New Mexico In Depth 2018 Legislative Special Edition

NM In

Depth

New Mexico In Depth

2018

lookatatcritical critical A Alook issuesbefore beforestate state issues lawmakers lawmakers

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New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition

New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition

New Mexico In Depth 2018 Legislative special edition • Jan. 14, 2018 Trip Jennings

Marjorie Childress

Reporters

Sponsorship design

Illustrations

Special thanks to our columnists:

Executive director

Melorie Begay Jeff Proctor Sylvia Ulloa Marjorie Childress

Layout and design Jason V. Harper

Deputy director

Linda Lillow

James Jimenez, Andrea J. Serrano, Viki Harrison, Paul Gessing, Peter St. Cyr, Eric Griego

New Mexico In Depth is dedicated to journalism in the public interest that tells in-depth stories of people who represent our diversity and examines systems and institutions in a way that informs and empowers people and communities.

This special edition is produced in conjunction with NMID’s media partners: Las Cruces Sun-News, Santa Fe New Mexican, Farmington Daily Times, Alamogordo Daily News, Carlsbad Current-Argus, Ruidoso News, Deming Headlight, Silver City Sun-News and the Rio Grande Sun.

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NEW MEXICO

Contents INTRODUCTION...............................................................4 ARTICLES New Mexico could burn through unexpected money...... 6 Will lawmakers make 2018 the Year of the Child?....... 8 NM’s criminal justice system needs a cash infusion........ 11 Lobbyist transparency takes a nosedive......................... 13 Move to legalize cannabis continues................................ 17 Tax reform unlikely to happen in 2018........................... 22 ‘Cliff effect’ jeopardizes working parents...................... 26 COMMENTARY Transparency just a slogan with governor, staff............ 31 Strengthen public access to government information.... 32 Redistricting process on Common Cause agenda.......... 33 Legislature must act on gender-based violence............. 34 Prosperity is not possible without investment.................. 35 Are leaders willing to forego tax reform?...................... 36 NM legislators should protect working families............. 37

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New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition

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New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition

Introduction

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danger of not receiving the representation they deserve Welcome to New Mexico In under the law?

Depth’s fourth annual special Just how far will this windlegislative edition. Within fall stretch given the many these pages, you’ll find familneeds and obligations of the iar issues: budgeting, taxes, Trip Jennings state? And what about the transparency, early education unknowns — for example, the and government ethics, as new federal tax law and how well as criminal justice and it might affect the state’s budgeting for a discussion about whether the state the next fiscal year? The budgetary should legalize cannabis. year state lawmakers are funding will Unlike a year ago, when money was end in June 2019, just as many federal tight, the big news on the eve of the tax provisions take effect.

2018 legislative session is the economic These are among the questions swirlrebound that is generating unexpected ing around the 2018 30-day legislative amounts of money. The financial good session. news follows two years of dismal tax Another is will 2018 finally be the collections and cuts across state govyear of tax reform — that big idea to ernment. restructure the state tax code to make Where will state lawmakers direct it more fair and efficient? And what this unanticipated money to shore about the argument by advocates of up state government as they convene legalizing recreational use of cannabis in New Mexico — that it would raise in Santa Fe on Tuesday for this year’s more tax revenue for the state.

30-day session? Will they add dollars We don’t have all the answers within to education and childcare funding? these pages but we do talk to people What about the courts and public defenders, who some say are so under- who know more than we do. We’re journalists, after all. No one we talked funded that low-income people are in

to is a fortune teller as far as we know, so there are no predictions about the future. But we do get some educated guesses.

Finally, the affliction of public corruption in New Mexico continued in 2017 as the state watched a jury convict former state Sen. Phil Griego of bribery, fraud and ethics violations after a lengthy trial.

As we have in previous special editions, we’ve also given several New Mexicans space to write about their expectations for the 2018 legislative session.

Written about by one of our columnists and sure to be a big topic during the session is the thorny problem of sexual harassment. The Legislature has created a proposed update of its anti-harassment policy as a starting point for discussion. Will legislators also make combating sexual harassment of women outside the Roundhouse a priority issue on their agenda?

Thanks for reading. We hope you’ll follow along with us during the session, at www.nmindepth.com.

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New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition Continued from 6 ➤

BOOST

By Trip Jennings New Mexico In Depth

Cautiously optimistic.

That might best describe two senior lawmakers on the Legislature’s budget committees on the eve of the 2018 legislative session.

After two years of dismal tax revenues, New Mexico is suddenly enjoying a surplus of cash. Estimates are between $200 million and $300 million in new money will greet state lawmakers when they convene Tuesday in Santa Fe. It’s a definite change from the two “terrible” years that New Mexico suffered through, said Patricia Lundstrom, D-Gallup, who chairs the House budget committee that each year builds the framework for the state spending plan.

Lundstrom is decidedly upbeat.

New Mexico could burn through unexpected money quickly The money comes thanks to increased activity in the state’s oil and natural gas regions.

“It’s good news for the state of New Mexico,” Lundstrom said.

Then, she paused.

“To be honest, I want to wait and see,” the Gallup Democrat said.

She sounds a lot like John Arthur Smith, her Senate Democrat counterpart who chairs that chamber’s powerful Finance Committee.

“I want to keep a cautious eye,”

Smith said, answering a question about the projected surplus money.

Hundreds of millions of dollars might strike you and everyone you know as a lot of money. But it doesn’t go as far as you might think following the past two years that pummeled New Mexico.

“We have a huge amount of backfilling to do,” Smith said.

Over the past two years, educational programs were cut in a state that drags the bottom of national school rankings. State worker sal-

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New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition

aries stayed flat, a factor some officials say continues to create high turnover and vacancy rates at several state agencies.

For a while, it seemed like a constant drumbeat of depressing news.

That included the announcement in autumn 2016 that a Wall Street rating agency no longer considered New Mexico a safer-than-safe investment. The state had swept its financial reserves to keep operating.

The ratings downgrade meant the state might have to borrow cash at higher interest rates in the future to pay for projects.

The dire finances left unmet needs across New Mexico state government. That’s why the Legislature’s budget arm is recommending a “modest compensation” increase of Continued on 7 ➤

about 1.5 percent for state workers in the 2018 budget at a cost of nearly $50 million, Lundstrom said.

“Of course we have to hear from the executive,” she said of Gov. Susana Martinez, whose budget team will negotiate the 2018 spending plan with the Legislature.

Martinez did release a proposed budget in early January that appeared to call for increases in similar areas as a proposed spending plan by the Legislature’s budget arm.

Smith and Lundstrom rattle off several agencies with high numbers of specific positions that remain unfilled or that are experiencing high turnover: Corrections officers at the state’s prisons, nurses at state hospitals, dispatchers at the Department of Public Safety.

New Mexico courts are another.

The Administrative Office of the Courts is requesting a $14 million bump to its budget, mostly to fill vacancies, said Director Arthur Pepin.

If funded, about $5 million will go toward pay increases with the rest going to fill positions.

In terms of staff, courts across New Mexico, which includes magistrates, district courts and the Metro Court in Albuquerque, are running a 12 percent vacancy rate, Pepin said.

“We would like to get that to single digits,” the director said. “We’ve had terrible turnover with our clerks, who receive extremely low pay.”

Filling vacancies across state government is only one priority.

Another is shoring up children’s health insurance and child-care assistance, evidenced by requests from two agencies seeking $60 million of the unexpected money.

The Human Services Department wants more than $30 million in the event that Congress doesn’t appropriate money for the Children’s

Lundstrom

Smith

Health Insurance Program. Congress let the program lapse last year.

CHIP covers more than 11,300 children in New Mexico.

The Children Youth and Families Department wants an additional $25 million to keep its child-care assistance program funded at the current level.

Public schools, money for early childhood programs and Medicaid, the government’s insurance program for low-income people, are funding priorities, too, Lundstrom said.

“I’m getting calls daily for additional money,” Smith added.

There will be pressure, too, from Smith’s and Lundstrom’s colleagues to set aside money for projects in towns and cities across the state.

“We didn’t have any capital last year,” Lundstrom said.

There is a real need to fund statewide projects that aren’t finished, she added. And the same goes for local lawmaker-requested projects, although there shouldn’t be a feeding frenzy, she said.

“I think it will boil down to how much each individual legislator gets” to fund those projects, she said.

In addition to funding requests from agencies, programs and services, New Mexico must build up its operating reserves, now at 8.5 percent, which is much better than last year. Recommendations are to strengthen the reserves against future financial problems.

On the horizon are other situa-

tions that could further gobble up state revenues depending on how they are resolved.

A Legislative Finance Committee brief from early December reported that there were $445 million in taxpayer claims under protest at the state Taxation and Revenue Department, “a mix of disputes over assessments, denied refunds, and denied business credits.”

According to the brief, “Anecdotal reports by some industry representatives suggest (Taxation and Revenue Department) is routinely denying refunds, deductions, and credits to a much higher degree in recent years, leading to concerns about the department’s ability to provide a reliable, consistent tax environment for businesses.”

“If half of (the protests) are successful against the tax department, that would eat up” some of the new money New Mexico is expecting, Smith said.

Meanwhile, a lawsuit that accuses New Mexico of not meeting its financial obligations to provide a sufficient education for all its children could require some of the money if a state judge rules for the plaintiffs, Smith said.

Then there are all the unknowns surrounding the new federal tax legislation that became law in December.

“It is all swirling at the same time,” Lundstrom said of the state worker vacancies, cash-starved agencies, the need to build up reserves and the unknowns. “It is not like we can take pieces and look at them one at a time. This is why I have directed the LFC staff not to go into a feeding frenzy.”

Smith agreed.

The list of needs “goes on and on,” he said. “We can’t just grab” the new money and “say here we go again.”

Jeff Proctor contributed to this report.

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New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition

New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition

Will lawmakers make 2018 the Year of the Child?

By Sylvia Ulloa New Mexico In Depth

New Mexico’s children have arguably taken the brunt as the state has struggled through tough budgets the past couple of years, with cuts to public schools, state colleges and programs such as home visiting and expanded school years.

But with oil and gas revenues rebounding, could 2018 be the Year of the Child at the Roundhouse?

State legislators are likely to reverse course on spending cuts when they meet to hammer out a budget for 2018-19 that might have between $200 million and $300 million in unanticipated revenue, although uncertainties, including how the new federal tax law affects the state’s taxpayers, could change that. Two departments are seeking a $60 million chunk of that money to pay for children’s health insurance and child-care assistance. In addition, Democratic lawmakers are Sapien reintroducing bills they’ve carried in the past that would tap two large funds to pay for early childhood education programs.

“The Legislature, both chambers and both sides of the aisle, recognize we need to prioritize our earlier childhood funding and feel bad that we were forced to reduce these areas’ funding in the last session,” said Sen. John Sapien, D-Corrales, who is seeking support for his proposal to take about $35 million annually from the Severance Tax Permanent Fund to pay for programs that target

Sylvia Ulloa — New Mexico In Depth

Preschool teacher Brittany Polanco does an evaluation of a student at Alpha School in Las Cruces for the New Mexico Pre-K program. children from birth to age 3, a period term renewal is up in the air until of rapid brain development.

Congress returns to work in January.

CHIP covers children from lowState agency requests er- and middle-income families that The biggest ticket items will likely make too much to qualify for Medhave the most bipartisan support. In icaid but not enough to buy private September, Congress allowed fund- insurance. In a Dec. 6 presentation, ing for the Children’s Health Insur- state Human Services Secretary ance Program to lapse and has spent Brent Earnest said the department is much of its time since then working seeking $30.7 million to cover more on a massive overhaul of the feder- than 11,300 children in the event al tax code. Lawmakers on Dec. 22 Congress does not appropriate monapproved stop-gap funding for the ey for the program.

The Children Youth and Families program as part of a bill to avoid a government shutdown, but its long- Department is seeking $25 million

just to keep its child-care assistance program going at the current level.

An increase in state reimbursement rates to child-care providers and a new, 12-month renewal period has kept children enrolled in child-care centers more consistently, straining the program. The number of families served by child-care assistance has risen, with 20,871 children using childcare subsidies in September.

“CYFD says that they need that $25 million. I think that should be a priContinued on 9 ➤

Continued from 8 ➤ ority because the Child Care Development Block Grant serves low-income, at-risk families while they are working and going to school,” said Rep. Rebecca Dow, R-Truth or Consequences, an early childhood educator and consultant. “It targets families who need it. It has a two-generation impact — sends kids to school ready and helps us with our workforce.”

She pointed out the money the state spends in child-care assistance is a Dow good way to leverage federal dollars, because about two-thirds of the money comes from federal grants and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. “I’m all for maximizing the federal allocation.”

Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, praised CYFD Secretary Monique Jacobson’s work in restructuring the department in an interview with New Mexico In Depth, and was supportive of her requests.

“I don’t know that we’ll fund it at $25 (million), because we’re still spread thin, but I can see a good chunk of it at $20 million or so going into it,” he said.

Permanent funds

Sylvia Ulloa — New Mexico In Depth

The ideological wars over how to The New Mexico PreK schedule at Alpha School in Las Cruces.

improve New Mexico’s 50th place standing in education will return to the Roundhouse in the Public Education Department’s budget request and in two bills that are resurfacing to take money from the Land Grant Permanent Fund and the Severance Tax Permanent Fund to use for early

childhood education Despite a lawsuit this year against the PED that claims the state has been underfunding New Mexico public schools to the tune of $600 million per year, the department is asking for a flat budget. That comes despite cuts

to school budgets in recent years, and the sweeping of reserve funds by the state to help balance the budget and inflation. In effect, the money PED is seeking would be a budget cut and it takes a whack even at programs the department touts, such as Read to

9 Lead. It proposes only a slight bump to K-3 Plus, a program that adds 25 days to the school year and which in combination with preschool, has been shown to reduce the education gap for low-income children. The program lost about 4,000 slots over the summer because of the budget problems.

