The governor and several Democratic and Republican legislative leaders announced Wednesday evening that they’d reached an agreement to hold a special session, probably on Monday.
Heath Haussamen / NMPolitics.net
A statue of children outside the Roundhouse in Santa Fe, where a special session will be held as soon as Monday.
The deal on a capital outlay bill and two other issues has a dual theme: Bipartisanship and job creation. A news release Gov. Susana Martinez and four lawmakers sent out Wednesday repeated those talking points over and over.
“This bipartisan agreement will help create jobs in New Mexico,” Martinez said in the release.
Policymakers had worked for months to reach an agreement to hold a special session. They’ve been aiming to pass a capital outlay bill after the legislation failed in the regular session earlier this year.
In addition to considering a new capital outlay bill, lawmakers will be asked to approve tax-incentive legislation and supplemental funding for the Administrative Office of the Courts and Department of Health.
“We’ve worked hard together to do what’s necessary to reach this bipartisan agreement,” Senate Finance Committee Chairman John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, said in the news release.
“This is a compromise,” Smith said. “We’ve met in the middle, and this agreement addresses important needs throughout the state and will be good for the people of New Mexico.”
The news release didn’t include full details of any of the proposals lawmakers will be asked to vote on as soon as Monday. Here’s what it did say about the capital outlay bill:
The agreement includes a $295 million capital outlay package that will, among other things, increase funding for senior centers and higher education institutions statewide, fully fund the state’s economic development closing fund, split the funding of major statewide highway projects ($45 million) and highway infrastructure development near Santa Teresa ($8 million) in half between general funds and severance tax bonds. Also funded will be $84 million in local infrastructure projects supported by local government officials around the state, and critical capital outlay projects for state agencies including hospitals, correctional facilities and forest/watershed/river restoration. The bill will also provide critical matching funds for tribal water settlement projects.
As for the tax incentives, here are the details included in the news release:
The package is designed to help create jobs in New Mexico and would make several changes, including expanding the Angel Investment Credit, restoring the Unreimbursed Medical Expense Tax Deduction claimed by roughly 300,000 New Mexicans each year, allowing companies that house their headquarters in New Mexico to elect single sales factor apportionment, re-enacting the Border Zone Trade-Support Gross Receipts Tax Deduction, establishing the U.S. Department of Defense Energy Gross Receipts Tax Deduction, expanding the Technology Jobs Tax Credit and combining it with the Small Business Research and Development Tax Credit, and clarifying/fixing two provisions relating to the double taxation and loading fees on gasoline or special fuels. Sunset dates would be added to two of the tax provisions, and a tax incentive relating to the establishment of trusts was removed from the version that passed the House of Representatives during the regular session.
The news release said the lawmakers and governor also reached an agreement on $300,000 in supplemental funding to the courts, which comes after Martinez vetoed magistrate court funding approved by the Legislature earlier this year, and $4 million to the Department of Health.
‘The people of New Mexico win’
It’s up to Martinez to call the session, and her office’s news release said it will likely be held Monday. With leaders saying a deal is already done, it appears the session may only last a day.
“I’m pleased with today’s agreement because it will create more jobs for our families, and that is a top priority for our caucus,” said House Speaker Don Tripp, R-Socorro.
Senate Minority Leader Stuart Ingle, R-Portales, also said he was “glad that we were able to put politics aside and work together to find an agreement that will best address the needs of our families.”
“For the last few months, we have worked with the governor and leaders in both chambers to find middle ground, and that has resulted in a bipartisan agreement that not only creates jobs, but also addresses critical infrastructure needs,” Ingle said. “This is an agreement that every New Mexican can get behind.”
And finally, House Minority Leader Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, talked about working together.
“I am very pleased, as are all House Democrats, that negotiations have been fruitful and have resulted in a capital outlay bill on which we can agree,” Egolf said in the news release. “When representatives, senators and the governor work with a common purpose, the people of New Mexico win.”
“Now, with politics aside, we can begin to build New Mexico, make our families more secure, and help put people back to work throughout the state,” Egolf said.
Notably absent from the news release was any statement from Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen.