A4 Wednesday, July 18, 2012
OPINION
Finding the sweet spot for Hollywood incentives SANTA FE — Film industry results are now coming in for the state’s fiscal year which ended June 30. They reveal a considerable drop off in activity since a cap was put on the 25 percent rebates that film companies receive. The 2011 Legislature, at the behest of Gov. Susana Martinez, placed a $50 million cap on reimbursable expenses in the state along with stricter limits on what could be reimbursed. Martinez was worried that with a very tight budget, money could not be found for rebates. In addition to wondering whether the rebates do us any good, Gov. Martinez was worried about the uncertainty of how much in rebates the state would have to pay out. In the last year of Gov. Bill Richardson’s administration that figure was a little more than $100 million. The $50 million cap did its job. It appears only about $20 million
EDITORIAL
JAY MILLER
INSIDE THE CAPITOL
will be paid out for last year. That is great for the budget line item for rebates. But it also means that income to the state, businesses and individuals from the film industry took a huge hit. The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that only four productions are working in the state at this time. In contrast, Louisiana has around 24 productions. That makes their rebate budget very high. But it is like some business managers I have known who notify their sales force that the budget for their commissions has run out because they have done such a good job.
Roswell Daily Record
New Mexico Film Office director Nick Maniatis is quoted in the New Mexican as saying that our state is in a sweet spot because we are not giving too much and we’re not giving too little. It appears that sweet spot has us sinking rapidly. Maniatis says the state is just in a temporary lull and next year we will be packed. Maybe so, but the film industry is accustomed to moving around to the state that will give them the best deal. There is nothing wrong with being careful. Big state investments in solar companies currently are going down the drain and we’ve seen State Investment Council and retirement fund investments in the Richardson administration that were bad from the start. But the due diligence the Martinez administration tried to exert has spooked film makers. We’ve heard before that business doesn’t like uncertainty. In trying
to create certainty in our state budget process we have transferred the uncertainty to film companies. The rebate cap is complicated. For bigger productions, the rebate is paid out over two or three years. It also is necessary to stand in line. If the rebate money is used up, a company has to wait until the following year. State officials say film companies have trouble understanding the system and in turn, the companies have trouble explaining it to potential investors. And the problem goes deeper. Last year Gov. Martinez was very negative toward the industry. Hollywood is taking money away from New Mexico’s children, she would say. This year she is much more supportive. But it doesn’t appear her heart is in it. Former Gov. Richardson was enthusiastic about the industry. He traveled to Hollywood to
romance studio executives. He invited them to New Mexico and entertained them at the governor’s mansion. Gov. Martinez doesn’t even talk to them. She leaves that to staff members even when top executives come to Santa Fe expecting to see her. There’s more. The governor has been hesitant about honoring rebate contracts signed with companies when there was no limit. Lawsuits are threatened. Word gets around. A major study of film incentives’ value to the state is getting started. It is badly needed. But it would be nice if another state would do it since no one is quite sure of the value. The mere fact that we are doing the study is said to be scaring people off. Finding the sweet spot is difficult. (Write to Jay Miller at 3 La Tusa, Santa Fe, NM 87505; by fax at 984-0982; or by e-mail at insidethecapitol@hotmail.com)
Ways to kill Obamacare
Some of the most onerous obligations of the illogically named Affordable Care Act, aka, Obamacare, may yet be defeated. When the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Obamacare’s constitutionality by curiously deciding its penalty for not buying health insurance is really a tax, justices also said something that made more sense: States may opt out of the law’s costly expansion of Medicaid — the government health insurance system for the poor — without losing existing Medicaid funding, as the law threatened. States can save tens of billions of dollars by not expanding Medicaid coverage to people who earn as 133 percent of the poverty level, and to childless single men. Although Washington would pay 100 percent of the added costs in the first year, and 90 percent beginning in 2020, state budgets still would face huge additional costs. Not surprisingly, six states already have opted out. Texas announced last week it will refuse to join the Medicaid expansion and also will not establish a health insurance exchange, another provision of the law. More states may join them. It is likely Republicangoverned states will opt out, while Democratic states may not, the libertarian Cato Institute’s health policy expert Michael Tanner suggested to us. Unsurprisingly, Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration praises Obamacare, and California in 2010 was the first to create an exchange — a state-run market of sorts for consumers to shop for federally subsidized insurance. The practical effect is that California’s already overly generous Medicaid benefits will become more generous, while other Adding states’ will be relatively less so. patients to Medicaid, with its notoriously low fees for doctors, may prompt physicians to leave blue states for red states, or more of them to refuse to accept Medicaid patients altogether. Politically, changes may be more