PED Secretary-designate Christopher Ruszkowski has continued policies started under former Secretary Hanna Skandera that emphasize school and teacher accountability, judged in large part by student improvements on standardized tests.

He also has advocated school choice and charter schools. In testimony during the trial against the PED, Ruszkowski characterized the plaintiff ’s argument that poverty drives poor educational outcomes as “the soft bigotry of low expectations.”

In contrast, many Democratic lawmakers are pinning hopes for a turnaround in education on infusions of money into early childhood initiatives. With the state’s limited resources, they are looking to the state’s two “permanent” endowments as the way to achieve their goal. The Land Grant fund is worth $16.9 billion and Severance Fund is worth $5 billion, and both get much of their revenues from the oil and gas industry, as well as from investment of that income. Each year 5 percent of the Land Grant fund and 4.7 percent of the Severance Tax fund are distributed to fund education and other state needs. As the funds grow, so does that distribution.

The argument against tapping the funds — and an argument that has won out with Republicans and conservative Democrats in the state — has been that they provide a level of stability to the state budget that is a hedge against the volatile oil and gas industry. It’s been that volatility, and Continued on 10 ➤

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New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition

Continued from 9 ➤ the cutback of federal spending in the state, that have caused much of the state’s budget problems.

The counter-argument is that the permanent funds are a rainy-day fund, and that monsoon rains are falling on education in New Mexico.

Democrats Javier Martinez and Antonio “Moe” Maestas, both of Albuquerque, have filed House Joint Resolution 1, an amendment to the state Constitution that would take an additional 1 percent distribution of the Land Grant Permanent Fund for schools and early childhood education, with all of that money dedicated to early childhood beginning in 2022.

That extra 1 percent would generate about $130 million to $150 million per year.

“It goes to quality early education services, which includes pre-K, which includes childcare subsidies,

which includes home visitation, which includes any other type of intervention service that a kid might need between the age of 0 and 5,” Martinez said.

The bill would create a ballot question for voters on the extra distribution and would not require Gov. Susana Martinez’s approval.

A similar measure passed the state House in 2017, but went nowhere in the Senate. It’ll face opposition in that chamber again from Smith and other legislators worried about the fund’s long-term health, and where and how the money would be spent.

Still, Javier Martinez is hopeful the bill will gain traction in this year’s session.

“I think the Senate is moving in our direction,” he said. “I think with all the transitions coming next year, politically, we’ve already seen several of the gubernatorial candidates coming out in support of this proposal.

Candidates for land commissioner

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have come out in support of this proposal. I think the political winds are shifting here..”

When pressed about the difficulty of using permanent fund money and its likelihood of getting through the Senate, Martinez said he’d be open to considering Sapien’s effort to tap the smaller Severance Tax fund, which has gathered some support from more conservative legislators.

“As an advocate for early ed, I think any monMartinez ey we can get is very much welcome,” he said. “But as a member of the House Tax and Revenue Committee, I have seen the Severance Tax fund, and that fund is not in very good shape.”

He believes the Land Grant is a better vehicle for paying for early childhood efforts because the fund gets its money from both ongoing oil and gas revenues and Wall Street investments, and even with the additional withdrawals, it would continue to grow. And, the Land Grant fund has always been dedicated to education, which is not the case with the Severance Tax fund.

Tapping either fund draws strong opposition from Smith, the powerful chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. He has long been a defender of the funds as a fiscal conservative who worries about draining one of the few sources of steady income New Mexico residents can count on.

He dismissed Sapien’s bill, and agreed with Javier Martinez on the health of the Severance Tax fund.

The demands on it are already too great, he said, with money being diverted from it in the first place, and other money siphoned off for tribal and colonias projects sitting unused.

New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition The two permanent funds added nearly $900 million to the state’s general fund in fiscal 2018, according to the State Investment Council, which manages the fund.

“As those funds grow, we got an additional $63 million this year, according to the Land Office. That revenue stream has been far more reliable than oil and gas the last two years,” Smith said.

Trend line over early childhood spending

Smith wants to make clear that the Legislature has put serious money behind early childhood programs in New Mexico, even during difficult budgetary times. Funding for early childhood programs such as childcare assistance, home visiting and pre-K went from about $140 million in 2012 to about $240 million in 2017. All told, between state and federal dollars, more than $300 million will be spent annually on early childhood efforts, Smith said.

Smith, whom some view as opposed to additional early childhood education spending, pointed out he was the sponsor of full-day kindergarten. What he hopes to see is quality programs and a well-thought-out expansion.

“It’s not as if it (early childhood) has been denied,” he said. “The issue at hand, and Children Youth and Families is speaking to it, and the Public Education Department is speaking to it, they’re finally talking about quality programs. Now, if you just want raw numbers to improve the numbers, that’s one thing, but if you want quality programs you have to have the trained personnel.”

The question that will be debated among legislators, educators and child wellbeing advocates is whether even $300 million will be enough to change the outcomes for children and education in New Mexico.

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NM’s skeletal criminal justice system needs a cash infusion

By Jeff Proctor New Mexico In Depth

New Mexico’s judges are the lowest paid in the country. Its chronically underfunded public defenders struggle to represent clients in one of the nation’s poorest states. And prosecutors say they need more money to blunt increases in crime.

This situation awaits New Mexico state lawmakers when they convene Tuesday for the 2018 session in Santa Fe. But, for the first time in years, thanks to a projected $200 million to $300 million more in revenue than anticipated, the Legislature could spread serious money around New Mexico’s skeletal criminal justice system after recent budget cuts and years of austerity.

The question is how much.

Prosecutors, judges and public defenders, along with their allies in the Legislature, will compete for dollars during the 2018 session with other needy programs and services such as early childhood education and health care as New Mexico emerges from a serious cash shortage.

The money comes as a relief to legislators focused on criminal justice but concerns loom over how the funds will be divvied up, particularly as rising crime rates around the state dominate headlines, the evening news and political rhetoric.

New Mexico climbed to No. 1 in the nation for property crimes and No. 2 for violent crimes in 2017, according to an annual report issued in September by the FBI, based on self-reported figures from all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

New Mexico’s steady increases in crime rates are largely driven by Albuquerque, the state’s most populous

Steven Hsieh — Santa Fe Reporter

New Mexico Chief Public Defender Bennett Baur was held in contempt of court last year after saying his office couldn’t take on any more cases in one county. city.

“Obviously we have a real problem here, and we’re going to have to do whatever it takes, including using some of that money, to put more people in prison and jail,” said state Rep. Bill Rehm, an Albuquerque Republican and retired sheriff ’s captain.

Rehm has prefiled several familiar bills in advance of the session to increase penalties on criminals, eliminate the statute of limitations for second-degree murder and other measures. Similar proposals have failed in recent years in the Demo-

crat-controlled Legislature.

More money for prosecutors proposed by governor

Gov. Susana Martinez also has indicated she wants to increase the budget for the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office by $6.5 million — a 33 percent hike. Her request is more than the $6 million first-year DA Raul Torrez is asking for.

It’s by far the largest increase Martinez has ever recommended for the office, and the first time she’s sought to boost its funding at all since her reelection in 2014, according to fig-

ures from the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC).

“New Mexicans deserve to be safe.

People in Albuquerque deserve to feel safe,” she said at an October news conference, flanked by law enforcement, according to an Albuquerque Journal story.

Martinez did not respond to multiple inquiries for this story, and she dodged questions from a New Mexico In Depth journalist at a news conference in December.

The state’s 13 DA’s offices don’t submit budget requests together; rather, Continued on 12 ➤

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New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition

Continued from 11 ➤ they ask the Legislature for funding individually. And although each office is seeking a hike this year, LFC figures show that they may not be quite as swamped as they say.

“Despite rising reported crime rates in New Mexico, cases referred to the district attorneys have fallen, suggesting a disconnect in crime and policing,” an LFC report looking at the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2018 says. The report also points out that, on average, funding for prosecutors, the courts and public defenders has increased 2 percent per year since 2014.

Judges, staff, public defenders in need of money, too

Rep. Antonio “Moe” Maestas, D-Albuquerque, said he supports an increase for the DA’s Office in his home city of about 5 percent, and pointed out that prosecutors aren’t the only criminal justice players feeling the squeeze of last year’s cuts.

Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court, the state’s busiest, needs a 5 percent budget increase, too, Maestas said. The rest of the state’s courts need more funding, too.

The state Administrative Office of the Courts has asked for a $14 million increase this year, in part to boost the pay of New Mexico’s judges, which are the lowest paid in the

nation, according to a report from the National Center for State Courts.

“You get the criminal justice system you pay for,” Maestas said. “Of course public safety is a priority for this session, but the best way to fight crime is to fully fund these institutions — all of them. That’s what I hope comes out of this session: a step toward that.”

The state Law Office of the Public Defender has asked for a 13 percent budget hike. Its chief attorney was held in contempt of court last year after saying his office couldn’t take on any more cases in one county.

“Even if we got that, or even if all aspects of the system were given an equal share of whatever money the Legislature has, it would still be out of balance” because of several years in which the lawyers who represent indigent people have received smaller increases or no new money at all, said Chief Public Defender Bennett Baur. “If they decide just to fund prosecution and law enforcement, it will make it worse. Indigent defense is part of the cost of prosecution, and not just somebody to look over a plea agreement — but somebody to actually test the evidence.”

Several criminal justice watchers and policymakers interviewed for this story said a deeper issue continues to roil beneath the surface: a decimated mental health care system and sorely lacking substance abuse treatment services that have forced

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the criminal justice system to take on more of the burden of New Mexico’s problems.

“The whole system is being asked to deal with people in crisis who used to be handled by other aspects of government,” Baur said. “This really isn’t a criminal justice system anymore; it’s a criminal processing system. If we don’t address those larger issues, then we’ve failed.”

Two state senators from opposing parties — Democrat Peter Wirth of Santa Fe and Republican Sander Rue of Albuquerque — acknowledged the need to fund prosecutors, public defenders and the courts in order to keep the system in balance. And both said the Legislature would be wise to fund reintegration programs for people coming out of prison and to boost programs aimed at addressing people’s substance abuse and mental health problems without incarceration.

Skepticism greets call to repeal amendment

Wirth and Rue took exception to a controversial proposal by Gov. Martinez: to scrap an amendment to the state constitution voters passed by more than 80 percent last year that allows judges to hold dangerous defendants in jail without bond before trial, but prevents them from locking up pretrial defendants accused of less serious crimes simply because they can’t pay a bail bondsman.

“The only way forward is to repeal this dangerous amendment and replace the irresponsible pretrial detention rules,” the governor wrote on Facebook on Oct. 26, borrowing some phrasing from President Donald Trump. “Judges and the legislature must act – it’s time to get these criminals off our streets and back behind bars where they belong.”

The amendment, along with changes to how cases are managed in Albuquerque courts, have drawn the

13

New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition ire of the governor and others, who blame the reforms for rising crime rates. Neither Martinez nor anyone else has provided data to support their claims.

With the exception of Rehm, every lawmaker interviewed for this story pointed out the amendment only went into effect July 1 and said the better way to ensure judges are enforcing the constitutional change properly is through the court rulemaking process — not by passing laws that would, for example, define “dangerousness” in state statute.

An ad-hoc committee appointed by the state Supreme Court met several times last year and was expected to present tweaks to court rules for implementing the amendment before the session began.

Rue said the case management changes and the constitutional amendment were necessary reforms to a criminal justice system that had drifted from its actual purpose.

“The solution isn’t to remove those initiatives; the solution is to adequately fund them, as well as looking at more comprehensive reform so the system as a whole functions in a better and more balanced way that actually results in a reduction in crime in addition to principled justice,” he said.

Rue said the improved revenue forecast presents some hope for lawmakers. But deep, systemwide reforms may have to wait until there’s a new occupant of the Governor’s Mansion.

“There is an opportunity to adequately fund the criminal justice system with additional available revenue this year, but I’m concerned about piecemeal legislation that doesn’t actually impact public safety,” Rue said. “My hope is that the Criminal Justice Reform Subcommittee will reconvene next year to develop more comprehensive proposals for the 2019 session.”

Lobbyist transparency takes a nosedive

By Marjorie Childress and Melorie Begay

YEAR

REGISTERED LOBBYISTS

LOBBYISTS MAKING EXPENDITURES

2017

668

160 (24%)

2016

591

155 (26%)

2015

633

150 (24%)

2014

1103

141 (13%)

2013

662

135 (20%)

New Mexico In Depth

In our society, money buys things.

That includes at places like the Roundhouse in Santa Fe, where the textbook ideal is an informed citizenry empowered to ask elected officials educated questions about how decisions are made but where the reality often is more muddy.

What money buys in Santa Fe is a pressing question these days in New Mexico, where in the past three years, a former secretary of state has pleaded guilty to embezzlement and a former state senator has been convicted of bribery.

Over the last seven or eight years, due to public pressure following an earlier series of scandals, the New Mexico Legislature seemed to be opening the doors slightly on how decisions are made.

First, there was webcasting, allowing the public to watch lawmakers debate issues on the floor of the state House and Senate and, later, in legislative committee hearings. The state Sunshine Portal came, too, where people can search state contracts, although it is not searchable digitally.

And state lawmakers finally overcame a deep-seated discomfort with an independent ethics commission and in 2017 passed a proposed constitutional amendment that voters will decide on this November.

