{"id":3500,"date":"2008-07-28T11:36:00","date_gmt":"2008-07-28T17:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/07\/lawmakers-guv-debate-impact-of-oil-and-gas-prices\/"},"modified":"2008-07-28T11:36:00","modified_gmt":"2008-07-28T17:36:00","slug":"lawmakers-guv-debate-impact-of-oil-and-gas-prices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2008\/07\/lawmakers-guv-debate-impact-of-oil-and-gas-prices\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers, guv debate impact of oil and gas prices"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Several lawmakers are expressing doubt about the governor\u2019s special-session plans in light of falling oil and gas prices, but the governor\u2019s office says there\u2019s nothing to worry about. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

According to the revenue forecast from early July, the state will have $392 million for recurring expenses in next year\u2019s budget and another $392 million for one-time expenses because of windfall revenues from oil and gas. The forecast was based on a number of factors, including oil prices of $134 a barrel and natural gas prices of $11.50 for each thousand cubic feet.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Since then, oil and gas prices have dropped significantly. Today, oil is trading at about $124 per barrel and natural has dropped to below $10 per thousand cubic feet. And the next revenue estimate isn\u2019t due until September — after the special session of the Legislature begins on Aug. 15. Because of a number of other events taking place, including Indian Market in Santa Fe<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> and the Democratic and Republican presidential nominating conventions — there\u2019s a good chance the session will end before the new revenue forecast is released.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Based on the July estimate, Gov. Bill Richardson<\/a> wants to spend $211 million on tax and other financial relief for New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> and $200 million on road funding. Most of that would be paid for with money projected by the more volatile non-recurring revenue estimate. The governor wants to put $20 million from the recurring estimate into tax relief and have the rest available for other recurring expenses including universal health care.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>But some lawmakers say the drop in oil and gas prices since the revenue estimate was released have them worried.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThis looks very critical to me,\u201d Rep. Luciano \u201cLucky\u201d Varela<\/a>, vice chairman of the Legislative Finance Committee, told The Associated Press<\/a> on Friday. \u201cWe need to monitor this on a daily basis and see where we are headed. If it looks like it\u2019s going to level off or continue to go down, then I think we have serious problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s more of a time that we had better be careful rather than sorry,\u201d Sen. John Arthur Smith<\/a>, the LFC chairman, told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>At a Friday news conference, Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> balked at such hesitancy about his proposals, according to the news service.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been dealing with pessimists in the Legislature, economists… that keep telling me the economy is not going to grow and we should be cautious. And I\u2019ve been bold,\u201d the news service quoted Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> as saying. \u201cMy policies are working. Some volatility, maybe so. But we\u2019ve always been able to afford what we need.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Richardson<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said in an interview that short-term increases and decreases in oil and gas prices won\u2019t affect the projections because revenue forecasters \u201ccontemplate the volatile nature of oil and gas prices, and the projections are pretty conservative.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Gallegos also said the non-recurring money is deemed by legislative- and executive-branch forecasters as reliable. That\u2019s why the governor wants to use that money for universal health care and use the more volatile non-recurring money for one-time tax relief.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cThat is absolutely prudent,\u201d Gallegos said. \u201c\u2026 Does Sen. Smith believe we shouldn\u2019t use that recurring \u2018new money\u2019 for teacher salaries or law enforcement or other programs? Or is he just being pessimistic about the governor\u2019s health-care plan?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Several lawmakers are expressing doubt about the governor\u2019s special-session plans in light of falling oil and gas prices, but the governor\u2019s office says there\u2019s nothing to worry about. According to the revenue forecast from early July, the state will have $392 million for recurring expenses in next year\u2019s budget and another $392 million for one-time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3500\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}