concludes with the statement, “we need to find a way to kick-start and nourish a private sector that employs people and provides benefits including good health insurance.”

We agree with the Journal 100%. Not surprisingly, Gov. Lujan Grisham’s top health care staffers either don’t understand the argument or willingly ignore the point. David Scrase and Nicole Comeaux spend 600 plus words talking about how important Medicaid is and how it will help solve New Mexico’s poverty issues.

The problem is, of course, that welfare programs like Medicaid (even though New Mexico gets $4.76 from the feds for every dollar it spends) don’t actually do anything to bring people out of poverty. Rather, the growth of a strong private sector economy, improved educational outcomes, and broader economic prosperity do that.

Considering how poorly Scrase has handled the COVID health crisis this year, it is no surprise he doesn’t understand the economic problem with New Mexico’s bloated Medicaid rolls.

In a meeting scheduled for 10 A.M. today, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hear HB 20, a paid sick leave mandate. This is the bill’s last committee before it goes to the Senate floor.

You can watch the webcast here, or submit written testimony to the committee using the contact information here.

The Rio Grande Foundation has submitted testimony in opposition to HB 20.

Tomorrow at 8 A.M., the House Energy, Environment, and Natural Resources Committee will meet to hear SB 11, the Clean Fuel Standard Act. This bill would amount to a gas tax with the funds directed straight into the Environment Department, the same bureaucracy that would be tasked with regulating fuel. This kind of legislation has been implemented in other states and has produced little in the way of cleaner air and has done so at great cost to everyone who buys fuel.

You can watch the committee webcast here, or join the Zoom meeting for public comment here.

The Rio Grande Foundation submitted testimony in opposition to SB 11.

The causes of the recent electricity outages in Texas are complicated. It got REALLY cold in parts of a state that are not used to such low temperatures. Initially the blame was placed squarely on the use of so-called “renewables.”

Then,  not surprisingly, there was a fierce backlash as liberal media “fact-checkers” and their environmentalist allies pushed back noting that wind was not “responsible” or “wholly responsible” for the problems in Texas.

What’s the truth? Check out this post from America’s Power (and the chart below). It shows how various energy sources performed in terms of their “capacity factors” during the crisis.

The chart for MISO is below (for more details on the acronyms and other data posted below click on the blog post above):

The chart for SPP is below:

The point is that “traditional” electricity sources like nuclear and coal performed the best. Natural gas which has traditionally been used for heating and is now ALSO being used for electricity generation had a tough time, but wind really did poorly. There is no doubt that natural gas infrastructure needs to be improved if both heating AND electricity are to rely on it.

The chart below is Texas’ electricity generation portfolio from Energy Information Administration. It is hard to see how wind’s already-low reliability could be improved. Clearly, with Texas producing vast quantities of natural gas, Texas’ utilities could do more to improve the reliability of natural gas.

HT: Chris Hunter

SB 66, which would cap interest rates on installment loans at 36%, is scheduled for a hearing in the House Judiciary Committee at 11:30 morning. This is the bills last committee before it goes to the House floor. HJR 1 is scheduled in the Senate Finance Committee after the Senate floor session. This bill would open to voters the option to tap the land grant permanent fund for broadened early childhood education. Unfortunately, the data shows that these programs do not actually predict higher levels of academic achievement later in a student’s education.

You can watch the committee webcasts here, or join the Zoom meeting for public comment on SB 66 here.

The Rio Grande Foundation has submitted testimony in opposition to SB 66 and HJR 1.

Meeting tomorrow at 9 A.M., the Senate Tax, Business, and Transportation Committee will hear many bills, among them two economically destructive proposals. HB 291 is a tax hike that, even after being heavily amended, is still a bad idea. HB 20 is one of many paid sick leave mandates in the legislature this year. This bill has gotten the furthest through the process.

You can watch the meeting webcast here, or find the senator’s information here to send them your comments on these bills.

The Rio Grande Foundation has submitted testimony in opposition to HB 291 and HB 20.

HB 291 passed the New Mexico House as an economically-harmful tax hike. Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth has made some changes to the bill as detailed in the Albuquerque Journal.

In summary, with $300 million of new money and having just received an unprecedented $9 billion from the federal government, the idea that taxes need to be increased is misguided to say the least.

Worse, raising the top income tax rate from 5.9% to 6.5% and increasing corporate taxes to 7.6% is economically-senseless. Raising cigarette taxes so dramatically is both “regressive” AND will lead to cigarette smuggling as New Mexicans head to tribal lands to purchase cigarettes. New Mexico already has one of the highest rates of smuggling in the nation.

If Democrats who control both houses of the Legislature and Gov. Lujan Grisham want to increase tax credits for low income New Mexicans they should do that. The money is available in the form of $300 million (and rising) in “new” money.”

The Senate Finance Committee is planning to meet at 1 P.M. tomorrow to discuss a number of bills, including SB 130 and HJR 1. SB 130 would require 75% of the state’s vehicle fleet to be fully electric by 2030. The significant costs associated with this changeover would obviously be passed on to the taxpayer. HJR 1 would tap the land grant permanent fund to provide for expanded pre-K education. Unfortunately, the little data that exists does not support the notion that more pre-K leads to better education achievement down the road. Throwing more money at a broken system will not significantly move the needle on educational success in New Mexico.

You can watch the webcasts here, or contact the committee members with your comments using the information here.

The Rio Grande Foundation has submitted testimony in opposition to SB 130 and HJR 1.

A few weeks ago the House Transportation Committee had a meeting at which the Rail Runner and its finances were discussed. Of course, the train was shut down for nearly a year and it just reopened for service.

The following budget documents were presented during that meeting which was held over Zoom. Can you tell from looking at the budget documents that the train was out of service for approximately a year?

On this week’s interview, Paul sits down with Rio Grande Foundation intern and policy analyst Clint Pagurko. Clint has been with the Foundation for just a few months, but he has made a tremendous impact with the organization by researching and writing testimony for many of the bills of concern for the Rio Grande Foundation this legislative session. His testimony has been posted at: www.errorsofenchantment.com this session along with the Foundation’s usual information and analysis.