So it was a bit of a surprise when during the 2016 legislative session state lawmakers reduced the amount of money spent by lobbyists and their employers that has to be publicly disclosed. Any expenditure under $100 no longer must be reported.

Lobbyists are versatile, knowledgeable actors in Santa Fe. As a general rule, other people — individuals, corporations, governments, nonprofits — pay lobbyists to pass or kill legislation.

Depending on their specialty, lobbyists also might be asked to write complicated language for their employers to insert into existing bills.

Or they might introduce their clients to powerful decision-makers. In Santa Fe, many lobbyists are former lawmakers, are relatives of former lawmakers or they once worked at legislative agencies, meaning often they are well-connected individuals.

Seeing more detail in lobbying expense reports, the thinking behind public disclosure goes, would allow the public to know more about who — whether people, corporations, nonprofits or governments — is trying to influence decisions, who has more access relative to others, and whether more scrutiny is deserved.

Some lawmakers, saying the reduced public disclosure was a mis-

in 2014.

Only about a quarter of the registered lobbyists spend money each year. About half of that group — more than 60 lobbyists — have spent money every year since 2011, many of them representing multiple employers.

The flow of money takes several forms: There’s money for social events, big and small, that give lobbyists an opportunity to meet and schmooze with elected officials and other decision-makers. Money also pays for gifts and other perks for elected officials. Businesses and other organizations, meanwhile, hire professional lobbyists or pay salaries of people who lead lobbying efforts.

And lobbyists and their employers often contribute money to political campaigns.

The degree to which money inRolling back transparency fluences legislators and other public Hundreds of lobbyists register officials is a long-debated subject. each year in New Mexico. Since Entire research organizations, not 2013, the number has ranged from 591 on the low end in 2016, to 1,103 Continued on 14 ➤ take, pushed through a legislative fix that their colleagues passed last year.

“Let’s be honest, if a lobbyist is spending money, they’re Steinborn not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts,” said Sen. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces. “They’re doing it to influence you.”

But Gov. Susana Martinez vetoed it.

Now, going into 2018, it remains to be seen whether the governor and Legislature will let the reduced reporting requirements stay on the books.

14

New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition

Continued from 13 ➤ to mention reporting projects, are dedicated to examining the subject, through research, analysis, and watchdogging the money and actions of public officials.

Sen. Daniel Ivey-Soto, D-Albuquerque, doesn’t believe legislators vote a particular way because of how lobbyists spend money. Rather, he believes lobbyists tend to support legislators with shared beliefs.

“It’s not that I will vote some way because someone gave me money, but instead, someone gives me money because I will vote some way,” Ivey-Soto said.

Regardless of the role of lobbyist spending and its influence, Ivey-Soto said people have the right to know where the money is going.

“The public has that interest and should be able to see that, both as the session’s going Ivey-Soto with regard to the large expenditures, as well as after the session, to be able to have an understanding of what took place,” Ivey-Soto said about lobbyist reporting requirements.

Ivey-Soto said the level of public disclosure by lobbyists should return to where it was prior to passage of legislation he sponsored two years ago.

In 2016, the state Legislature passed HB 105, legislation Ivey-Soto co-sponsored with Rep. James Smith, R-Sandia Park. The bill’s purpose was to make lobbyist reports more accessible to the public by requiring lobbyists to file online, allowing their reports to be more easily searched and analyzed.

But it also eliminated a require-

This image shows the mark-ups to the Lobbyist Reporting Act reducing disclosure requirements, as HB 105 made its way through the committee process to a final vote by the Senate and House.

A hypothetical example illustrating the impact of the reduced disclosure requirement Scenario A: Before HB 105 became law, a lobbyist accu-

mulates $1,000 in various expenditures, and reports $750 cumulative total on meals for legislators and $250 in other expenditures.

Scenario B: After this bill became law, a lobbyist accumulates

$1,000 in various expenditures, and reports $150 dollars on one meal to discuss legislation with legislators.

Why the difference?

In Scenario A, the lobbyist spent $1,000, reporting all of it in cumulative amounts broken into two categories: a cumulative total spent on meals and a cumulative total of spending on nonmeal-related items.

In Scenario B, the lobbyist only had one expenditure above $100, a meal that cost $150. The law does not require the lobbyist to report any other expenditures because they were all under $100. Hypothetically, the lobbyist could have treated multiple legislators to meals during the session but never reported any of them.

sponsors.

“Oh my,” Ivey-Soto told Fish. “It was not our intent to get rid of cumulative reporting. That’s a vital indicator of what people are doing and what people are spending.”

A hypothetical example illustrates the impact of the reduced disclosure requirement: Scenario A: Before HB 105 became law, a lobbyist accumulates $1,000 in various expenditures, and reports $750 cumulative total on meals for legislators and $250 in other expenditures.

Scenario B: After this bill became law, a lobbyist accumulates $1,000 in various expenditures, and reports $150 dollars on one meal to discuss legislation with legislators.

Why the difference?

In Scenario A, the lobbyist spent $1,000, reporting all of it in cumulative amounts broken into two categories: a cumulative total spent on meals and a cumulative total of spending on non-meal-related items.

In Scenario B, the lobbyist only had one expenditure above $100, a meal that cost $150. The law does not require the lobbyist to report any other expenditures because they were all under $100. Hypothetically, the lobbyist could have treated multiple legislators to meals during the session but never reported any of them.

The fix

ment that lobbyists report the cumulative amount of money they had spent during the reporting period.

Instead, the bill inserted a rule that lobbyists had to report each separate expenditure of $75 or more. As the bill moved through committees, a House committee increased that amount from $75 to $100.

The bill as amended was then passed by the Legislature and signed

into law by the governor.

The elimination of the reporting requirement for lobbyist expenditures under $100 was first noted publicly after the session concluded

by New Mexico In Depth reporter Sandra Fish. What had been lauded as a transparency bill had, as it turned out, reduced required financial reporting.

The news surprised one of the bill

15

New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition

A general rule of thumb in the legislative process is that passing a bill takes time, sometimes many years, if ever, while killing a bill is easy. To pass a bill, both legislative chambers as well as the governor have to be on board.

In 2017, Ivey-Soto along with Sen. Joseph Candelaria, Steinborn, and Smith introduced SB 393 to insert Continued on 15 ➤

Top Public Officials and Corruption 2005 State Treasurer Michael Montoya pleaded guilty to extortion.

CPI Assessment of systems in place to deter corruption in new mexico state governemnt

2006

Public access to information

Grade F (49)

Rank 19th

State Treasurer Robert Vigil, Montoya’s successor, was convicted on one count of attempted extortion.

Political financing

Grade F (48)

Rank 36th

Electoral oversight

Grade D-(60) Rank 33rd

Executive accountability

Grade F (53)

Rank 41st

Legislative accountability

Grade F (57)

Rank 39th

Judicial accountability

Grade C-(73) Rank 3rd

Budget processes

Grade C (74)

2008

Civil service management

Grade D (65) Rank 14th

Deputy State Insurance Superintendent Joe Ruiz was convicted by a federal jury of multiple counts of mail and wire fraud, corrupt solicitation, and extortion.

Procurement

Grade D (64) Rank 38th

Internal auditing

Grade B-(83) Rank 17th

Lobbying disclosure

Grade F (51)

Rank 43rd

Ethics enforcement agencies

Grade F (41)

Rank 45th

Pension fund management

Grade C-(71) Rank 17th

2008 Former Senate Pro Tem Manny Aragon pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges for his role in defrauding the state out of nearly $4.4 million

2009 Gov. Bill Richardson withdrew his name from consideration as President Obama’s Commerce Secretary due to a federal corruption investigation.

2009 Former three-term Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron was indicted along with three others on dozens of counts, including money laundering and embezzlement for alleged misuse of federal funds meant for a voter education campaign. The case against Vigil-

Continued from 14 ➤ cumulative reporting back into the Lobbyist Reporting Act. It was a simple bill, requiring lobbyist expenditures below $100 to be report-

Rank 27th

Source: New Mexico’s scorecard, 2015 State Integrity Investigation, Center for Public Integrity

Giron was later dropped because it dragged on for too long, but the three others were convicted and received federal prison sentences.

2011 Public Regulation Commissioner Jerome Block Jr. pleaded guilty to identity theft, embezzlement and fraudulent use of a credit card, and

ed in the aggregate and expenditures of $100 or more to be detailed individually. The bill made it through the Legislature but the governor vetoed it. “The concern of the governor’s office was that [SB 393] was

election fraud charges.

2013 Vincent “Smiley” Gallegos, former head of the Region 3 Housing Authority, pleaded no contest to four misdemeanors, after being indicted in 2009 on fraud, embezzlement and conspiracy related to bond funds for housing projects.

2015 Sen. Phil Griego resigned from the State Senate after an ethics complaint was filed against him because he shepherded (and voted for) the sale of state property in Santa Fe, and subsequently took a $50,000 broker’s commission from the purchaser.

2015 Secretary of State Dianna Duran resigned and pleaded guilty to six criminal counts, including two felony embezzlement charges, for using campaign donations to fund her gambling addiction. Duran, who as Secretary of State was the top campaign finance official in the state, was sentenced to 30 days in jail.

2016 New Mexico’s Taxation and Revenue secretary, Demesia Padilla, abruptly resigned one day after Attorney General investigators raided the state agency’s offices as part of an ongoing criminal investigation involving her and her husband.

2017 Senator Phil Griego was convicted of bribery, fraud, two counts of ethical violations and having an unlawful interest in a public contract.

The criminal charges stemmed from his role in helping the Legislature authorize the sale of a public building from which he stood to gain. Griego accepted a $50,000 broker’s fee from clients but never publicly disclosed he stood to gain from the sale.

not grammatically correct and thus could be read in two different ways,” Ivey-Soto said in an interview.

When the May 2017 lobbyist reports were filed, New Mexico In Depth identified 20 lobbyists who

reported no expenses between Jan. 15 through May 1 but who reported more than $23,000 in expenses the first four months of 2015, the previContinued on 16 ➤

Continued from 15 ➤ ous 60-day legislative session (New Mexico’s annual legislative sessions alternate between 60-day and 30day sessions).* Another try in 2018

“I feel strongly about carrying this legislation because we had an unintended consequence in the law,” Ivey-Soto said.

Despite the 2017 veto, Ivey-Soto said Gov. Martinez liked the idea of closing the loophole, so he and his co-sponsors are working on language that will satisfy her concerns.

Martinez did not respond to New Mexico In Depth’s question asking whether she would support a fix to the state’s lobbying disclosure law.

But getting a bill through the short 30-day session in 2018 could be an uphill battle, if the bill sees the light

New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition

“

“Let’s be honest, if a lobbyist is spending money, they’re not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts. They’re doing it to influence you.”

— Sen. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces

of day at all.

“It’s only going to be 30 days... a lot of things can go wrong and none of those have to do with oppositions to the bill,” Ivey-Soto said. “So I don’t know what … the odds of its passage would be.”

Steinborn is hopeful his colleagues will support the fix to the 2016 law that weakened public disclosure for

“

16

lobbyists.

Steinborn is known as a transparency and good government champion.

In addition to fixing the expenditure reporting issue, Steinborn has brought bills that would amend the Lobbyist Reporting Act to include more details about expenditures.

Those changes would include on

New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition

which legislator a lobbyist is spending money, and on what specific issues lobbyists are working. But those efforts haven’t made it out of legislative committees, much less to the desk of the governor.

“Sometimes with these big reform issues, you have to bite them off in chunks to get them past the Legislature,” he said. “There’s no time like the present to try and improve the state and the key is to be persistent and bring them up every session.” *The state Legislature also added a new reporting due date in October for lobbyists and their employers, making year to year analysis difficult.

New Mexico In Depth compared reported lobbyist expenditures in the first five months of 2015 and 2017, as comparable reporting periods over two 60-day sessions that sandwich the reporting requirement changes.

17

Move to legalize cannabis continues

By Marjorie Childress

A September 2017 poll found 57 percent of Americans favor legalization. A decade ago, that figure was only 37 percent.

New Mexico In Depth

One school of thought is that cannabis, or marijuana, is relatively benign and ought to be legalized, regulated and taxed to spur economic growth and end the harm caused by criminalization.

An opposing viewpoint is that it’s a dangerous drug that needs to remain unavailable legally, with criminal punishment of those who break the law.

Proponents of legalization in the New Mexico Legislature for several years have tried unsuccessfully to win a majority of state legislators over in a bid to legalize, regulate and tax the production and sale of cannabis to adults 21 years or older.

Expect 2018 to be no different as Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque, will again introduce a resolution during the four-week legislative session to put the issue on the ballot for voters to decide, a move that would not require support from the governor.

Prospects for success

Working in favor of Ortiz y Pino and other legislators bringing similar bills is a shift in public opinion over the past decade, with a majority in New Mexico and nationally believing recreational cannabis should be legal.

The short nature of the 2018 session means the resolution will have an uphill battle being squeezed into the legislative process. But the economic potential of a legal marijuana market in New Mexico has elevated the subject at the statehouse over the last few years, with proponents pointing to similar markets continu-

Going for the

GREEN

Flickr: Jurassic Blueberries

ing to open.

Five western states have legalized cannabis, leading to booming industries.

California legalized adult recreational use in 2017 and its first retail outlets opened earlier this month.

With California, one of the world’s largest economies, joining the legalization wave, 20 percent of the U.S. population now has the ability to walk into a store and legally purchase the herb for personal use.

Other western states joining the recreational movement are Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Nevada and Colorado. On the East Coast, Mas-

sachusetts and Maine are expected to see stores open in 2018.

