2020 Policy Agenda Priorities

Presented in Alphabetical Order by Committees

Agriculture and Food Processing: 

ACI SUPPORTS:

• Seed standardization legislation to ensure the consistent statewide regulation of seeds;
• Reinstating the requirement that the New Mexico Department of Transportation erect and maintain fencing along state highways to prevent livestock from entering our public highways;
• Maintaining the integrity of predator control measures on both public and private lands;
• Addressing the feral/wild horse population in New Mexico and the New Mexico Livestock Board having jurisdiction to address the problem;
• Protecting the integrity of agriculture land valuation as currently exists in statute;
• Development of new visa and foreign worker programs that are more efficient than the existing H-2A program;
• Preserving the integrity of the workers' compensation system to ensure quick and efficient delivery of benefits to injured workers, to maximize medical rehabilitation and return-to-work outcomes at a fair cost to the employers, which will also foster business investment and job creation;
• Legislation requiring that all imported, processed foods, ready for consumption, meet the same standards as identified by the FDA for domestic processors;
• Maintaining funding for the New Mexico Department of Agriculture;
• Funding for New Mexico State University College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences (ACES);
• Revising or eliminating regulations, both federal and state, that are not based on sound, objectively verifiable, scientific evidence; • Responsible use and management of our lands, including working forests that support and grow industries including farming & ranching, hunting & outfitting, timber harvest & energy transmission; • Efforts to protect watersheds and reduce wildfire risk by thinning overstocked stands, clearing away vegetation and trees to create shaded fuel breaks and increase wildlife habitat, increasing livestock grazing opportunities, providing funding and guidance to reduce or eliminate hazardous fuels in forested lands of New Mexico;
• The existence, preservation, and promotion of a healthy hunting, fishing and outfitting industry; and,
• Assistance from the state of New Mexico in addressing the newly discovered PFAS (Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) groundwater contamination issue with the appropriate federal agencies.

Economic Development and Technology: 

ACI SUPPORTS:

• Full and increased investment in strategic economic development programs such as JTIP, LEDA, and the Rapid Workforce Development fund, as well as enhancing the tools available, such as the high wage jobs tax credit, to incentivize business investment, and job creation;
• Full and increased investment for the New Mexico Partnership, local economic development organizations, the New Mexico Economic Development Department, and the New Mexico Tourism Department, for marketing and promotional activities;
• Policies that increase broadband deployment in urban and rural areas by public-private partnerships and coordinated initiatives and legislative actions for shared infrastructure and access, tax policies and promotion of new technologies;
• Implementation of the local, state, and federal procurement codes in a consistent, efficient and transparent manner that allows companies in New Mexico to effectively compete in the procurement process;
• A sustainable process by which the state supports public-private investments to drive economic development;
• Proactive investments in robust infrastructure programs that are essential for economic growth and prosperity including roads and highways, water, sewer, power, natural gas, and advanced telecommunications.

Education and Workforce Development: 

ACI SUPPORTS:

• Quality childcare and education programs that are focused on a child’s success in school, measure child outcomes and encourage continued training opportunities and other initiatives to retain staff in early childhood settings;

• Efforts to ensure fiscal and program accountability at all levels for state-funded programs, from early childhood through higher education, rooted in student outcomes;
• A statewide plan that identifies and provides leadership training for school administrators, including principals and superintendents, that includes best practices from business and education, including the criteria identified in the Baldrige Excellence Framework for education;
• Equalized funding and continued accountability across the public education sector, including charter schools;
• Legislation to aid charter schools in obtaining funds for facilities; • Increased aid for students studying in high demand fields such as STEM, skilled trades, and healthcare at New Mexico higher education institutions;
• The creation of an early childhood permanent fund;
• The implementation of systems that allow for the transparent reporting of education funding at the school level;
• Coordinated high school and college workforce development programs that address New Mexico's needs such as STEM, skilled trades, healthcare, job search and soft skills;
• Improved pathways for educators to advance in their licensure based on demonstrated classroom performance and outcomes;
• Ongoing workforce analysis to determine the number and level of skills needed for current employers, as well as those needed for future economic development, and widely disseminating this information;
• Educational initiatives that contribute to increasing the overall educational attainment of New Mexico’s populace, including more efficient transfer between institutions and increased access to alternative educational pathways;
• Creative and innovative efforts to reduce school dropout rate and alternative ways to assess the effectiveness of schools that are created to serve dropouts;
• A sustainable plan for the lottery scholarship to maximize the state’s return on investment; and,
• Development of a teacher evaluation based on measurable student achievement and a policy that encourages continued training opportunities for teachers.

ACI OPPOSES:
• Any additional distribution from the NM Land Grant Permanent Fund; and,
• A moratorium on charter schools.

