Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 64
There are numerous important issues on New Mexicans’ ballots as early voting has begun. Amendment 2 has not received the same attention as Amendment 1, which relates to pre-K and early childhood spending, but voters will be asked to vote on this important issue also. Amendment 2 would, if adopted, further weaken New Mexico’s “anti-donation clause” by allowing the Legislature to “appropriate state funds for infrastructure that provides services primarily for residenti...
With just a few weeks left before early voting kicks off, what issues will motivate how New Mexicans vote? According to one recent poll the top issue this fall is inflation/ the economy (at 59%). Crime was right behind at 58% followed by immigration and health care. Abortion was down the list at just 29%. Surprisingly, the poll (done by KOB-TV) fails to even ask about education. In a state that consistently ranks at the very bottom in the nation on numerous (and bipartisan)...
There is a life-or-death issue facing New Mexicans. It has been widely reported on in the media and is important to New Mexicans from all walks of life. Voters will have a lot to say about it this November. The issue is our shortage of medical professionals. If you live in rural New Mexico you have likely faced severe challenges in finding specialists for years, but according to one recent report, 32 of New Mexico’s 33 counties (excepting Los Alamos) face a shortage of p...
New Mexico is always ranked among the “poor” states in the United States. But, as anyone who lives here or has taken stock of New Mexico’s abundant natural and cultural resources can tell you, we have no business being “poor.” Sadly, much of our poverty is self-inflicted. It is the obvious result of bad public policy. While there are all manner of bad tax and regulatory policies that often wind up being “in the weeds,” one of New Mexico’s fundamental problems is the result of...
As we move beyond a contentious series of primaries in both parties and look to the fall election, one of the big issues on the fall ballot is the plan to “tap” New Mexico’s permanent fund to provide universal preschool. For years this has been an agenda item for the state’s left-leaning interest groups. But it only received legislative support with the retirement of Senate Finance Committee Chairman John Arthur Smith. This November voters will decide whether to: “allocate 1.2...
New Mexico is in a unique economic situation. Despite having the highest unemployment rate in the nation for all of 2022, our incredibly strong oil and gas industry, buoyed by high prices and rapid production growth, have given politicians in Santa Fe “more money than they know what to do with.” So, in the recent 30-day session we saw spending grow by more than $1 billion and some significant tax cuts. Then, in a special session, rebates to be paid out to taxpayers and non...
There are many things that make New Mexico unique, but one of the most noteworthy political nuances is the state’s deep and unusual relationship with energy. New Mexico’s Democratic politicians love the money and jobs generated by the traditional energy industry, but also wish to be seen as pushing back against it to placate their environmentalist base. Nonetheless, New Mexico, a state blessed with all sorts of energy resources (both traditional as well as wind and solar) has...
The 2022 30-day legislative session could have been much worse. It is no secret that we at the Rio Grande Foundation have disagreed with most of Michelle Lujan Grisham’s major efforts as governor. She surprised many of us in her State of the State speech when she proposed elimination of the Social Security tax in New Mexico. After three years of ruling as a hard left “progressive,” the governor’s change of tune heading into the 2022 session was notable. Is her move solely due...
While every school year is different, this year is certainly more different than most. For starters, students are returning to “semi-normal” classrooms after 1.5 years of remote learning and relative chaos. Unfortunately, as of this writing schools in Rio Rancho, Carlsbad, Los Lunas, and Roswell have “temporarily” had to again go “virtual.” Lost classroom time has had a big impact on academic outcomes for New Mexico students. According to the Legislative Finance Committee,...
After nearly 16 months of COVID-19 and related policies, New Mexico is finally reopening on Thursday. Recently, New Mexico Education Secretary Ryan Stewart who spent most of the pandemic in Philadelphia “leading” his department remotely, wrote what I can only describe as a delusional defense of New Mexico schools’ response to COVID 19. The article discusses at length his Department’s efforts to get staff vaccinated and keep staff and students “safe” during the pandemic, b...
The US Census Bureau recently released what can only be described as some disturbing data regarding the future of New Mexico. Notably, while the state’s population grew by just 2.8 percent over the past decade, each of our neighbors saw double-digit population growth with the exception of Oklahoma, which still bested New Mexico with 5.5 percent growth. That should be a wake-up call for New Mexico’s Legislature and Gov. Lujan Grisham. A report put out by New Mexico’s Legis...
If there were an overall theme for New Mexico’s political situation it would be the ongoing attempts by Democrats to placate their environmentalist base, which opposes traditional energy sources while at the same time keeping energy dollars flowing into the state’s coffers. The Biden Administration’s moratorium on oil and gas permitting is the most notable example of this conflict. Gov. Lujan Grisham has publicly spoken out about it, but Attorney General Balderas has refus...