The growing number of states that have or are debating whether to legalize cannabis are doing so in spite of the federal classification of cannabis as a Schedule One drug. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who assumed office in 2017, is no fan of legalizing marijuana. Earlier this month he rescinded an Obama-era Justice Department memo widely viewed as diverting federal prosecutorial resources away from state-sanctioned and regulated cannabis industries.

Sessions did not instruct U.S. Attorneys to begin prosecuting cannabis

businesses but left it up to individual U.S. Attorneys to decide whether to prosecute such cases.

During the 2017 legislative session, legalization efforts barely moved through the committee process. But the topic was hot, with a packed committee room during a presentation to the Senate Corporations and Transportation Committee on the potential economic benefits of legalization. The study

by Kelly O’Donnell, an economist who served as director of State Tax Policy, deputy Cabinet secretary for Economic Development, and superintendent of the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department during Gov. Bill Richardson’s administration, was commissioned by Ultra Health, a provider of medical marijuana.

While O’Donnell didn’t project the amount of tax revenue the state might realize from legalization, she did look at job potential, estimating 11,400 new manufacturing and marketing jobs, and 4,780 jobs in businesses that service the cannabis industry.

While the potential economic Continued on 18 ➤

18

New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition Not everyone is convinced

Continued from 17 ➤ benefits are a driving force for many, Ortiz y Pino doesn’t lose sight of what to him is a compelling human rights reason for cannabis legalization. “... We have damaged far more lives in this state by making marijuana illegal than marijuana use has ever damaged,” he said in an email to New Mexico In Depth.

“And I don’t even have to get into the truly discriminatory way in which anti-marijuana laws are applied to minority youth, to know that jobs lost, college denied, careers ruled off-limits and time wasted in jails, courts Ortiz y Pino and probation offices have caused so many more problems than could ever happen under legalized marijuana.”

Ortiz y Pino argued that cannabis is readily available right now, but its underground status fosters criminal activity, which he likened to alcohol during the 1920s and 1930s, when it was illegal. “... Our national experience with prohibition of alcohol ought to teach us how to deal with marijuana: it is counter-productive to drive it underground, where it fosters enormous criminal activity, violence, shame and wasted effort,” he said.

New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition

US opinion on legalizing marijuana, 1969-2016 Do you think the use of marijuana should be made legal, or not? (%) 84

81 Illegal 63

60

66

32

31

30

Legal

37

16

12 1969

57

1980

1990

2000 2006

2016

% who say marijuana should be made legal Source: Pew Research Center

“Far better to legalize, regulate, tax and control. Bring it out into the light of day and recognize it for what it is: a way many people have found to relax, deal with stress and help improve their moods … nothing more than that.”

There are a lot of people who agree with Ortiz y Pino.

Polling by the Pew Research Center shows that public opinion na-

tionally has flipped over the past decade. A September 2017 poll found 57 percent of Americans favor legalization. A decade ago, that figure was only 37 percent.

In New Mexico, a higher percentage — 61 percent — supports legalization, according to an Albuquerque Journal poll conducted in October 2016 by Research & Polling Inc.

Rep. Bill Rehm, R-Albuquerque, isn’t sold on the idea, however. A retired captain from the Bernalillo County Sheriff ’s Department, he believes legalization proponents aren’t considering the tremendous downsides and says take a look at states that have already legalized cannabis to understand the potential negative impacts of legalization on New Mexico.

Rehm reeled off examples of negative consequences he’s heard about in other states, saying that drug dealers are moving to those states, growing marijuana legally, and trafficking it to other states.

He’s gotten Rehm an earful about negative impacts in Colorado, mainly from public administrators and law enforcement personnel in his networks. For instance, he’s heard from school administrators in New Mexico that Colorado is grappling with both teachers and students coming to school under the influence of cannabis, and with higher truancy rates.

He’s heard about significant increases in emergency room overdoses due to specialty products like edible cannabis. And he’s heard from law enforcement personnel that more people are being busted for driving under the influence of cannabis.

Ultimately, Rehm thinks state leaders should look much more closely at the lessons being learned in other states, before making a decision about legalization in New Mexico.

“What everybody is looking at, is we’ll get all this money, but with the money comes the bad,” Rehm said.

“And that’s what you need to measure.”

The Openness Project

Are you ready for the 2018 Election Season?

Bookmark

opennessproject.com

to follow the money through user friendly, campaign specific visualizations.

The Openness Project was created by New Mexico In Depth to give communities better access to information about political contributions in the state of New Mexico.

The data comes from the New Mexico Secretary of State.

Don't miss out on New Mexico In Depth's year round coverage of New Mexico's most pressing issues:

CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM | ENVIRONMENT & ECONOMY | CHILD WELFARE | ETHICAL GOVERNMENT Find us: nmindepth.com | facebook.com/NMInDepth | twitter.com/NMInDepth Get our articles in your email: http://bit.ly/NMIDsignup

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New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition

Some Legislation Speaks for Itself ...

New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition

A RESOLUTION REQUESTING THAT CONGRESS PASS THE FIX IT AMERICA CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT AND SUBMIT IT TO THE STATES FOR RATIFICATION WHEREAS, there is broad bipar�san support for fair elec�ons and governance in the state of New Mexico and across the United States of America; and WHEREAS, we agree on the underlying principle that the role of Money in elec�ons and governance should be transparent, prevent corrup�on and protect against the buying of access to or influence over representa�ves; and WHEREAS, we further recognize that district lines drawn to inten�onally or unduly favor or disfavor a poli�cal party undermine the most basic principles of fairness in elec�ons and governance; and WHEREAS, the Fix It America Cons�tu�onal Amendment expressly empowers Congress and State Legislatures to maintain fairness when it comes to these issues; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NEW MEXICO STATE LEGISLATURE that the Fix It America Cons�tu�onal Amendment (text below) be submi�ed to the US Congress with a request that it be passed by the required 2/3 vote and submi�ed to the states for ra�fica�on; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the legislators vo�ng for this Resolu�on will also vote to ra�fy the Fix It America Cons�tu�onal Amendment.

The Fix It America Cons�tu�onal Amendment Sec�on I. Congress and State Legislatures shall regulate the role of money in elec�ons and governance to ensure transparency, prevent corrup�on, and protect against the buying of access to or influence over representa�ves. No such regula�on shall be deemed in viola�on of freedom of speech rights in the Cons�tu�on of the United States or its Amendments.

Sec�on II. Legisla�ve districts or distric�ng plans shall not inten�onally or unduly favor or disfavor any poli�cal party.

SPONSORED CONTENT

SPONSORED CONTENT

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New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition

New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition Continued from 22 ➤

Tax reform unlikely to happen in 2018

By Trip Jennings New Mexico In Depth

A few years ago, a tax nerd at the Roundhouse could catch murmurings of “deductions,” “exemptions,” and “credits” — the tell-tale sign of tax talk — while strolling past lawmakers in the hallways or overhearing side conversations during committee hearings.

Tax reform as a goal has progressed since then. In the past two years, the movement has interested

Election-year politics, complexities of policy, new federal tax law seen as barriers to change

a larger number of public officials, including Gov. Susana Martinez.

Last year, competing concepts jockeyed for primacy. A bipartisan bill wasn’t in the cards. Still, tax reform nearly cracked through the noise to become a high-profile priority during the final weeks of the 2017 session, giving the idea a sense

of urgency in Santa Fe. Given this history, you could be forgiven for thinking it has a shot at success during the short 30-day session, which is dedicated to budgetary matters, including taxes.

But you would be wrong, several lawmakers and experts say.

Here’s why.

Tax policy is arcane, difficult stuff even in the best of circumstances.

And this year does not offer the best of circumstances.

New Mexicans will elect a new governor and members of the state House of Representatives in NovemContinued on 23 ➤

ber, and election-year politics don’t mix well with the complex challenges of restructuring the tax code.

Meanwhile, software being created to enable state lawmakers and public officials to model various scenarios of tax reform won’t launch until January, too little time for legislative staff and elected officials to master the program before the session ends Feb. 15.

Looming over all this is the new federal tax law. Passed in December by the Republican-controlled Congress, it has New Mexico lawmakers, economists, tax experts and legislative staff wondering how it will affect New Mexico’s revenue picture as it emerges from a serious cash shortage and state government is starving for dollars.

To put it in easy-to-understand terms: A projected $200 million to $300 million growth in tax revenue from improved oil and gas activity could grow or shrink depending on the law’s effects.

Finally, for all the big talk of tax reform in 2017, the difficult political work and the intensive person-by-person lobbying required to pass a tax overhaul remains mostly undone.

All of which makes talk of substantive reform in 2018 more optimistic than gritty political reality.

“My sense is that everyone wants to hold their breath and let the year go by,” said Richard Anklam of the Tax Research Institute, which advises New Mexico’s state lawmakers on tax policy. “I don’t think you’ll see a lot of substantive stuff.”

Tax policy is like playing three-dimensional chess

The phrase “tax policy” might scare many people away. But the truth is taxes are a part of New Mexicans’ everyday reality. They touch on

The phrase “tax policy” might scare many people away. But the truth is taxes are a part of New Mexicans’ everyday reality. They touch on virtually every transaction. Pick an activity and taxes are there. Buying a car? Yep. Mining? Ditto. Providing legal or accounting advice if you work as a contractor rather than an employee? Yep again.

virtually every transaction.

Pick an activity and taxes are there.

Buying a car? Yep. Mining? Ditto.

Providing legal or accounting advice if you work as a contractor rather than an employee? Yep again.

Income — both earned and gained from investments — is taxed, too.

Think about it. Thousands of transactions each day, spread out over a year, makes millions of taxed interactions involving individuals, families, corporations, nonprofits and others.

In an ideal world, a state’s tax policies strike a balance between sometimes-competing principles: fairness and efficiencies.

A tool states use to strike this balance, to varying degrees of success, are tax breaks called exemptions, deductions and credits — so-called tax expenditures.

Hundreds of them are buried within New Mexico’s tax code. Because they exempt or lessen the amount that is taxable, they reduce the money the state collects by billions of dollars each year.

However, an increasing number of state lawmakers from both political parties — and Gov. Martinez — think it’s time to scrutinize those deductions, exemptions and credits.

They aspire to one of the Holy Grails of tax policy: Simplifying the tax code and, as a side benefit, lowering general tax rates, particularly

the gross receipts tax. New Mexico’s version of the sales tax that taxes professional services and the production of goods, the state GRT is 5.125 percent, or roughly five cents for every dollar.

It is the state’s single largest generator of tax revenue at $2 billion in annual taxable income before credits are applied.

Many lawmakers want to eliminate tax expenditures to reap all that uncollected cash. In turn, that would allow them to lower the GRT rate from 5.125 percent down to, say, 2 percent.

But that’s where the general agreement breaks down.

A small number of lawmakers agree in concept some tax breaks might need to be eliminated.

An even smaller number of lawmakers agree on which ones to eliminate.

That progressively dwindling number of lawmakers demonstrates a political challenge: How to win over enough lawmakers to agree on a proposal that would dramatically change the tax code.

Another challenge is working through the difference of opinions on what belongs in tax reform.

Should tax reform mean only restructuring the gross receipts tax?

Or should the state restructure the GRT and raise the rates for the state personal income tax?

23 Lawmakers, unsurprisingly, are divided on the answer.

In some corners, particularly progressive ones, lawmakers fear a reform of the state gross receipts tax might hit poorer New Mexicans harder than the wealthy. To ensure an equitable tax code, they believe state policymakers should consider raising income tax rates on the state’s wealthiest residents.

A decade ago, Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson and the Legislature changed the state’s personal income tax structure, dropping the top state income tax rate from 8.2 percent to 4.9 percent.

At the time New Mexico was flush with money. The state’s oil and gas industry was reaping the windfalls of historically high oil prices, and money was flowing into the state’s economy and generating strong tax revenues.

Then the Great Recession hit and New Mexico was reminded of how dependent it is on the oil and gas industry. As tax revenue from the industry collapsed, the lower income tax rates on New Mexico’s highest earners exposed the structural hole in the state’s tax collections.

Ever since, progressive state lawmakers and their allies have pushed for higher income tax rates on wealthier New Mexicans.

Talk of tax reform mostly has focused on the GRT, however. There are several reasons, including history.

Over the decades state lawmakers have added deductions, exemptions and credits to the gross receipts tax, reducing the revenue going to the state. To compensate for the loss of cash coming in, the GRT rate has risen steadily to its current threshold — 5.125 percent — in an attempt to collect the same amount.

Because counties, cities, towns Continued on 24 ➤

Continued from 23 ➤ and tax districts are authorized to impose a local version of the GRT, depending on where you are in New Mexico what you actually pay on every transaction can be 6 cents, 7 cents, even more than 8 cents on every dollar. For example, the combined state-local GRT in Santa Fe, Las Cruces, Las Vegas, Gallup, Truth and Consequences and Taos is more than 8 cents while Albuquerque and Farmington charge 7.5 cents and 7.625 cents, respectively.

If you eliminate some of these exemptions, deductions and credits in the gross receipts tax, you could lower the state’s portion of the GRT — 5.125 cents — and raise the same amount of money altogether, goes the thinking. In other words, the tax will apply to a broader set of items and lower the gross receipts tax in statute that people are required to pay.

But not everyone is persuaded the

New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition GRT should be the sole focus of reform.

It was within that context at a mid-December legislative committee hearing that Democratic Rep. Bill McCamley suggested policymakers apply a “holistic” approach to tax reform.

“Can we balance out a regressive GRT reform with something that’s more progressive reform in the personal income tax?” said McCamley, a proMcCamley gressive lawmaker from Las Cruces. “We live in the one of the more regressive states in the country ... in terms of tax situation, where poor people pay a bigger burden than rich people.”

