Greetings:
The 2019 legislative session ended March 15th. We had tremendous success and there were many accomplishments for District 25 and the State of New Mexico. Here are some highlights.
Education
Governor Lujan Grisham asked for
an education
“moonshot” and we delivered. Senate Bill 1 and House Bill 5 provide critical boosts in education funding and teacher salaries, contain new policy initiatives such as more school days for our children, and increase accountability.
Budget
We passed a 7 billion dollar state budget with 20% reserves. Most of the “new money” this year came from oil and gas production in southeast New Mexico. While these revenues are greatly needed and appreciated, diversifying our economy is a top priority. We also must enact and enforce reasonable environmental regulations to protect our air, land and water and to address climate change.
Legislation
I sponsored a wide range of legislation in 2019. The complete list, with action taken, can be found at
www.nmlegis.gov
.
Below are some specific bills that passed and a joint resolution that will be on the ballot in 2020.
- SB 3 and 4. Campaign Finance Fixes: Repeals unconstitutional provisions in our campaign code, requires “dark money” political groups to disclose donors, and updates public financing laws.
- SB 5 Interstate Stream Commission Restructure: Diversifies and balances appointments on this critical water policy board.
- SB 335 Corporate Tax Fix: Levels the playing field for New Mexico small businesses by making multi-state companies file combined returns and pay taxes on New Mexico profits. While this individual bill did not pass, combined reporting was part of the omnibus tax bill.
- SJR 1-4 PRC reform: Proposes a constitutional amendment to change the Public Regulation Commission from a five person elected board to a three person board appointed by the Governor from names submitted by a nominating committee.
Capital Outlay
Here is a link to my list of capital outlay projects showing both the amount I contributed and the total contributions to each project
[Capital Outlay Projects]
. As
we do every year, the Santa Fe legislative delegation worked together to prioritize and fully fund projects.
Our terrific new Governor
Governor Lujan Grisham’s leadership led to some big accomplishments this session that move our state forward. It is an incredible honor to be part of this change.
Your input is always vital to me, and I appreciate the calls, e-mails and letters. Thank you again for granting me the privilege of representing you in the state Legislature.
Peter