New Mexico is in one of the most unusual economic times in its history. Profound forces have impacted our state over the last year in unforeseen ways. • The governor and COVID shut down much of our state for much of the past year. COVID is declining, but New Mexico remains among the most locked-down states in the nation; • Oil and gas prices plummeted last April due to the pandemic and an international price war, but have come roaring back and produced $300 million in “new” mo...
In New Mexico and the United States as a whole, recent months have seen unprecedented attacks on the traditional energy sector from policymakers in Santa Fe and Washington. The potential harm of President Biden's ban on oil and gas production on federal lands has been well-documented. Our state, New Mexico, will be disproportionately impacted by such a ban, particularly if it lasts for many months or years. We are the third-largest oil producing state in the nation and about...
New Mexico remains among the most locked down states in the nation when it comes to the Coronavirus. In October the state’s unemployment rate was among the highest in the nation at 8.1%. This difficult economic news combined with the election of a more “progressive” Legislature in November mean that tax increases (and even spending cuts) are likely in store for the upcoming 2021 legislative session. With New Mexico relying heavily on oil and gas revenues, the state’s economi...
Recently, Santa Fe, Rio Rancho and Clovis school districts joined Albuquerque and Las Cruces schools in abandoning any in-person learning. Instead, for the foreseeable future all learning in some of New Mexico’s larger school districts will be done online. The odds seem very good that this situation will continue into 2021 and possibly through the end of the school year. Oddly, while Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham constantly tells us that her anti-COVID efforts are based “on the...
Recently, California Gov. Gavin Newsom made headlines with his announcement that by 2035 his state will ban the sale of gas-powered vehicles. That is an ambitious goal, but given the timeline, it is hard to say what compliance will look like. But for another, arguably even more ambitious car mileage proposal, one need look no further than New Mexico. Last September New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced that by just model year 2022 New Mexico would be increasing its...
New Mexico leaders, especially those working in and around K-12 education, are scrambling for solutions to the state's broadband issues. An estimated 25 percent of families in our state do not have access to broadband. That is troubling in normal times given the importance of being able to access useful information at one's fingertips, but when so many of our students have been forced to learn at home (whether that is virtual or home school), it becomes a much more serious iss...
For all intents and purposes New Mexico is closed for business until at least May 15. Whether you agree with the way Michelle Lujan Grisham has handled the COVID 19 crisis or if (like me) you think some of her measures have been unnecessary and heavy-handed, the fact is that New Mexico has done better than most other states in terms of preventing the spread of the virus. The governor deserves credit for that. But, every day that goes by the budget and economic state of New...
When the 2018 election results were tallied and it was clear that New Mexico had moved into the “progressive blue state” category, it was destined to be a tough couple of years for fiscal conservatives. The 2019 session was indeed the worst we’ve seen. The just-completed 30-day session was not quite as bad, but again needed economic reforms took a back seat to round 2 of the Legislature’s spending binge. Thanks to the oil boom still going on in the Permian Basin, New Mexico...
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham recently released her budget to be considered by the Legislature in the upcoming 30-day session. As expected, there is a lot of new spending thanks to the continued growth of oil and gas production in the Permian Basin. After a 12 percent boost in General Fund spending last year, the governor is requesting yet another big increase. This year she’s asking for 8.4 percent. According to news reports, the nearly $7.7 billion spending plan includes a p...
According to the latest estimates from Santa Fe, the state’s general fund budget is expected to be $7.882 billion next fiscal year. When Gov. Martinez left office in 2018 the budget was “only” $6.3 billion. In two short years, New Mexico’s budget will have grown by more than $1.5 billion, a 25 percent increase. With the current group in charge, New Mexico government is going to grow fat on oil and gas revenues while average New Mexicans pay higher taxes due to hikes passed...
House Democrats have revamped and are now pushing House Bill 6, legislation that ostensibly “reforms” New Mexico’s tax code. In reality, the legislation would impose a variety of tax hikes and raise New Mexicans’ overall tax burdens by $120 million a year. The bill would have the positive impact of reducing the State gross receipts tax rate by 0.5 percent, but the legislation includes numerous taxes including but not limited to motor vehicle excise taxes, a 10 cent per gal...
As the 2019 Legislature kicks off and budgets are issued by Governor Lujan-Grisham and the Legislature, New Mexicans should be worried about the future of their state. The $1.1 billion surplus generated by oil revenues is a one-time surplus. Prices have gone down significantly in the oil patch and the revenue picture is uncertain. Unfortunately, at least if their budget proposals are any indicator, the Legislature and governor seem to think, at least that big new government...
After eight years of Republican Gov. Susana Martinez in office, what is her legacy? She was the first Latina governor in America soon to be followed by Michelle Lujan-Grisham who will be the second Latina to hold that position. By itself, this is an important legacy for Martinez, but what about her policies and their impact on New Mexico? At the Rio Grande Foundation we look at issues from an economic perspective and we make no bones about being fiscally conservative....