Jason Harper, McCamley’s Republican House colleague from Rio

The NM Film Industry “...the biggest job creation program since the Manhattan Project...”

Rancho and a sometimes tax-reform collaborator, wasn’t keen on the idea.

Harper, like McCamley, is one of a handful of New Mexico state lawmakers who can talk your ear off about the intricacies of state tax code and what needs reforming and what does not. But while he and McCamley have pushed their colleagues through the years toward reform, the two disagree on some of the details as well as the larger questions.

Harper believes the state’s current tax code is stifling small businesses, particularly by inadvertently taxing some items multiple times during the production process — called pyramiding. He also laments the GRT rate professionals pay if contracted to provide certain services.

Calling tax reform a once-in-a-generation opportunity, Harper is disappointed the Legislature didn’t pass it in 2017.

“We had a budget that was a problem. We had the Senate and House were both re-elected. You had a governor who was on her way out. And all those three things together put the perfect storm ... for tax reform,” Harper said.

“If Michelle Lujan Grisham (the leading Democratic candidate for governor) is our next governor, and we have this pent-up pressure to do tax reform, it will not be tax reform.

It will be tax increases that are sold as tax reforms.”

An extra year of negotiations, some state lawmakers say, would give policy makers additional time to negotiate all the tax policy and political details.

receipts tax — demonstrates one challenge of tax reform.

Another one is settling on who wins and loses.

Remember all those deductions, exemptions and credits. Behind every one are taxpayers who benefit.

Closing or changing them will affect someone.

The hope, lawmakers say, is that reform will benefit as many taxpayers as possible.

But doing that would require Harper mathematical precision married to an ability to predict human behavior in response to incentives. In this case, higher or lower taxes.

Patricia Lundstrom, the Democratic chairwoman of the powerful House Appropriations and Finance Committee, noted the difficulty legislative analysts had predicting the fallout from 2017 tax reform proposals.

“What I saw last year was that they had a hard time scoring what the true cost would be,” she said.

McCamley, like other tax reform advocates, acknowledged the bewildering complexity that comes with overhauling the state code.

“The effort to streamline and simplify the system is good, and something we should work toward,” McCamley said. “But as they say the devil is always in the details.”

Just ask Sen. Gay Kernan.

The Hobbs Republican worries Difficulties presented about how reform might affect by arcane tax policy health care practitioners. Federal Not that an extra year will make rules prohibit insurers from paying the conversations any easier. a gross receipts tax for some health McCamley and Harper’s differing workers, including physicians who worldviews — whether to include work as contractors for insurance reform of the personal income tax Continued on 25 ➤ with a restructuring the state’s gross

New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition Continued from 24 ➤ companies. What happens if the state decides to change state law to require that those contracting services pay the GRT instead of those performing the service?

Federal rules would supercede the new state law and health care practitioners wouldn’t benefit, she says.

Or listen to what John Arthur Smith has to say.

Smith, the Democratic chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, is known as “Dr. No” around the Roundhouse. It’s a nickname that stuck after Richardson used it to describe Smith’s hardheadedness when it came to budgetary matters. The Deming Democrat has tussled with Richardson’s Republican successor, too.

Smith is adamant that true tax reform won’t work unless New Mexico starts to tax food again.

If you lower the state gross receipt tax rate from 5.125 percent — or 5 cents on every dollar spent — to 2 percent after closing or eliminating tax breaks, the state would need as much money coming in as when the tax code had all the tax breaks to stay “revenue neutral,” he says. Otherwise, the lower GRT rate would not produce enough money.

“I can tell you right now you’re not gonna achieve (tax reform) without” the food tax and the health care tax, Smith said.

But re-imposing a tax on food is hugely contentious, generating a perennial battle among those like Smith and more liberal state lawmakers, the Catholic Church and progressive organizations.

You can begin to see, after contemplating the challenges awaiting state lawmakers, why the last substantive tax bill to pass the Legislature was in 2013 following the 2012 election.

Supporters and critics of that legislation hailed it as a major piece of

“

“My sense is that everyone wants to hold their breath and let the year go by. I don’t think you’ll see a lot of substantive stuff.”

— Richard Anklam New Mexico Tax Research Institute

“

24

25 lose $12,450 she could shield from being considered taxable income.

“Sally is going to have more taxable income unless New Mexico changes the income tax rates,” Anklam said.

There are thousands of other examples that state officials will have to examine first to see how the new tax bill affects revenue.

“It’s somewhat of a shadow on what we’ll be doing in the legislative session,” Smith said of the federal tax bill.

All of it — the politics, the intricacies of tax policy and the unknowns swirling around the new federal tax law — make tax reform unlikely, at least this year, lawmakers say.

Harper, for one, hasn’t lost hope.

“I’m hopeful we can get something meaningful done before I die,” Harper said at the mid-December committee hearing to a smattering of laughter. “We agree on 90 percent of what we want to do. Everyone is trying to beat the hope out of me.”

legislation. Compared to tax reform, files as a head of a household. it was a baby step, lawmakers and Sally’s standard deduction will go from $9,000 to $18,000, meaning experts say. that is the amount she will be able The great unknown: to shield from being assessed as taxThe federal tax bill able income.

That sounds good until you look at Finally, consider the last big chalher situation in its entirety, he says. lenge to tax reform: All the unAt the same time the federal law knowns swirling around the new doubles her standard deduction, it federal tax law. eliminates all her personal exempState officials don’t know how it will affect New Mexico or how Con- tions, which are worth $4,150 per person. With three exemptions — gress will pay for it.

Estimates by the congressional herself and her two children — she’d Joint Committee on Taxation are that the new tax law will add to the federal deficit by $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years and the federal government may have to offset that revenue loss. It is unclear how offsetting those costs will occur, according to a December brief from the Legislative Finance Committee.

New Mexico receives a ton of money from Washington through several programs, including MedGood Communication = Good Fortune icaid and mineral leasing payments.

Beyond the general effects to the state, New Mexico officials will be scrambling to determine how categories of New Mexico taxpayers are affected. Depending on how you file taxes, the number of personal exemptions you claim and other factors, a New Mexican could come out ahead or behind, said Anklam of the New Mexico Tax Research Institute.

Consistent, Effective, Creative Public Relations To illustrate his point, Anklam GriffinAssoc.com used the case of a single mother he named Sally with two children who

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New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition

Child care ‘cliff effect’ jeopardizes working parents as incomes rise

By Sylvia Ulloa

New Mexico In Depth

A couple of years ago a mother came to Ray Jaramillo, director of a childcare center in Las Cruces. She worked for minimum wage at Burger King, but was offered a supervisory position with better hours and a wage bump to over $9 an hour.

She worried the extra money could cause her to lose childcare assistance for her two little girls.

Between her and her spouse’s salary, their new earning power would push her family over the line for government-subsidized child-care.

She had to figure out whether to take the promotion and risk paying thousands of dollars more each year for childcare, or forgo the extra family income.

She turned down the promotion.

“I remember thinking (her potential salary) was the exact same as the minimum wage was going to be,” Jaramillo said, and no worker would be able to turn down Las Cruces’ wage increase.

As the Las Cruces minimum wage has risen over the past few years — from the state minimum of $7.50 in 2014 to the current $9.20 and headed to $10.10 in 2019 — childcare providers have begun to express concern that low-income families could lose valuable assistance that would more than wipe out the gains they made in wages.

“My fear is that the good things we are trying to do with minimum wage are gonna hurt the exact people that we are trying to help,” Jara-

Continued from 26 ➤ likely to affect very few, if any, families that are receiving the subsidy now.

That’s because about 90 percent of the people who get the subsidy are single parents, so their wage alone is unlikely to kick the family over the cliff.

“Most families that currently have childcare would still be eligible,” said Armelle Casau, a policy analyst and researcher at New Mexico Voices for Children who is working on a report on the cliff effect in New Mexico ahead of the 2018 legislative session.

The woman Jaramillo spoke about would have lost her child care subsidies because her spouse earned more than the minimum wage, and the raise would have pushed them over the ceiling of what the couple could earn while keeping their subsidies.

But as the minimum wage increases, in Las Cruces and in other places around the state, the cliff effect could become a real dilemma for some two-income families. And the cliff effect jeopardizes single parents whose incomes are right on the bubble.

As the minimum wage increases around the state, the cliff effect could become a real dilemma for some two-income families. And the cliff effect jeopardizes single parents whose incomes are right on the bubble.

Mexico is, by far, child-care assistance, a program that helps low-income parents work or remain in school. Last year, New Mexico spent about $100 million on the program with a combination of federal and state dollars, with New Mexico kicking in about one-third of Casau the cost.

It helps to think of the child care assistance program like a highway.

There’s the highway on-ramp, or The steepest cliff the amount of money a family can Casau said the steepest drop in earn and still come in under 150 benefits as incomes rise in New percent of the federal poverty level, Sylvia Ulloa — New Mexico In Depth

Ray Jaramillo is director at Alpha School in Las Cruces, a private provider of New Mexico PreK. He is part of a coalition of early childhood educators and advocates working for universal access in Doña Ana County. millo added.

That mother’s dilemma is real. It’s called the “cliff effect,” and children’s advocates say child-care assistance is the biggest loss in benefits for New Mexicans whose incomes go over 200 percent of the federal pov-

erty level.

Her circumstance is why New Mexico Voices for Children and the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty are advocating for the state to expand the eligibility for childcare subsidies and ease the sudden

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New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition

drop-off of benefits as parents work their way up the income ladder.

Those advocates did the math, and the good news is that Las Cruces’ minimum wage increases are Continued on 27 ➤

and therefore qualify for the childcare subsidy. Earn more than that, and they don’t get on the highway.

For a family of four, they can’t earn more than $36,903. For a single parent with two children, it’s $30,630.

Once they’re on the highway, they are forced to exit at 200 percent of the federal poverty level, and that off-ramp can drive parents right over a benefit cliff. That’s because when their income rises above 200 percent, they still might not make enough to cover the very high cost of child care. For a family of four, the exit is at $49,200 in annual income. It’s $40,480 for a single parent with two children.

Casau’s study looked at single parents with two kids, because most people with the subsidies are single parents and most have more than

one child in daycare. She found that a typical mother could go from paying about $3,000 per year in copays to almost $15,000, the full cost if she has an infant and a 4-year-old. Even with just one child, a single parent would see a jump of up to $7,000 in child-care costs for going over 200 percent of the federal poverty level.

“It’s almost like getting that one dollar increase over 200 percent FPL is a huge, dramatic loss that makes a lot of parents actually refuse pay raises and refuse promotions because they don’t want to lose that child-care assistance,” Casau said.

That kind of calculus hurts New Mexico’s workforce and a family’s future earning potential, Casau said. Other programs such as food stamps, Medicaid and TANF reduce benefits more gradually as people’s income increases, something NM Voices for Children is advocating for with child-care assistance.

Balancing minimum wage hikes with the cliff effect

While current families with child-care assistance in Las Cruces are unlikely to lose their benefits, some low-wage workers lost the chance to qualify for benefits when the wage went from $8.40 to $9.20 at the beginning of 2017. That’s beContinued on 28 ➤

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New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition

cause two parents working full time at minimum wage would make $38,272 per year, about $1,400 too much to qualify. A family of four with two parents working at Santa Fe’s minimum wage of $11.08 also would not qualify for childcare assistance because their combined income is over 150 percent of the federal poverty level, the level New Mexico sets for families to qualify initially. This month similar families in Albuquerque will be affected when the minimum wage increases to $8.95 per hour.

Both the Center on Law and Poverty and Voices for Children said the child-care subsidies are the best way to bolster today’s workforce — working parents — and New Mexico’s future workforce, because studies have shown children with high-quality early childhood care and education have better education outcomes. Increasing numbers of New Mexico families are using the childcare subsidies at four-star and above childcare centers.

As cities like Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Las Cruces work to improve wages, more families, though, will lose the chance to enroll in the program. That delicate dance is something that could inform efforts to raise the minimum wage statewide.

“We have to raise the minimum wage, but we also have to make sure the legislation doesn’t hurt families,” said Doreen Gallegos, D-Las Cruces, the House majority whip.

She said legislation to Gallegos increase the minimum wage statewide is likely to come back up in the session that starts in January, but she is also realistic about its chances in a 30-day session during Gov. Susana Martinez’s final year in office. “We need to keep the conversation going and to keep it happening. … but I hope we do it mindfully.”

DEMANDING ACCESS. CHAMPIONING THE RIGHT TO KNOW.

RIO GRANDE CHAPTER

SERVING NEW MEXICO AND EL PASO

IMPROVING AND PROTECTING JOURNALISM SINCE 1909

“

or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom

“We have to raise the minimum wage, but we also have to make sure the legislation doesn’t hurt families. We need to keep the conversation going and to keep it happening. … but I hope we do it mindfully.”

— Doreen Gallegos, D-Las Cruces,

Seeking a solution

Voices for Children and the Center on Law and Poverty believe there is a way to raise the minimum wage statewide, while still making sure more people can take advantage of child-care assistance and slowly ramp down benefits.

The advocates said the best way to mitigate the cliff effect would be to take the child-care assistance eligibility level to 200 percent of federal poverty level and to increase families’ copays on a sliding scale until they earn their way off the benefit at 300 percent of federal poverty level, which would allow for a much more gradual reduction in benefits.

Casau said Colorado is a highwage state that sets its eligibility level at 300 percent of the federal poverty level and that many states go above 200 percent. “And they’re paying their childcare workers a lot more than we are. So they’re finding a way to make it work,” she said.

