By Mary Alice Murphy

On Monday evening, Sept. 19, New Mexico Association of Commerce and Industry President and Chief Executive Officer Jason Espinoza gave a presentation on what the group can offer businesses and how it works on legislation to benefit business.

Tony Trujillo, former member of the NMACI, introduced Espinoza and said: "The ACI is really the state Chamber. Jason is the business voice for all businesses throughout the state. The agency has a number of public policy committees."

"We represent businesses big and small throughout New Mexico," Espinoza said. "We are completely member-driven. We have 10 different policy committees that work on legislative issues of interest to our members."

He said regulatory and financial obstacles are the main barriers to helping businesses.

Espinoza took over the presidency about a year ago, after serving with the ACI as vice president for government affairs. During his tenure "he has helped to block more than 80 anti-business proposals, while helping to navigate more than a dozen pro-business proposals through the Legislature to become law," according to the nmaci.org website.

"It was important for me to get out to the communities we serve," Espinoza told attendees. "We want to hear the issues so we're representing all businesses. Silver City is our first official stop."

He described ACI as a statewide business advocate. "What is ACI doing to challenge the status quo?" he asked and answered. "We needed to own the issues. We will draft legislation, find sponsorship and advocate for the bills. Last year, unemployment insurance was our main issue. We drafted legislation and put a year-over-year cap on how much insurance costs can grow. Unemployment insurance rates are calculated on a three-year-rolling balance. A company can be rewarded if it has put more into the insurance than it has gotten out of it. The Legislature passed it, but the feds came out and said a cap 'doesn't work for us.'"

Espinoza said when the federal government told Workforce Solutions Department Cabinet Secretary Celina Bussey that the state couldn't do this, she appealed.

"No one has ever appealed before," Espinoza said. "While the federal government is trying to figure out its process, we will proceed. Two other states have caps similar to ours. Businesses are losing dollars to the program."

He said another issue to many business owners is labor law regulations. They are trying to figure out the regulations they have to deal with. New regulations on the local level are bypassing state and federal laws. Once a regulation is passed in one city, such as Albuquerque, it will domino into other cities.

Espinoza noted that the Family Work Week Act mandates work schedules be set 21 days in advance. If the worker is not needed, the company must pay a convenience fee of four hours of work anyway. "This kills flexibility. Mandates create one size fits all. It's bad for the owner; it's bad for the employee, who doesn't have flexibility. The proposal didn't pass in Albuquerque, so they came up with putting it on the ballot."

Another issue is mandatory paid sick leave for part-time and full-time employees. "We encourage paid leave, but built into this proposal is a presumptive retaliatory action against an employee who takes sick leave within each 90 days."

Espinoza noted a special session is coming up, possibly within the next week. "The state of New Mexico has a $250 million deficit from this past legislative session and a probable $400 to $500 million deficit for the upcoming session. We need to diversify the economy away from just oil and gas."

He said that the Local Economic Development Act (LEDA), the Job Training Incentive Program (JTIP), and tax reform can help, but they take time to be implemented and get results. "We need to stay the course. We need to be more business-friendly. I'm afraid that coming into 2017 and 2018, any economic development effort is not going to make it."

Espinoza said that for a business owner to create a new business, product or service, it takes about 48 hours to get the permit in Texas. In New Mexico, it takes 45 days.

"The Legislature hasn't made the decision to be business-friendly," Espinoza said. "Every business has to deal with government regulations."

He also said the state has critical infrastructure needs, such as roads and broadband that it simply does not have the capital for. "We are looking at public-private partnerships, which will help."

For broadband, "we need to release the private sector from overburdening regulations. That is how to incentivize private efforts."

Labor mandates should have uniform regulations across the state. "Our solution should be a state legislative decision. "

He brought up another issueG