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REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP STATEMENT

ON SPECIAL SESSION BUDGET VOTE

SANTA FE – Following the late night floor vote of House Bill 2, the budget bill, House Republican Leadership issued the following statement:

“Going into the wee hours of the morning, the House of Representatives finally voted on a budget. Some will say that this budget is balanced, but it is not,” commented Representative Tom Taylor, House Republican Leader. “We started off the session with the budget having a $230 million deficit and still have a budget with a $230 million deficit even after the vote early this morning. Clearly some folks are not interested in truly solving our budget problems.”

“House Republicans introduced a series of amendments that came to a total of over $350 million plus in budget savings to the state of New Mexico, with no negative impact to education,” said Representative Keith Gardner, House Republican Whip. “Unfortunately many members of the House are more interested in massive government spending and balancing the budget on the backs of hard working New Mexicans instead of real solutions to our budget problems. Massive overspending is what got us into this problem in the first place, and we continue to do so with this budget.”

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                                                 The House passed the budget.  WHAT NEXT?

Santa Fe – Upon the passage of the FY2011 New Mexico State Budget (HB2), Rep. Tom Taylor (San Juan) and Rep. Keith Gardner (Chaves, Eddy, Lea, Roosevelt) issued the following statements.
 
“It is irresponsible for the House to pass the budget with a $310 million deficit built in. It is even more irresponsible to address that reduction through tax increases to New Mexico’s hardworking families.  This session, Republicans introduced numerous measures to cut costs to taxpayers and unfortunately all of them were voted down by Democrats,” said Republican Leader Tom Taylor. 
 
“To compound the problem, there are a lot of temporary dollars in this bill.  Temporary tax increases are burdensome because they are tax increases that later go away and leave government thirsty.  They are also burdensome because they add a variable to the landscape and make it more difficult for individuals, families, and businesses to plan.  For someone who looks beyond the tip of their nose, it is clear that the legislature is going to have to revisit these same issues next year unless we solve this problem now,” Taylor continued. 
 
“We entered this session with a $200 million defecit and in a little under a month it has grown to $310 million.  Fortunately, there is still time to fix this problem.  We are only done with the first half of the budget process,” said House Republican Whip Keith Gardner.  “As the budget bill moves to the Senate, we are counting on our colleagues there pick up the torch of budget savings and responsible fiscal policy.  We must avoid raising taxes and instead make careful spending cuts.”
 
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website:http://www.nmhousegop.com/                                                   twitter: http://www.twitter.com/nmhousegop

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                                                               CONTACT:
February 3, 2010                                                                                      (505) 216-6342

*** Media Availability ***

New Mexico House Republicans

WHAT:      Republican House Representatives will be available for comment regarding the FY2011 budget and their strategy for the second half of the 49^th New Mexico Legislative Session.

WHEN:      Wednesday, February 3, 2010 - Immediately following the vote on the FY2011 budget (HB2)

WHERE:    Interested media should call (505) 216-6342 or visit the Republican House Leadership Office, Room 125, The Roundhouse, to request interviews with specific Republican House Representatives. The leadership office will locate representatives and connect them with inquiring reporters.  Representatives will be available for phone and in-person interviews.

DETAILS:     All electronic, print, radio, and TV media are welcome to attend.  No advance notice is necessary.

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The following editorial appeared in the Albuquerque Journal on January 29, 2010 under the heading “N.M. Taxpayers Didn’t Create, Can’t Fix, Budget Mess,” and is offered for submission to all media. 

Budget Business

By Republican House Whip Keith Gardner

If you think that this legislative session is different from all of the others, you are correct.  This year the state legislature will be faced with New Mexico’s most serious budget crisis in our state’s history.

As we take on this problem, it is important to keep in mind some key points.  We are not just tackling this year’s crisis, we have last year’s budget problems to deal with as well.  We are currently facing a roughly 600 million deficit between FY2010 and FY2011.

Raising taxes is not the answer.  Unemployment remains high in New Mexico, while tax revenues have declined since 2008.  This cycle of economic downturn will not be fixed by raising taxes.  It is unfair to New Mexico working families to raise taxes.  Raising taxes would only offer momentary relief to the state treasury before the businesses and individuals that paid the new taxes reduce the number of their employees, curtail any plans to expand, or move out of state to compensate for the new taxes they have to pay.  New Mexicans already carry a heavy tax burden when compared to other Rocky Mountain states.  Increasing taxes now will likely discourage future business development and job creation and cause the recession to last even longer in New Mexico.          

The Richardson/Denish administration proposed to raise taxes “temporarily.”  The idea of a $200 million temporary tax increase has been circulating the Capitol as a solution to bring the budget into balance.  In fact, if history is any indication, these taxes would very likely not be temporary or result in a decrease in the budget deficit.  Afterall, there is nothing more permanent than a temporary tax.

To solve our budget problems we are going to have to cut out all extraneous spending.  Remember, the budget is not in bad shape only because of the economy, the budget is in bad shape because of overspending.  Between FY 2003 and FY 2009, state government spending increased by nearly 53 percent and the number of budgeted state employees grew by 27 percent. 

Today, for every 100 private sector jobs in New Mexico, there are 25 state and local jobs.  Again, our neighboring states are more cost conscious than we are.  In Oklahoma there are only 22 state and local jobs for every 100 private sector jobs.  In Texas there are 17, and Utah, Colorado, and Arizona each have only 16.  This session, we must halt this trend and reverse it. 

As a businessperson as well as a legislator who cares about jobs, I maintain we must also resist over-regulation.  One example is the Pit Rule, which has damaged our oil and gas industry by increasing the cost of drilling a well.  The license fees that the Richardson/Denish administration increased last year are another example.  License fees have the same affect as taxes.  In addition, they are a hassle, and if implemented incorrectly they can burden businesses with ambiguous liability that ranges from annoying to frightening.  We must limit business regulation to just essential laws that will reform legitimate, existing problems and take antiquated and unnecessary laws regarding commerce off the books.  We as legislators need to be about the business of making it easier to do business in New Mexico.      

It’s quite clear that New Mexico’s current budget problems were not the result of taxpayers being asked to pay too little, but rather a state government that spends too much, mismanages much of what it does spend, and creates a hostile environment for business and job creation.  Instead of considering ill-conceived tax increases and over-regulation, my colleagues and I must take a hard look at how state services are delivered and implement fundamental changes in the way state government operates.