Energy and Extractive Industries:

ACI SUPPORTS:

• Policies that provide for the commercially viable development of energy infrastructure, including roads, oil and natural gas pipelines, electric transmission lines, energy storage, and electric and natural gas distribution systems that will benefit end-use markets, including such things as natural gas and electric vehicles and smart-grid technologies; including the development of an interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel;
• Creation of stable and predictable financing and financing opportunities that allow energy companies to fund a move to sustainable energy generation sources and to prioritize long-term energy solutions that are affordable and considerate of New Mexico’s fiscal environment;
• Standards or regulations, both on the state and federal level, that are based upon objectively verifiable and widely accepted science, and that are commercially viable and encourage innovation, job creation, job retention, and emerging technologies;
• Continued growth of New Mexico’s energy and extractive industries through reasonable government policies, regulations and practices that are commercially viable, predictable, and time-sensitive, that encourage private capital investment in New Mexico, and that result in private sector job creation;
• The development of promising new or continuing mineral extraction or production projects involving deposits of copper, garnet, potash, dolomite, magnesium, zeolite, coal, humate, uranium, rare earth elements, and other precious, specialty, and industrial minerals, as well as shale resources, all of which hold significant potential for bringing jobs and economic development to rural parts of New Mexico;
• Incentivizing the recycling and reuse of produced or otherwise available water, encouraging research and investment in water treatment technologies, and removing legal impediments to such activities;
• State level management of natural resources, including water and minerals, rather than local level government regulation, which could be used to restrict or preclude development, to the detriment of the state and its citizens;
• Developing infrastructure for facilitating the goals and requirements of the Energy Transition Act, including but not limited to wind, solar and other renewable energy generation facilities and transmission lines to move the energy to markets both inside and outside New Mexico;
• Efforts to amend the State Constitution that allow for appointment of qualified PRC members as opposed to election of PRC members; and,
• Discussions of Methane-related rulemaking efforts that include rather than exclude input from the oil and gas industry.

ACI OPPOSES:

• Efforts to impose moratoria on lawful oil and gas and mining extraction activities;

Envrionment: 

ACI SUPPORTS:

• Reforming the regulatory and administrative process that eliminates delays in permit processing and promotes consistent, reasonable, and predictable administrative processes including policy development, permitting, enforcement and compliance procedures;
• Placing a reasonable limit on fines and penalties that state or local governments may assess without court action;
• Managing regulation of natural resources, including water and minerals, by the State rather than local governments, which could be used to restrict or preclude development, to the detriment of the state;
• Utilizing the State Volkswagen (VW) Settlement Plan to decrease transportation emissions by using the $18M in funds to replace standard commercial and fleet vehicles with cleaner emissions technology such as electric, clean diesel, and natural gas. Also, build out of electric vehicle infrastructure on main highway corridors across New Mexico;
• Ensuring public lands remain available to support a healthy forest products industry consistent with multiple use policies, reasonable protections for endangered species and critical habitat, and fire management initiatives promoting healthy forests and watersheds.
• Evaluating relief measures for industry in Dona Ana, County, given ozone NAAQS non-attainment designation due to pollution transport from neighboring regions such as El Paso, Texas and Juarez, Mexico, and in Lea, Eddy, and San Juan Counties, given elevated ozone levels; and,
• Withdrawing and replacing the 2015 Waters of the United States definition rule with a rule that reflects the limits of the Clean Water Act and recognizes the unique conditions in the arid West.

ACI OPPOSES:

• Authorizing or funding non-governmental entities and private citizens to enforce state environmental regulations and permit requirements;
• Adding new legal frameworks that are duplicative of existing federal, state or local environmental review processes, or that expressly or implicitly create a new right of action to challenge capital outlays or permits on environmental review sufficiency grounds;
• Authorizing government denial of environmental permits based on a company’s past compliance history; including air quality construction and operating permits;
• Regulations that are more stringent than the federal regulations, unless specifically authorized by the Legislature to meet unique state conditions or concerns; and,
• Decisions concerning threatened or endangered species, both federal and state, that are not based on sound, objectively verifiable, scientific evidence.

Healthcare:

ACI SUPPORTS:

• Implementation or enhancement of sustainable, evidence-based programs that
o reduce inappropriate utilization of limited healthcare resources,
o ensure access to healthcare coverage for all New Mexicans,
o promote appropriate medication use; and,
o maintain healthcare plan options for New Mexico businesses and those purchasing coverage through the individual market;
• Enhancement of economically viable, sustainable, data-driven and evidence-based programs that ensure access to healthcare and coverage for all New Mexicans and that do not destabilize or collapse the commercial insurance market;
• Taking aggressive steps to ensure an adequate provider workforce to meet the increasing demands on the healthcare system and avert a looming crisis in provider access, particularly in areas of primary and behavioral healthcare, and facility-based long-term care providers;
• Maximization of federal funds through actions such as fully funding the state Medicaid program and Safety Net Care Pool;
• Minimizing premium cost impact on individuals, businesses, and carriers, by promoting and investing in processes that improve the management of chronic diseases/conditions in an outpatient setting to decrease unneeded hospitalization;
• Improvements to Centennial Care that ensure cost efficiency with sustainable provider funding and re-aligned incentives;
• Taking a phased and collaborative approach to replacing fee-for-service medicine with more effective, value-based, alternative payment models;
• Outcome-based healthcare that promotes the best outcomes for individual patients while controlling costs and minimizing the adoption of burdensome regulatory policies;
• Initiatives that promote the appropriate use of opioids and other controlled substances to decrease the risk of dependency and combat overdose, by taking a multi-disciplinary clinical approach, which may include the use of evidence-based medically appropriate forms of pain management; and,
• Transparency in healthcare that provides greater accessibility to useful data and utilizes streamlined reporting systems and does not interfere with industry’s ability to enter into privately negotiated contracts or duplicate federal or state reporting that is already required.

