New Mexico Legislature closes its traditional‘budget-only’ gathering on a high note, reports State Director Minda McGonagle
Even-numbered years mean the New Mexico Legislature’s agenda will be narrower than in odd-numbered years with fewer opportunities to place NFIB members in harm’s way. Conversely, given the make up the Legislature, it also meant there was little appetite to provide small business a hand by increasing marketplace and earnings freedom. Still, NFIB walked away with some victories, which, as usual, came in successfully defeating some bad-for-small-business proposals.
NFIB Victories
- In a call to action, NFIB members responded by asking the Senate not to increase the state’s minimum-wage rate to $9 an hour. The legislation got as far as the Senate Floor but after NFIB’s call went out, it was never acted on again. The voice of small business was received!
- Gov. Susana Martinez signed NFIB-backed legislation that allows businesses to accept from buyers’ alternative evidence to prove eligibility for a gross receipts tax deduction when a nontaxable transaction certificate (NTTC) is unavailable. Alternative evidence generally includes:
> a contract or an invoice identifying the nature of the purchase
> documentation of purchaser’s use of the good or service
> written declaration of the purchaser’s intent of reselling
- NFIB held the line against multiple legislative attempts to increase income taxes and reduce capital gains deductions by educating legislators at every turn that small businesses are not simply mini-corporations and that both raising income tax rates and cutting investment deductions seriously hampers their ability to thrive.
Click here to see all the small-business victories from the 2017-2018 session of the New Mexico Legislature.
State Budget
What a difference the price of oil makes. New Mexico’s oil patch delivered to state coffers, and no time was lost in Santa Fe spending it. Gov. Susana Martinez and the Legislature agreed on a $6.3 billion budget. The 2017 acrimony due to the fiscal shortfall quickly became a distant memory. All in all, the new state budget represents roughly a 4 percent increase in spending over last year.
Public safety is considered a huge problem on many fronts. This year, increased funding goes to state police, courts, and public defenders. There also is an increase for Bernalillo County for criminal prosecutions.
And now for pay raises:
- All state employees can look forward to 2 percent raises
- State police and corrections officers will get 8.5 percent raises
- Teachers receive 2.5 percent increase plus opportunities for excellence bonuses.
In looking at future uncertainties, the state budget restores New Mexico’s reserves to about the traditional 10 percent level.
Filling a Different Kind of Hole
An unusual, multimillion-dollar appropriation in the new state budget will fund repairs on a brine well turned into a sinkhole in Carlsbad that has swallowed up a mobile home park, plus sections of two highways, a railroad and irrigation canal.
Looking Ahead to 2019
A new Legislature will open for business on January 15, 2019. Unlike even-numbered-year sessions of 30 days, odd-numbered years get twice the time and anything and everything can be put on the table, not just financial matters. NFIB is expecting the return of some perennial proposals and possibly a few new ones. Click here for fuller descriptions of the issues ahead.