Even New Mexico had set its el-

of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

– First Amendment to the US Constitution

igibility level at 200 percent of the federal poverty level in 2009, before budget constraints led the state to lower it to 100 percent in 2013, and back up to its current 150 percent in 2014.

CYFD will also temporarily raise the eligibility level when there is funding available to add people on the waiting list who are just over salary limit.

For the upcoming budget year, CYFD is seeking $25 million more from the Legislature in the upcoming budget to pay for higher reimbursements to child-care centers because of quality initiatives and longer enrollment periods. With between $200 million and $300 million in projected new money, that’s where the rubber will meet the road.

“All these legislators sit up at these panels, sit at the Kids Count, and say ‘early childhood, early childhood, early childhood.’ Let’s see if they get the $26 million,” said Jaramillo.

TX-SPAD0103151250

NMID will be covering the 2018 legislative session Find our complete coverage online at

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“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion

“

Continued from 27 ➤

New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition

Proud to sponsor the New Mexico In Depth Legislative Guide to inform New Mexico citizens about issues facing the State and the upcoming legislative session

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New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition

The Justice Project brought to you by New Mexico In Depth

Criminal justice reporting often follows a basic formula: here is an issue or a thing that happened, and here is what powerful people have to say about it. Occasionally, there is a counterpoint from someone whose political or ideological viewpoint differs from that of the powerful.

But it can be so much more: Representative of diverse and under-represented voices, focused on accountability, interested in solutions, curious about how the justice system fits into the mosaic of social structures and problems, and dedicated to the fundamental watchdog role of the press.

The Justice Project produces such journalism. nmindepth.com.

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New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition

analysis

Transparency a slogan, not reality with governor, staff

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eading this publipress corps’ skepticism, cation you might which has been growing, notice a glaring can be measured by the hole in our reporting: numerous lawsuits filed There is no comment or against her office and perspective from Gov. state agencies for public Susana Martinez or her records.

Trip Jennings spokespeople.

So, no, I’m not shocked It wasn’t for lack of by the silence from Martrying by New Mexico In tinez or her staff in this Depth. edition. Just disappointed.

Our organization sought comLike some politicians, Martiment from Martinez in person at nez seems to have given in to the a December event in Rio Rancho temptation to want stenographers and in writing to her press office. and acolytes rather than respectful As of press time, we have received but skeptical inquisitors. Journalno response. ists aren’t stenographers. We’re not The lack of comment is sadly not acolytes, either. At times, we ask surprising headed into the final tough questions, not because we year of the governor’s tenure as are out to get elected officials, but the state’s chief executive, one that because the public has a right to began with her promise on the know what they’re doing and why 2010 campaign trail to run an open they mess up when they do. and transparent administration if At the December event, I went to elected. It also belies the Martinez ask Martinez’s opinions on several administration’s repeated claims issues, including whether or not that it is the most transparent she would lobby the Legislature to administration in New Mexico’s repeal and replace a constitutionhistory. al bail amendment more than 80 What we in the media have percent New Mexicans approved in learned over the years is that 2016. She posted on Facebook in promise in 2010 was mostly a October that she thought the bail campaign slogan. Despite her amendment should go.

The governor waved me off, staff ’s protestations to the contrary, promising to announce her legisMartinez hasn’t followed through lative priorities later. Taking her on her pledge. The New Mexico

aides’ words to heart, NMID then sent a list of questions to Martinez’s spokespeople. As I said above, NMID got no response.

I can only speculate as to why the governor brushes off reporters’ questions when they show up to events they learn of through her office’s media advisories. I suppose no one enjoys being questioned — grilled even — by a gaggle of news reporters who are taught to nurture their skepticism while sniffing out dissembling, hollow promises and hypocrisy.

As annoying as it might be to answer questions from pesky reporters, making yourself available for questioning has been the price public officials pay in return for representing their constituents in American democracy. It’s baked into who we are as a nation.

As Thomas Jefferson wrote to Edward Carrington in 1787, “... were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter, but I should mean that every man should receive those papers & be capable of reading them.”

I write this not out of defensiveness in an era when American media, as imperfect as it is, is a

whipping boy.

I write it because I believe it to be true.

My belief that those in power should answer questions from the public doesn’t make me a troublemaker. It makes me a journalist.

As I told one of her aides at the December event, if you invite the media, then you better expect questions whether the governor wants them or not. What I should have added is the salaries of the governor and her media aides are paid by the public. (I said the same words to Gov. Bill Richardson’s representatives more than once; some of our conversations growing antagonistic.That said, Richardson was more willing to take reporters’ questions, even ones that made him squirm, than Martinez.)

My hope is whomever New Mexicans elect governor this November will embrace a vigorous free press.

This goes for the new mayor of Albuquerque as well as every New Mexico state lawmaker and every public official out there.

We are not your cheerleaders.

And, yes, at times we’re going to ask you tough questions. It comes with the job description.

If you’re not up for that, then maybe you should ponder whether you belong in the public eye.

NMID will be covering the 2018 legislative session Find our complete coverage online at

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New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition

Commentary

Beef up enforcement, curtail exorbitant fees and strengthen public’s access to government information

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hen I walked ment gap.’ To start, NMFOG recYet, NMFOG’s open into the state ommends lawmakers make closing government hotline rings capitol for the the ‘enforcement gap’ a priority and three or four times a day with callers seeking assis- give the Attorney General’s Open opening session of the tance when their requests Government Division additional New Mexico Legislature funding. for public documents are a year ago I didn’t need to Opportunities have been squandelayed, deferred, denied stop and get a press pass. dered in the past, but in her final Peter St. Cyr or upset about having A month earlier, when to pay fees before even budget, NMFOG encourages Gov. the New Mexico Founlooking over the records’ Susana Martinez to budget for dation for Open Governresources and technology to ensure ment hired me as its new executive content.

New Mexico’s Sunshine laws are state agencies are able to post their director, I told newsroom colblack and white.

Just look at court legally required data to the New leagues I’d just won the job lottery. opinions and their ruling in favor of Mexico Sunshine Portal.

After working as a journalist on public access. Government secrecy Removing the administrative and off for decades, I boxed up should be a rare exception. code loophole in the “otherwise reporter notebooks and the press Most records custodians underprovided by law” exception has passes I’d hoarded since my first assignment in 1977 and headed to the stand their statutory obligations and NMFOG’s support again this year.

Lawmakers should take the lead comply with the law, but a NMFOG Roundhouse to defend New Mexifrom 19 other states that enacted compliance audit two years ago recans’ right to know and to advocate laws that require data created or vealed taxpayers are on the hook for for stronger Sunshine laws. stored in expensive proprietary attorneys’ fees and damage awards For the first time in my professoftware be exported to the public when agencies chronically thumb sional career, I felt like I’d been dealt in an open source format. their noses at the law. a winning hand.

The law allows public entities to None of the issues are new. In In fact, the deck was stacked in charge a maximum of $1 dollar per 2015, New Mexico’s Sunshine laws the public’s favor in 1978 when state copied page, but only if it’s reasonreceived a failing score in the Cenlegislators recognized each of us is ter for Public Integrity State Integri- able. We checked self copy facilities entitled to almost all the “informain early January. The average rate ty Investigation. tion regarding the affairs of governfor a single-sided black and white The state’s score might have been ment and the official acts of public higher, but New Mexico got dinged copy was 16 cents. Anything more officers and employees.” than the 25 cents a page creates for deferring prosecutions and the New Mexico’s information jackattorney general’s reliance on volun- barriers to public access. IPRA was pot 40 years later is still essential. never intended to be an enterprise tary compliance.

Transparent governments always Two years later, nothing has been fund and lawmakers should reset are more efficient when citizens can done to close the so-called ‘enforce- the max amount and clarify actual identify waste, fraud and abuse and hold public officials accountable.

Before lawmakers declared the District lines should reflect communities of interest Inspection of Public Records Act state policy, they instructed public and assure each person an equal opportunity to elect servants to make providing the someone to represent him or her. public information a routine daily job duty.

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New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition

copying costs custodians charge to prepare electronic records and then transmit to requestors’ emails.

Citizens’ access to the legislative process is less than transparent.

To level the playing field, NMFOG encourages legislative leadership to acquire technology to track changes in proposed legislation and require committee staff to post hearing agendas 24 hours in advance and consider setting up text and email alerts to people who register to track specific bill proposals.

Legislative leaders should also restrict the use of Dummy Bills after the mid-session bill filing deadline for emergency use only.

When they aren’t, the public is left guessing.

NMFOG defers to stakeholders to debate the merits of public-private partnerships, but the process must remain transparent. Financial deals that reduce total bonding capacity or put taxpayers on the hook should be disclosed and decided in properly noticed public meetings.

It’s also been two years since the Legislative Finance Committee suggested lawmakers establish minimum job qualifications and mandate annual training programs for records custodians. Open government is always germaine, let’s rally the governor to put it on her call.

Peter St. Cyr is executive director of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government. The views in this column are the author’s alone and do not reflect the view or opinions of New Mexico In Depth.

Commentary

Independent, transparent redistricting process among Common Cause priorities for 2018 Legislative Session

T

wanted an independent he 2020 census amend the federal constitution to: may seem far away commission to draw the to most citizens, • Require that legislative districts lines, rather than legislators. or plans not intentionally or but partisans around the District lines should unduly favor or disfavor any country are sharpening reflect communities of political party; and their pencils in prepara• Mandate Congress and state interest and assure each tion for the redistricting Viki Harrison person an equal opporlegislatures to regulate the process that occurs every tunity to elect someone role of money in elections and 10 years, based on a new to represent him or her. governance to ensure transcensus. In New Mexico, a parency, prevent corruption, special session will be held in 2021 Too often these lines create “safe” and protect against the buydistricts for incumbents or one and legislators will draw new leging of access to or influence party or the other.

The winners islative and congressional districts. over representatives. No such are determined in the primaries, What they come up with could regulation shall be deemed in depriving those in the other party give Democrats, Republicans or violation of freedom of speech of a real chance to weigh in.

This incumbents an edge for the next rights in the U.S. Constitution. is especially true in New Mexico 10 years and determine funding priorities and state and federal law. since we have a “closed” primary Common Cause will try again system where Republicans can Common Cause believes that to make it easier — rather than only vote in Republican primaries this process should be done by an harder — to vote with another conand Democrats can only vote in independent, nonpartisan comstitutional amendment to allow for their primary. The result is few mission, as it is in six other states. automatic voter registration using competitive districts — and more We will be prioritizing a constia secure, electronic database to of a partisan divide, as candidates tutional amendment to authorize identify and register all eligible citiappeal only to those in their own such a system and establish more party. Swing districts are rare, and zens when they renew their driver’s neutral, transparent criteria, license or change their address. In compromise becomes difficult. including public hearings. Public 2017, this amendment passed the A nonpartisan districting perception of the current system House and one Senate committee. process is also the aim of another is poor, with many citizens feeling It’s time to push for it again. resolution we will be supporting that it allows legislators to pick We now have the technological during the short 2018 legislative their own voters, a conflict of means to enfranchise more citizens session. This “Fix it America” interest that could be remedied by resolution calls on the Congress to and give them the opportunity an independent body.

Asking legislators to give up one of their prized prerogatives is never easy but, more and more, District lines should reflect communities of the public is disillusioned by the interest and assure each person an equal partisan wrangling and the inevitable court cases that have characopportunity to elect someone to represent terized New Mexico’s process. Last him or her.

January seven in 10 voters polled

by Research and Polling for Common Cause New Mexico said they

to participate in democracy, and there are no excuses left for leaving stumbling blocks in the way. Currently, a big stumbling block is the state requirement that voters register 28 days in advance of an election — a deadline that even scrupulous voters can miss. Automatic registration is a doable system that many states are adopting.

Reflecting the requirements of this year’s short (30-day) session, Common Cause is focusing on constitutional amendments, which are automatically germane, or eligible for consideration. We would be delighted with a message from the governor on other outstanding issues like revisions to the state’s “Pay-to-Play” laws, or modernization of our public financing laws — but we know that time is limited.

And — in the name of good government and democracy — we will be back next year, and every year.

Viki Harrison is executive director of Common Cause New Mexico.

Common Cause is a nonpartisan grassroots organization dedicated to upholding the core values of American democracy. Common Cause works to create open, honest, and accountable government that serves the public interest; promotes equal rights, opportunity, and representation for all; and empowers all people to make their voices heard as equals in the political process.

The views in this column are the author’s alone and do not reflect the view or opinions of New Mexico In Depth.

