Roosevelt County Chamber’s
Legislative Report
Feb. 9, 2021
Local state rep turns Independent
State Rep. Phelps Anderson no longer has an R in parentheses after his name after he changed his party affiliation from Republican to Independent or “declined to state” on his voter registration. It all began after he voted with the Democrat majority in the House Health and Human Services Committee early last week. A few days later Minority Leader Jim Townsend confirmed he had received a letter from Anderson saying he had left the Republican party. While the story has been widely covered by the media, Anderson has declined to talk about his decision. The move to take the 1969 law off the books is a heated issue and voters in Anderson’s district have are overwhelmingly against the measure. The change leaves some calling for his resignation. It also calls into question his committee assignments, including an important slot on House Finance.
State bank bill would hurt community banks
Early this week the board passed a resolution opposing legislative efforts to establish a state bank in New Mexico. Doug Stone of J.P. Stone Community Bank says the state doesn’t need a state-run bank that would have trouble meeting FDIC standards anyway because the state is well served by its community banks. He said his bank could stand to see deposits locally affected by as much as 22 percent as government entities are required to move deposits to the state bank. He says those deposits are what his bank uses to make local loans that support economic development. Local financial institutions we polled were either opposed or neutral on the question.
Family leave seen as business threat
Probably the one effort in the Legislature drawing the most concern from business are the various bills calling for a family leave act. Those bills propose four weeks of paid leave in cases of family illness, birth, adoption, etc. While they provide for the employee to share the cost, it still opens up a huge new liability to businesses that are in a struggle for their lives during the pandemic. According to the New Mexico Chamber of Commerce, HB20 as now amended is a terrible bill while HB38 is better but still needs to be changed. The word from that group is that it will be hard to stop the idea from passage and the best hope is to change it.
Minimum Wage also rolling forward
Last Thursday HB110 passed easily through the House Labor, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee on a party line vote. The bill now moves to the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee. The bill takes a phased approach that would raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2024 and tie future raises to the Consumer Price Index. While the votes aren’t there to stop the bill, it is hoped that the overlaying effort at the federal level to increase the minimum wage might cause some to rethink the effort.
Marijuana’s best bet for business
While the Governor has made signing a recreational marijuana bill one of her top goals this session not all of the bills introduced are that business friendly when it comes to safeguarding a drug-free workplace. New Mexico Chamber officials report the best bill out there for those safeguards is HB12 sponsored by Bernalillo County Democrat Javier Martinez. Passage of a bill of some sort seems so certain that some have even suggested that the Governor might have her pick of which one to sign.
Federal debts, what to do
HB148 seeks to repay the debt incurred to the federal government for unemployment by transferring $300 million in permanent fund earnings out of the general fund. The bill also increases, temporarily, the employer contribution rate to unemployment. Who out there is buying the word temporary?
Social Security exemption down in flames
The effort to exempt Social Security income from state income taxes reportedly went down in flames as it was blocked in committee. The bill was broached as an attempt to promote retirees to the state and help seniors already here on a fixed income. Separate measures to exempt veterans is apparently still alive.