substantive. Tanner tells us states refusing to expand Medicaid not only will save billions, but they can save millions in operating costs by not creating insurance exchanges. Obamacare provides for the federal government to set up exchanges, and pay to run them, in states that refuse to. According to Tanner, a federal government-operated exchange is likely to attract people Obamacare intended to cover with the Medicaid expansion. They will seek coverage through the exchanges because Obamacare requires them to have insurance. The best news is that Washington cannot offer subsidies for insurance sold through federally run exchanges, only through staterun exchanges. Those subsidies are what trigger the penalty for employers who don’t provide employees insurance. Tanner says that means states choosing not to run their own exchanges consequently can avoid the employer mandate to insure employees or pay a fine, one of Obamacare’s most onerous provisions. The bottom line is that states opting out of Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion and insurance exchanges may effectively bankrupt the program, even if Congress doesn’t repeal or defund it. Guest Editorial The Orange County Register DEAR DOCTOR K: My husband was just diagnosed with Lyme disease. Do I need to worry about catching it from him? DEAR READER: In short, no. Lyme disease is caused by a bacteria that is passed from insect to human by ticks. It can’t be passed directly from human to human. The bacteria is transmitted primarily through deer ticks, either adult female deer ticks or their babies. These little “vampires” need to suck our blood to remain alive. They actually prefer to feast on deer, but when they’re hungry and we’re available, we’ll do. Adult deer ticks are about the size of a poppy or sesame seed. When an infected tick feeds on you, enough bacteria can get into your body to cause Lyme disease. While you can’t catch Lyme dis-
A deeper look at Romney and the NAACP Mitt Romney’s speech to the NAACP convention in Houston was — according to one’s political perspective — a “calculated move on his part to get booed ...” to help his white base (Rep. Nancy Pelosi), or a presentation to “independent thinking adult citizens” whom he treated as equals (Rush Limbaugh). Having an adult conversation in a racially and politically polarized age is nearly impossible, especially when our current political culture does not require a solution to problems, only the use of rhetoric and symbols to gain political power.
Doonesbury
ASK DR. K UNITED MEDIA SYNDICATE
ease from another human, you can catch it from your pets. Ticks can jump onto your dogs and cats, make them sick (or not), and then the ticks can jump onto you. So if you live or visit near wooded areas where Lyme disease is prevalent, be alert for ticks on your body — even if you haven’t gone into the woods yourself. The first sign of Lyme disease is
CAL
THOMAS SYNDICATED COLUMNIST
The second “A” in NAACP stands for “advancement.” By any standard, African-Americans receiving government assistance do not appear to have advanced much, if by advancement one means progress toward a steady job. In fact, a serious argument could be made that they are
usually a rash that gets larger and takes on the appearance of a bull’seye — a red rash with a clear center. Early on, Lyme disease makes people feel as though they have the flu. The bacteria can spread from the skin through your blood to other organs, including the joints, heart and brain. When this happens, they can cause arthritis, slow heartbeat and neurological symptoms. Antibiotics effectively treat most cases of Lyme disease. The spring and summer months are when you need to be most wary of deer ticks and the potential for Lyme disease. The two most important things you can do are to take steps to avoid tick bites, and to find and remove any ticks that do get on your body. If you remove a tick early, say within 36 hours of the time it attaches itself to you, your
falling farther behind. “If equal opportunity in America were an accomplished fact,” Romney told his Houston audience, “then a chronically bad economy would be equally bad for everyone. Instead, it’s worse for African-Americans in almost every way. ... In June, while the overall unemployment rate remained stuck at 8.2 percent, the unemployment rate for African-Americans actually went up, from 13.6 percent to 14.4 percent.” Equally disconcerting are the number of births to single African-American women, the incarceration rate for African-
American men, the number of failing public schools that sustain the cycle of poverty and crime in disadvantaged communities and a federal gover nment that of fers checks instead of solutions to problems, leading to a dependence on taxpayer dollars. This was what Romney was getting at in his speech. He spoke of an economy that creates jobs. He spoke of creating stronger families and more opportunities for all Americans. He endorsed
chances of getting Lyme disease are low (less than 1 in 100). To protect yourself from L yme disease: — Wear light-colored clothing. Light colors make ticks easier to spot. — Tuck your pants inside your socks. This creates a physical barrier against ticks. — Wear insect repellent. A repellent with a 30 percent to 40 percent concentration of DEET should keep ticks away. It should be sprayed on clothes, not on the skin. — Stay in the middle of the path. Avoid the kind of environment ticks live in: moist, often shady, wooded areas, with leaves, low-lying plants and shrubs. — Inspect yourself and your chilSee DR. K, Page A5
See THOMAS, Page A5
25 YEARS AGO
July 18, 1987 • Frances Sosa is the employee of the month for July at Eastern New Mexico UniversityRoswell. Sosa is an accounting clerk in the Business Office. She has worked at ENMU-R for two and one-half years. Sosa, 21, of Roswell, received her associate of arts degree in business administration from ENMU-R in 1986.