As we enter into the midpoint of the legislative session, I need to raise some concerns with you.
New Mexico businesses have had to endure – and in several quarters, continue to endure – tremendous challenges as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is especially true for small businesses. A recent report indicates that New Mexico is the 9th most dependent state in the U.S. on small businesses for employment. We've lost too many of these job creators forever, and the future for others remains uncertain. The ground on which small businesses stand is shaky, and the thread by which many of them are hanging is thin and fraying.
This is reality… which brings me to the situation unfolding in Santa Fe right now.
We're nearing the midpoint of the mostly-virtual 2021 legislative session, and unfortunately, in just this one session, lawmakers are poised to take a number of actions that would make life harder for small businesses, the cumulative effect of which would seriously drive up the cost of running a business and jeopardize not only the existence of many small businesses, but their ability to retain and hire workers.
These actions include: new mandatory paid sick leave requirements, new mandatory paid family and medical leave requirements, higher unemployment insurance rates, increased taxes – taking the top rate to the highest in the Southwest and among the highest in the nation (approaching NY, DC, and VT), sweeping new rights to sue businesses and/or industry regulators, a minimum wage of $15/hour and the elimination of the tipped wage rate, higher workers compensation payments (caused by a presumption of workplace COVID transmission), and higher health care premiums due to a new tax on health insurance plans (highest state tax rate in the nation).
As things currently stand, the Legislature could very well raise the cost of running a small business in seven or eight different ways – in just one session, in the midst of a pandemic. Many small business owners, and those of us who represent the business community, are left asking: "why ever, and especially why now?" Worse yet, input from job creators has been almost completely ignored.
That's not all… In health care, the Legislature is attempting to raise taxes on doctors and allow larger lawsuit awards against hospitals, physicians, and other health care professionals – none of which makes it easier to attract and retain high-quality practitioners and health systems to a state that is desperately short of doctors, nurses and hospital beds. Not only would this do nothing to reign in the cost of healthcare, these actions would increase it. And with respect to energy, efforts continue to be made by lawmakers to curb oil and gas production, encourage a proliferation of environmental lawsuits against energy producers and all sorts of manufacturers, and establish a patchwork of environmental standards across the state that are stricter than federal standards.
All of these policies will jeopardize our state's fiscal and economic health and will make New Mexico less competitive economically with our neighbors than we already are.
Our Chamber has been quite vocal in our support of developing and producing renewable energy; it is a critical economic frontier on which New Mexico can be a leader. But, if we're seeking to develop an "all of the above" energy economy, it should truly mean "all of the above." Our nation and world will need oil and gas for decades to come, and we should want it to be produced in New Mexico – in support of thousands of jobs and all of the public schools, hospitals, economic development projects, and other things it pays for.
I want to be very clear about one other point: we appreciate the bipartisan effort in both the House and Senate to advance short-term COVID relief legislation, including a large infusion of state dollars to the unemployment insurance fund, new loans and LEDA-like grants for businesses, special grant funding to revive tourism and hospitality in our state, some regulatory relief, and stimulus payments for low-income families. These are important efforts, and we support them. But, they are only a short term lifeline for businesses that would be saddled with much higher long-term costs and other burdens in perpetuity. Unfortunately, that's where things are headed.
In all the years I've been involved in advocacy at the state level, I've rarely – if ever – seen such little concern and appreciation for the very difficult work that is done each day within our private sector to create jobs and drive our economy. We can either recover and thrive as a hospitable place to do business or suffer under the reputation of a high-cost, over-regulated, and extremely litigious state. Lawmakers have a month left to change their current course; in any way that you might be able, we're asking for your help and support in encouraging them to do so.
—Terri Cole
President and CEO Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce