Legislature Returns to Work After Super Bowl Sunday
Off
The legislature returns to work today for the last ten days of the
session. The action now turns to the Senate. The House had
done the right thing. It refused to cut public employee salaries
and was willing to risk raising taxes to prevent any more drastic cuts
to education and vital state services. Now it's the Senate's
turn. Conservative leaders like Senator John Arthur
Smith, chair of the Senate Finance Committee made no secret of their distain of the
House approach in a meeting of the Senate as a committee of the whole
to hear about the House action on Saturday. We need to let committee
members and all Senators know that the better choice is to raise
revenue, not cut public schools and other vital state services. Call Your Senator's Office Now!!
Budget and Three Tax Bills Pass House; Move to Senate
At least $300 million in new funding was passed in three revenue bills
that cleared the House Friday. House Bill 9, House Bill 119,
and House Bill 120 all passed on close votes. Another Tax bill, House Bill 270, failed by one vote.
The linchpin measure was House Bill 119, a temporary .5% increase in Gross Receipts Tax.
The vote was close, 34 to 32. All Democrats—except
Elias Barela, Joseph Cervantes, John Heaton, Dona Irwin, Rhonda King,
Andy Nunez, Al Park, Ben Rodefer, and Jeff Steinborn—voted
yes. All Republicans voted no. Democrats Karen Giannini and
Danice Picraux did not vote. Republicans Jane Powdrell-Culbert
and Dennis Roch did not vote. Thank those Democrats who showed the
courage to do the right thing in an election year and vote to raise
taxes to protect you and the children you serve!
The budget bill, House Bill 2, the General Appropriations Act, passed with all
Democrats voting yes except Dona Irwin of Deming and all Republicans
voting no; Democrat Jose Campos and Republican Dennis Roch did not
vote.
NEA-New Mexico and other public employee unions
representatives have worked hard to help get enough votes
to pass the budget and necessary tax bills.
The budget, House Bill 2, the General Appropriations Act has been crafted in
concert with revenue increases to prevent major cuts to public schools
or the salary and benefits of public employees. While not all we could wish for, the proposed House budget for Education
avoids the salary and massive program cuts proposed by the Legislative
Finance Committee before the legislative session. The measure includes $2.5 billion
in state and federal aid for public education next year. That's a
slight increase of about one-half percent over this year's total spending on
schools, the Public Education Department and other education programs.
New Mexico (like most other states) has been relying on federal economic stimulus money to
avoid deeply cutting public schools during the recession. About $210
million in federal aid will go to schools this year, replacing state
tax money that otherwise would be needed for education. However, the
federal money is going away. Schools would get about $24 million
in federal stimulus aid next year (all that's left after this year's
funding). An increase of $165 million in state aid fills the gap
left by federal funding available this year, but not next year. The
budget as proposed provides these funds without further cuts to public
schools. Call Your Senator's Office Now!!
All four bills are awaiting hearings in the Senate.
They face an uncertain future in the Senate Finance Committee.
Let committee member and all Senators know that we must raise revenues
to avoid any more cuts to public education and to replace lost federal
education stimulus funds! Don't hesitate, start calling now;
this regular legislative session has only ten days left! There
are many other revenue bills Senators can choose. We need about
$300 million new dollars to avoid cuts to schools and public
employees. Call Your Senator's Office Now!!
The Three Revenue Bills that have passed the House are described below:
House Bill 9, sponsored by committee chair Representative Ed
Sandoval. Under the proposed legislation, personal income tax
rates would be increased by 1.5% percent on taxable income in excess of
$200,000 (married joint and head of household filers), $133,000
(single) and $100,000 (married separate). The increase would apply
only in tax years 2010 through 2012. It would provide, as amended in
the committee to a 1.5% surtax, some $66 million
to the general fund next year.
A committee substitute for house Bill 119, TEMPORARY GROSS RECEIPTS INCREASE, sponsored by Speaker
Ben Lujan. The
substitute fixes some concerns that cities and counties had with the
bill. House Bill
119 temporarily increases the state gross receipts and
compensating tax to 5.5 percent in FY11, 5.375 percent in FY12, 5.25
percent in FY13, 5.125 in FY14 and returning the tax to the current 5
percent rate in FY15 and beyond. The measure raises $238 million
next year and $189 million the year after that. This goes
a long way toward raising the funds needed for public education.
House Bill 120, TAX WITHHOLDING CHANGES,
also sponsored by Speaker Lujan. This bill would raise some $16 million by
requiring out of state residents to pay taxes owed on mineral
royalties earned in New Mexico by forcing the pass-through entities
that collect the royalties to withhold the taxes; the measure imposes
no new taxes and forces compliance with existing law.
All these measures move the Senate where action next
week will be pivotal. It is now too late in the session for
written messages to do much good. Please call your legislators
when requested. Spending a few cell phone minutes just might
save your job, your health benefits, or your salary!
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Education Partners' Poll on school funding and revenues
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