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New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition

New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition

Commentary

How Legislature can really tackle sexual harassment, assault

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partner is based in economic need, veryday, there is a der-based violence. especially if there are children innew story of sexual In their lifetime, one harassment reportin four women will be volved[4]. For the past eight years, a victim of violence[2]. the Senate Finance Committee ed in the media. A movie Most often, the violence has refused to allow a floor vote to producer. A well-respectis perpetrated by someallow a constitutional amendment ed actor. A beloved TV that would use a small portion of dad. A comedian turned one the victim knows statesman. A candidate, a — a partner or spouse, a the state land-grant permanent Andrea J. lawmaker, the president, co-worker or supervisor, fund (less than 2 percent of the $16 Serrano BILLION fund) to fund early edua lobbyist. The stories a friend or family memare horrific, terrifying and infuber. While New Mexico has very cation for most families in the state. clear sexual assault statutes and Access to safe, quality childcare is a riating but what is surprising is there are rape crisis and domestic priority for families, and having acthe response — now, more than violence resource centers through- cess would allow women to be able ever, women are being believed and swift action is being taken to leave their abuser and ensure that out the state, they are never fully against many of the perpetrators. their children will be in a safe place. funded[3]. While untested rape Many are viewing this a shift of kits dominated the news cycle for Increasing the statewide minimonumental proportions, calling a few years, only 15 percent of mum wage (vetoed by Governor the disclosures a revolution. The survivors report a sexual assault — Martinez in 2017 and 2013) would floodgates have been opened and education-based prevention prohave a similar effect — increased there is no closing them, and for grams can go a long way in helping pay would mean the difference, many survivors, there is a catharsis so many who cannot or will not literally, between life and death in two simple words: me too. (women in New Mexico are more report. Funding for prevention New Mexico is not without likely to be killed by a partner than should be a priority for the state stories of sexual harassment and any other state[5]). The ability to budget, not an afterthought. assault, which has prompted lawaccess paid sick leave would allow For many, mostly women, the survivors to file for restraining decision to stay with an abusive makers and advocates alike to call for an open dialogue and review of sexual harassment policies, particularly when it comes to lobbyists[1]. A good start, for sure, but Gender-based violence is far from being there is an entire state that exists eradicated, but our lawmakers can pass laws beyond the Roundhouse, and if the Legislature is serious about that will, in fact, improve the living conditions of addressing this epidemic, they people who are being victimized. must pass laws that benefit families across our state in order to truly curb and, eventually, end gen-

orders, receive medical treatment and move to a safe place without the worry of missing wages, yet business coalitions and lawmakers fight this common sense ordinance without considering the impact on families who are barely making it.

Gender-based violence affects women across race and class lines, and although the first flood of women who spoke up have been mostly white and wealthy, we must remember that Indigenous and Women of Color, poor women and LGBTQ communities are those who are most often victimized and less likely to access services or receive any sort of justice for the crimes committed against them.

Gender-based violence is far from being eradicated, but our lawmakers can pass laws that will, in fact, improve the living conditions of people who are being victimized by the people closest to them. The floodgates have opened, and it’s long past time to act. New Mexico lawmakers must pass a budget that benefits us, too.

Andrea J. Serrano is executive director of OLÉ, a nonprofit committed to grassroots organizing with working families in New Mexico.

The views in this column are the author’s alone and do not reflect the view or opinions of New Mexico In Depth.

[1] http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/women-in-new-mexico-politics-say-harassment-sexual-misconduct-widespread/article_553c12453477-561b-a186-394fcefd0429.html [2] https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/nisvs/infographic.html [3] https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/xye933/the-federal-fight-to-save-victim-services-funding [4] https://www.thenation.com/article/why-domestic-violence-is-an-economic-issue/ [5] http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/new-mexico-s-rate-of-women-killed-by-men-among/article_eb7e4a2c-273d-5eb6-8007e5936639b64f.html

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Commentary

Prosperity is not possible without investment

W

system to the point of dysfunction, e all want a It’s bad enough that prosperous we’ve been almost entire- and stopped serving thousands of young children who need child state, but ly focused on following care so their parents can work. a long-discredited ecoprosperity requires inIt’s time to make investments in nomic development scam vestments. You can’t grow New Mexico. for years. What’s worse, a garden without good The smartest investments are the scam has inhibited soil, sunlight, water, and James Jimenez those that pay the highest returns. our ability to make the some hard work. Same investments that actually No investment that a state can with a state — you can’t make pays higher returns than will lead to economic have prosperity without high-quality early childhood care activity and broader prosperity. resources, infrastructure, and a and education. With double-digit Instead of trying to cut our way skilled workforce. But instead of returns, these investments pay off following an investment strategy to to prosperity, we could have been more handsomely than most inprosperity, New Mexico has tried to collecting that money and investing it in ways that would not only vestments on the stock market. cut its way to prosperity. You could improve the business community’s Medicaid is another great incall this the “don’t build it and bottom line but would grow the vestment that New Mexico should let’s hope they will come anyway” leverage to the fullest. Thanks to strategy. Or perhaps the “the-mag- state’s economy for everyone.

These ill-conceived tax cuts the federal Medicaid dollars that ical-thinking-of-trickle-down-ecocould have been used to put New have grown under the Affordable nomics” strategy.

Mexicans to work improving our Care Act, many more New MexiIf it were possible to tax-cut our roads, highways and bridges, incans are now getting health care, way to prosperity, New Mexico with minimal cost to the state. creasing broadband access across should be flush. Over the last 15 In 2013, New Mexico was paying the state, expanding and strengthyears, we’ve cut taxes as if tax cuts $905 million to cover 483,000 New ening our health care system, are a panacea to our every ecoMexicans. In 2018, the state will better preparing our children for nomic woe. We’ve cut taxes for the pay $955 million to cover almost success in school, making college wealthy, for corporations, and for more affordable, and ensuring that 900,000 people. In other words, a whole host of special interests. the number of New Mexicans now hard-working families with fewer Governor Martinez is even fond receiving their health insurance resources had the opportunities of saying she’s cut taxes 37 times. under Medicaid has increased by they need to get ahead.

We’ve been promised time and Instead, we’ve starved our public almost 100 percent, while the cost again that tax cuts would spur job education system from our kinder- to provide all that coverage has growth but clearly that approach gone up just 5.5 percent. garten classrooms to our college hasn’t worked. campuses, forced our doctors to The Working Families Tax Credit And where has it gotten us? take a pay cut, crippled our court (WFTC) is another excellent investWell, we have seen young people flee the state because of the lack of job opportunities, and we have experienced some of the deepest If it were possible to tax-cut our way to prosperity, cuts in the nation to our higher education institutions, and according New Mexico should be flush. Over the last 15 to the Annie E. Casey Foundation years, we’ve cut taxes as if tax cuts are a panacea our children rank 49th in child well-being. All of these are indicato our every economic woe. tors of poor fiscal management and misdirected priorities.

ment because it helps hard-working families get ahead. Unlike tax cuts to out-of-state corporations, the money from this tax cut is spent in communities all over the state at grocery stores, gas stations, and other local businesses. We’d have gotten a much bigger bang for our buck if we’d increased the value of the WFTC instead of giving out-ofstate corporations a break.

Expansion of early childhood care and education, full funding of Medicaid, and an increase in the Working Families Tax Credit are all things New Mexico Voices for Children will be fighting for in the legislative session ahead. We will also be pushing back against ill-considered tax reform. Major changes to our tax system should not be rushed. Analysts and lawmakers need to take time to consider the tax study that was just commissioned so they understand the implications before they launch into an overhaul of a tax system that’s been terribly hobbled in recent years.

Our schools, health care, courts, roads and other infrastructure — and all the jobs that depend upon them — are all at stake in the 2018 legislative session. These are investments we can’t afford to jeopardize.

James Jimenez is executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children, a nonpartisan, statewide advocacy organization that works to create systems-level sustainable change to improve the lives of New Mexico’s children. The views in this column are the author’s alone and do not reflect the view or opinions of New Mexico In Depth.

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New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition

Commentary

Are leaders willing to forego tax reform, $100M in revenue?

T

he Rio Grande tium led by the for-profit an additional tax burden of 7.5 Foundation is unBechtel. Under New Mex- percent in Albuquerque and simidoubtedly among ico’s gross receipts tax, lar rates throughout the state. That the strongest supporters LANL has generated as burden is not imposed by other of limited government in much as $128 million in states.

New Mexico. As a general total gross receipts taxes So, when the Rio Grande Founrule we don’t support inin a single year. dation’s web services provider creasing government rev- Paul J. Gessing The contract to manage moved to Colorado Springs from enues as an end in itself.

LANL is up for renewal in Albuquerque a few years back his Our philosophy (based 2018 and several unicompany no longer had to charge on reams of data and internationGRT. This saved us hundreds of versities including the University al comparison) is that resources dollars a year. Spread those deof Texas system are bidding for would be better spent by individthe contract. Under current New cisions and charges out over the uals, not government bureaucrats Mexico tax law, if a nonprofit were entire economy and there can be and politicians. to manage LANL, the state would no doubt that New Mexico’s GRT That said, the New Mexico Legis- be unable to tax much of the lab’s in its current form is a massive lature, by not embracing tax reform activity and thus lose $100 million killer of jobs and small businesses during the 2018 session, seems to plus annually. in our state. be willing to forego a chance to The fact that New Mexico, The GRT is a leading contributor both secure upwards of $100 miluniquely among U.S. states, can to New Mexico’s economy remainlion for the state AND achieve an tax Washington is perhaps the only ing among the weakest in the entire important public policy reform for redeeming characteristic of the nation. Despite a rebound in the New Mexico. gross receipts tax. If it can’t do that, oil patch and a few hundred milRather than embracing we might as well get rid of the GRT lion dollars in “new” money being long-overdue reform of the gross entirely. available, New Mexico is definitely receipts tax (GRT), New Mexico’s The GRT is a singularly probnot “out of the woods” yet. Notably, Democratic legislative leaders have lematic tax as it hits small business- general fund spending remains well clearly signaled that they are willbelow its Richardson-era peak of a es and entrepreneurs the hardest. ing to let petty partisan differences Specifically, service providers that decade ago. with Governor Martinez stand in The wants are many. Several macontract with other businesses or the way. individuals (as opposed to being jor budget increases have already Rep. Jason Harper’s tax reform hired by them as an employee) face been put forth: proposal has generated bipartisan support and legislative appropriation of $400,000 for a study (by Ernst & Young).

Before the Legislature raises taxes on the rest of us, The basic idea of Harper’s plan is to lower gross receipts tax rates it needs to make sure existing revenues are protected. while filling in loopholes and This could still be done by moving forward seriously removing certain exemptions like that on purchases made by and methodically with revenue-neutral tax reform that non-profits. preserves those revenues now and into the future while How could revenue-neutral tax reform save $100 million or more also reducing rates and pyramiding. for New Mexico?

Los Alamos National Labs (LANL) is managed by a consor-

37

New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition

• An unexpected $50 million for

the RailRunner’s positive train control; • An additional $15.4 million for the judiciary; • Another $84 million for Medicaid; • An extra $600,000 for the Spaceport America; This is just the beginning. Both education and police will want to see funding restored or added.

In an August 2017 opinion piece, LFC Chair Patty Lundstrom noted with some degree of pride that Democrats had proposed $426 million worth of tax hikes (revenue enhancements as she put it) during the 2017 session. You can bet that if a Democrat follows Governor Martinez into the Governor’s mansion, these tax hikes will be put on the fast-track.

Before the Legislature raises taxes on the rest of us, it needs to make sure existing revenues are protected. This could still be done by moving forward seriously and methodically with revenue-neutral tax reform that preserves those revenues now and into the future while also reducing rates and pyramiding.

Paul Gessing is the 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. The views in this column are the author’s alone and do not reflect the view or opinions of New Mexico In Depth.

Commentary

NM legislators should protect working families

I

should ask nonprofit t’s been a rough few years for New Mexico’s health care providers to working families. A pay gross receipts taxes. stagnant economy has These two revenue meameant high unemploysures would help our state ment, low wages and cuts leaders balance the state to key programs that help budget and restore some Eric Griego of the cuts made in the families survive. But it appears the state’s econ2017 session. omy and revenue picture All three branches of the have begun to recover. With the federal government are currently current revenue outlook it is time controlled by one party. That makes the Legislature made New Mexico’s the role of state leaders crucial children and families whole. to protecting the weakest among Those least able to absorb tax us. With the recent passage of the increases or cuts to basic services Trump tax bill it is clear that New like health care should be protectMexico legislators will be the last ed and prioritized in the 2018 tax line of defense for working families and budget decisions being made. in our state. While the tax bill is Raising revenue by closing corpobeing lauded by corporate leaders rate loopholes that benefit narrow and the richest among us, the plan corporate interests will be important to blunting the effects of a weak is a disaster for most poor and economy and a federal government working families. According to the that is less supportive of working families under the current administration.

With the exponential growth of online shopping, companies such as Amazon are not only making unprecedented profits, but they are coming at the expense of small and local businesses in New Mexico. By not paying their fair share of taxes, the Amazons of the world are also hurting the state’s ability to provide basic services for New Mexico families. In addition, we can and

Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy’s analysis of the Trump tax plan, the lion’s share of the tax cuts in 2019 will go to the richest 1 percent of New Mexicans. Only 2 percent of the tax cuts will go to the poorest New Mexicans. Worse still, by 2027 60 percent of all taxpayers in New Mexico will see a tax increase. Trump’s plan will worsen income inequality, which is already a problem in New Mexico where the percentage of people in poverty in New Mexico was the third worst in the nation.

With its long term fiscal effect, adding $1.5 trillion to the national deficit, we can expect increased pressure to roll back funding and coverage for Medicare and Medicaid. As a state with one of the highest utilization rates for Medicaid, New Mexico’s working families

All three branches of the federal government are currently controlled by one party. That makes the role of state leaders crucial to protecting the weakest among us. With the recent passage of the Trump tax bill it is clear that New Mexico legislators will be the last line of defense for working families in our state.

could be hit hard. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, New Mexico has the highest share of federal Medicaid spending among U.S. states, with the 2015 federal share of Medicaid spending at 79.4 percent.

New Mexico also has the lowest rate of employer-provided health insurance with only 36 percent of people insured by their employer.

With the huge giveaway to large corporations and the richest Americans recently signed into law by the Trump administration, we need New Mexico legislators to stand up for working families by protecting basic services and asking those who can to pay their fair share. The U.S. Constitution divides power between states and the federal government for good reason. When decisions at the federal level hurt people at the state level our system empowers state leaders to act. It’s time like these when we need our state officials to do what’s right for working families.

Eric Griego is state director of New Mexico Working Families Party, which is a part of national progressive political organization focused on an economy that works for all Americans and a democracy in which every voice matters. The views in this column are the author’s alone and do not reflect the view or opinions of New Mexico In Depth.