ACI OPPOSES:

• Additional financial burdens on the healthcare industry, which ultimately lead to increased patient costs. The state needs to make legislative and regulatory decisions that focus on efficiency and effectiveness, while minimizing provider job loss and negative impacts to the provider infrastructure.

Regulatory and Government Accountability: 

ACI SUPPORTS:

• Creating a uniform and consistent agency adjudicatory procedure across all state administrative agencies, boards, and commissions to assure fairness and due process;
• The proposed constitutional amendment making the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (PRC) an appointed body;
• Expansion of the Administrative Hearing Office to conduct hearings on administrative adjudicatory actions arising from all state agencies using its own qualified, professional, objective, and independent hearing officers or administrative law judges;
• Placing a reasonable limit on fines and penalties that state or local government agencies can assess in administrative enforcement actions; and,
• Reformation of the plural executive system, by moving certain elective official functions to existing executive agencies and replacing certain elective officials with appointees.

ACI OPPOSES:

• Duplicative, ambiguous or unnecessary regulations or actions, including unnecessary occupational licensing requirements, that increase the cost of doing business;
• Active participation by the Attorney General as a party on behalf of the state in federal or state litigation, rulemaking and other agency or commission decision-making, unless specifically authorized by the Governor, executive agency, or the Legislature; and,
• The use of ballot initiatives to bypass local elected officials and the expenditures of public funds for local elections as a means for public polling.

Taxation: 

ACI SUPPORTS:

• Elimination or a significant reduction of pyramiding caused by the taxation of business to business services;
• A stable revenue system without a disproportionate burden on particular industries, individuals, or employers and in conjunction with a statewide economic development plan; and,
• Expansion of the single sales factor in the multi-state tax apportionment formula for corporate income tax.

ACI OPPOSES:

• Shifting of property tax burdens from residential property to commercial property that could result from caps on residential valuation or tax rates.

Water and Land Use:

ACI SUPPORTS:

• The creation of public-private partnerships to develop water infrastructure that will provide public benefits, such as economical infrastructure project delivery and water conservation;
• Incentivizing the recycling and reuse of produced or otherwise available water, encouraging research and investment in water treatment technologies, and removing legal impediments to such activities;
• Refining policies to provide clarity in the Office of State Engineer’s application of administrative procedure;
• Efforts to identify recurring funding for forest and watershed restoration;
• Updating the New Mexico state and regional water plans with strong involvement from the business community;
• A regulatory structure that encourages the development of new water sources and the infrastructure to support those sources;
• Allowing the transfer of water across major basin boundaries when it meets the conditions promulgated by the (OSE);
• Official and specific consideration of the negative economic impact of new land use and land use planning, and regulations on the landowner, municipality, or on business operations;
• Active Water Resource Management (AWRM) rules which only include those limited measures necessary to protect senior water rights and compact delivery requirements;
• The regulation and certification of non-navigable waters by the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish as a means to discourage public trespass in waters located on private property; and,
• Assistance from the state of New Mexico in addressing the newly discovered PFAS groundwater contamination issue with the appropriate federal agencies.

ACI OPPOSES:

• Federal regulatory initiatives and directives that threaten the authority of the states to govern the appropriation, allocation, protection, conservation, development, and management of the waters within their borders.

Workplace Issues:

ACI SUPPORTS

• Statewide uniformity of employment laws, such as paid or unpaid leave mandates, wage or fringe benefit mandates, and scheduling mandates; to provide a stable environment for employers and promote economic development;
• Amending the Public Works Minimum Wage Act to clearly define "Willful Violation”;
• Initiatives to incentivize employers to voluntarily provide employees with family-friendly workplace policies;
• Preserving the integrity of the workers' compensation system to ensure the quick and efficient delivery of benefits to injured workers at a fair cost to employers, which fosters business investment and job creation; and,
• Uniform, clear, consistent, and fair employment laws, which include a minimum wage solution, at the federal or statewide level, that includes amendment to the New Mexico Minimum Wage Act.

ACI OPPOSES

• Any proposal that does not allow New Mexico employers to enforce drug-free workplace policies on or off the job;
• Excessive employment laws or regulations that expose employers to legal, regulatory, and financial risks; and,
• Erosion of the Exclusion Remedy under the Workers' Compensation Act; including case decisions that expand coverage and benefits which erodes the integrity of the Workers’ Compensation System.