Legislative Update: There is still time for a grouping of anti-crime bills to pass both chambers. NMBC is pleased to report continued hard work and cooperation by leaders from both parties in Santa Fe to pass an omnibus package of 5 bills that would improve safety and help fight crime in our state.

The House passed HJR 1 Land Grant Fund Distributions, CA, Reps ‘Moe’ Maestas, Javier Martinez, and Stephanie Garcia Richards. It’s sad for our state when so many representatives misunderstand the proper use of the land grant permanent fund and what raiding it would mean to our children in future generations.

This fund is not a piggy bank or rainy day fund to be raided whenever you think of something we should be doing in New Mexico. No one disagrees that our children need a better education, but we’ve seen proof positive that money is not the answer. We’ve increased funding for 10 years and yet our results of a poor educational system have not changed. Obviously money is not the answer. But if you take more of those precious funds now, there will be smaller distributions later.

Senate Public Affairs committee tables SB 179 Employee Preference Act, Senator Ingle. The union representatives gave impassioned testimony about those who want to kill the unions and how Right to Work (RTW) legislation is destroying the economy in every state that has enacted the legislation.

That’s just too much nonsense to cover here, because we’ve seen RTW states’ economies take off after passage of RTW legislation. We’ve seen huge corporations relocate away from non-RTW states to RTW states. But what’s interesting is that the unions are also saying that their membership in New Mexico is growing significantly.