NMID will be covering the 2018 legislative session Find our complete coverage online at

38

New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition

Thank You...

Thank you to our generous supporters in 2017: Algernon D'Ammassa Allison Kennedy Owen Andrew Stone Angel Butler Angie Elkins Arthur Norman Gaume Barbara S Kim Bernard Cullen Brant Houston Brian Jones Carlton C. Allen Charlotte Roybal Chuck Wellborn Cindy Pliler Claudia B Isaac Clifton Chadwick Colleen Keane Conroy Chino Christine and Russell Mink Damien Willis Danielle Duran David Marash Deborah Torza Condit Dorothy Bowen Dr William J Kass Drew Setter Elene Gusch Emma T Ulloa Bryant Furlow Gaye Bailey Georgena Felicia Greg Barrett Gregory P Corning Griffin Palmer H. Diane Snyder Jacobo Martinez James C Jimenez Jarratt Applewhite Jeff McConaughy Jen French

Jennifer Lambright Jessica Tepp Joan and Steve Chewning Joel Levin John Prince Jon Martin Joy Willis Judith E Traeger Julia Palomino Karen Canaday Whitlock Katherine Childress Keith Abramowski Kelsey Hildahl Fernandez Klaus Mueller Kyla Thompson Kyle Hartsock LaRae Nabors Shepherd Larry O’Hanlon Leah Meghan Valencia Linda Siegle Lora Lucero Luanne Bailey Lynn L Coburn Marc Brown Marie C Baca Marjorie Childress Mark Gould Martha Burk Mary Ellen Capek Mary Ellen Stagg Capek Matt Carroll Meda Stamper Melanie Goodman Merry Maree Michael J Jensen Michaelangelo Allocca Natasha Ning Neri Holguin Nikki D Hooser Norton Kalishman

2017 Foundation Supporters:

Patrick Woolsey Peter Powers Goodman Peter St. Cyr Randi McGinn Rhonda Faught Rich Gray Rita Heisey Robert Garrett Robert M. Apodaca Robert M Khanlian Robert Lucero Roland Penttila Rudy Nyhoff Russell Wong Ruth Childress Ruth Sparks Hoffman Ruth Wheeler Sandra Fish Shannon Freedle Shannon Kennedy Sid Childress Stephanie Porter Steve Lipscomb Steve Wentworth Sue A Cross Susan Colleen Martin Susan Watson Suzan Bibisi Suzanne Prescott Tammy Fiebelkorn Tara Bloyd Terri Barbone Holland Tom Johnson Vicki Wilson Virginia Tellez Willa Pilar William D Varuola William Elliott William J Herman

Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation McCune Charitable Foundation Thornburg Foundation W.K. Kellogg Foundation

2017 News Collaborators and Sponsors

KSFR Public Radio KUNM Public Radio New Mexico News Port New Mexico PBS The Alamogordo Daily News The Carlsbad Current-Argus The Deming Headlight The Farmington Daily Times The Las Cruces Sun-News The Rio Grande Sun The Ruidoso News The Santa Fe New Mexican The Silver City Sun-News The Santa Fe Reporter

2017 Sponsoring Organizations

CHI St. Joseph's Children Griffin and Associates IATSE Local 480 Laguna Development Corporation Los Alamos National Security, LLC Joe Monahan Muffoletto Government Relations, LLC New Mexico Common Cause New Mexico Foundation for Open Government New Mexico Working Families Practicats, LLC Research & Polling, Inc. Society of Professional Journalists Rio Grande Chapter Ultra Health

. ..Everyone!

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New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition

New Mexico State Legislators Dist.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55

Representative Party Rod Montoya (R) James R.J. Strickler (R) Paul C. Bandy (R) Sharon Clahchischilliage (R) D. Wonda Johnson (D) Eliseo Lee Alcon (D) Kelly K. Fajardo (R) Alonzo Baldonado (R) Patricia A. Lundstrom (D) G. Andrés Romero (D) Javier Martínez (D) Patricio Ruiloba (D) Patricia Roybal Caballero (D) Miguel P. Garcia (D) Sarah Maestas Barnes (R) Antonio Maestas (D) Deborah A. Armstrong (D) Gail Chasey (D) Sheryl Williams Stapleton (D) Jim Dines (R) Debra M. Sariñana (D) James E. Smith (R) Daymon B. Ely (D) Elizabeth L. Thomson (D) Christine Trujillo (D) Georgene Louis (D) Larry A. Larrañaga (R) Jimmie C. Hall (R) David E. Adkins (R) Nate Gentry (R) William "Bill" R. Rehm (R) Candie G. Sweetser (D) Bill McCamley (D) Bealquin Bill Gomez (D) Angelica Rubio (D) Nathan P. Small (D) Joanne J. Ferrary (D) Rebecca L. Dow (R) Rodolpho S. Martinez (D) Nick L. Salazar (D) Debbie A. Rodella (D) Roberto J. Gonzales (D) Stephanie Garcia Richard (D) Jane E. Powdrell-Culbert (R) Jim R. Trujillo (D) Carl Trujillo (D) Brian Egolf (D) Linda M. Trujillo (D) Gail Armstrong (R) Matthew McQueen (D) Yvette Herrell (R) Doreen Y. Gallegos (D) Rick Little (R) James G. Townsend (R) Cathrynn N. Brown (R)

Telephone (505) 360-1510 (505) 327-4190 (505) 334-0865 (505) 686-0836 Not Available (505) 285-6387 (505) 573-0471 (505) 363-6214 (505) 722-2980 (505) 514-9574 (505) 289-3939 (505) 417-1749 (505) 710-5996 (505) 877-8131 (505) 847-6391 (505) 304-7497 (505) 795-5164 (505) 266-5191 (505) 265-6089 (505) 400-8316 (505) 974-9408 (505) 934-1075 (505) 610-6529 (505) 239-1781 (505) 503-8600 (505) 250-7932 (505) 821-4948 (505) 294-6178 (505) 289-3987 (505) 508-0782 (505) 259-3398 (575) 494-0747 (575) 496-5731 (575) 233-3040 (575) 616-1090 (575) 496-9540 (575) 649-1231 (575) 571-1056 (575) 534-7546 (505) 852-4178 (505) 753-8247 (575) 758-2674 (505) 672-4196 (505) 721-9021 (505) 438-8890 (505) 699-6690 (505) 986-4757 (505) 795-4324 (505) 269-2364 (505) 466-3125 (575) 430-2113 (575) 649-6325 (575) 824-4063 (575) 703-0153 (575) 706-4420

Email roddmontoya@gmail.com jamesstrickler@msn.com paul@paulbandy.org sharon.clahchischill@nmlegis.gov dwonda.johnson@nmlegis.gov eliseo.alcon@nmlegis.gov kelly.fajardo@nmlegis.gov alonzo.baldonado@nmlegis.gov patricia.lundstrom@nmlegis.gov andres.romero@nmlegis.gov javier.martinez@nmlegis.gov patricio.ruiloba@nmlegis.gov pat.roybalcaballero@nmlegis.gov miguel.garcia@nmlegis.gov sarah.maestasbarnes@nmlegis.gov antonio.maestas@nmlegis.gov deborah.armstrong@nmlegis.gov gail@gailchasey.com sheryl.stapleton@nmlegis.gov jim.dines@nmlegis.gov debbie.sarinana@nmlegis.gov jim@jimsmithnm.com daymon.ely@nmlegis.gov leonliz@comcast.net christine.trujillo@nmlegis.gov georgene.louis@nmlegis.gov larry@larranaga.com jimmie.hall@nmlegis.gov david.adkins@nmlegis.gov natefornm@gmail.com bill.rehm@nmlegis.gov csweetser@swnm.com bill.mccamley@nmlegis.gov bealquin.gomez@nmlegis.gov angelica.rubio@nmlegis.gov nathan.small@nmlegis.gov joanne.ferrary@nmlegis.gov rebecca.dow@nmlegis.gov rodolpho.martinez@nmlegis.gov Not Available debbie.rodella@nmlegis.gov roberto.gonzales@nmlegis.gov stephanie.garciarichard@nmlegis.gov jpandp@comcast.net jimtrujillo@msn.com carl.trujillo@nmlegis.gov brian.egolf@nmlegis.gov linda.trujillo@nmlegis.gov gail@gailfornewmexico.com matthew.mcqueen@nmlegis.gov yherrell@yahoo.com doreen.gallegos@nmlegis.gov rick.little@nmlegis.gov townsend@pvtn.net c.brown.nm55@gmail.com

Dist.

56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 Dist.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42

Representative Zachary J. Cook Jason C. Harper Candy Spence Ezzell Greg Nibert Tim D. Lewis David M. Gallegos Larry R. Scott George Dodge Randal S. Crowder Derrick J. Lente Bob Wooley Dennis J. Roch Monica Youngblood Harry Garcia Tomás E. Salazar

Party (R) (R) (R) (R) (R) (R) (R) (D) (R) (D) (R) (R) (R) (D) (D)

Telephone (575) 937-7644 (505) 554-7970 (575) 625-0550 (575) 317-1050 (505) 702-7093 (575) 394-0099 (575) 397-1925 (575) 472-3798 (575) 763-3901 (505) 507-3063 (575) 627-6277 (575) 799-7796 (505) 342-6250 (505) 290-7510 (575) 421-2455

Senator Party Telephone William E. Sharer (R) (505) 325-5055 Steven P. Neville (R) (505) 327-5460 John Pinto (D) (720) 357-9275 George K. Munoz (D) (505) 722-0191 Richard C. Martinez (D) (505) 747-2337 Carlos R. Cisneros (D) (505) 670-5610 Pat Woods (R) (575) 357-8594 Pete Campos (D) (505) 425-0508 John M. Sapien (D) (505) 765-5662 Candace R. Gould (R) (505) 269-7711 Linda M. Lopez (D) (505) 831-4148 Gerald Ortiz y Pino (D) (505) 243-1509 Bill B. O'Neill (D) (505) 450-9263 Michael Padilla (D) (505) 977-6247 Daniel A. Ivey-Soto (D) (505) 881-4475 Cisco McSorley (D) (505) 266-0588 Mimi Stewart (D) (505) 275-2355 Bill G. Tallman (D) (505) 702-6828 James P. White (R) (505) 271-4746 William H. Payne (R) (505) 986-4702 Mark Moores (R) (505) 681-1975 Benny Shendo (D) (575) 834-7235 Sander Rue (R) (505) 899-0288 Nancy Rodriguez (D) (505) 983-8913 Peter Wirth (D) (505) 989-8667 Jacob R. Candelaria (D) (505) 847-5079 Stuart Ingle (R) (575) 356-3088 Howie C. Morales (D) (575) 574-0043 Gregory A. Baca (R) (505) 227-6335 Clemente Sanchez (D) (505) 287-2515 Joseph Cervantes (D) (575) 522-3352 Cliff R. Pirtle (R) (575) 626-7046 William F. Burt (R) (575) 434-6140 Ron Griggs (R) (575) 439-1331 John Arthur Smith (D) (575) 546-8546 Jeff Steinborn (D) (575) 635-5615 William P. Soules (D) (575) 522-3521 Mary Kay Papen (D) (575) 524-4462 Elizabeth Stefanics (D) (505) 699-4808 Craig W. Brandt (R) (505) 503-5001 Carroll H. Leavell (R) (575) 395-3154 Gay G. Kernan (R) (505) 629-8081

This list was compiled using information we gathered from the New Mexico Legislature's website, and online searches for phone numbers. In a few cases, there was no publicly available information.

A list is also available on the legislative website: www.nmlegis.gov

Email zachary.cook@nmlegis.gov JasonHarperNM@gmail.com csecows@aol.com greg.nibert@nmlegis.gov lewisfornm@gmail.com david.rsi@hotmail.com larry.scott@nmlegis.gov george.dodgejr@nmlegis.gov randal.crowder@nmlegis.gov derrick.lente@nmlegis.com bobwooley66@gmail.com denroch@hotmail.com monica@MyNMStateRep.com hgarciad69@gmail.com tomas.salazar@nmlegis.gov

Email bill@williamsharer.com steven.neville@nmlegis.gov Not Available munozgeo@gmail.com richard.martinez@nmlegis.gov carlos.cisneros@nmlegis.gov pat.woods@nmlegis.gov pete.campos@nmlegis.gov john.sapien@nmlegis.gov candace.gould@nmlegis.gov linda.lopez@nmlegis.gov jortizyp@msn.com oneillsd13@billoneillfornm.com michael.padilla@nmlegis.gov daniel.ivey-soto@nmlegis.gov cisco.mcsorley@nmlegis.gov mimi.stewart@nmlegis.gov bill.tallman@nmlegis.gov james.white@nmlegis.gov william.payne@nmlegis.gov mark.moores@nmlegis.gov benny.shendo@nmlegis.gov sander.rue@nmlegis.gov nancy.rodriguez@nmlegis.gov peter.wirth@nmlegis.gov jacob.candelaria@nmlegis.gov stuart.ingle@nmlegis.gov howie.morales@nmlegis.gov greg.baca@nmlegis.gov clemente.sanchez@nmlegis.gov Joseph@cervanteslawnm.com cliff.pirtle@nmlegis.gov bill.burt@nmlegis.gov ron.griggs@nmlegis.gov john.smith@nmlegis.gov jeff.steinborn@nmlegis.gov bill.soules@nmlegis.gov marykay.papen@nmlegis.gov liz.stefanics@nmlegis.gov craig.brandt@nmlegis.gov leavell4@leaco.net gay.kernan@nmlegis.gov

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New Mexico In Depth • 2018 Legislative special edition

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