Legislators need political will to act

The closing of businesses and the dramatic drop in oil prices hit the state hard, spiking unemployment and significantly reducing state and local revenues. Much-appreciated federal economic aid has been of assistance but has been grossly insufficient and in some cases misdirected and poorly executed.

Given these adversities, how do we rebuild our state, our communities, our businesses and our families in this new, more sensitive public health environment? From American history, we learn that social and economic catastrophes, world wars, depressions and epidemics have been successfully managed by rapidly instituted, significantly funded and focused programs. Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal following the Great Depression is an excellent example of massive government programs designed to provide immediate and major economic boosts to people across the country.

In the 2020 New Mexico legislative session, our state leaders moved us toward where we should be. New Mexico has been gradually and successfully expanding and upgrading our education systems from pre-K through higher education, diversifying our economies to support food systems, farmers and ranchers, wind and solar energy, increasing broadband accessibility and support for artists, movie production and eco-tourism.

To build on that progress, we need a massive shot in the arm to move us out of this economic crisis and into the 21st century.

Whatever our economic problems, we also have resources that can be effectively applied for redevelopment needs; for example:

• The Land Grant Permanent Fund, one of the largest in the United States.
• Tax and wage fairness: a more equitable gross receipts tax formula, gas tax increase and fair wages for critical/essential workers.
• Technology: national lab and university/college support for small startups and needed professionals (telemedicine, nurses, teachers, greenhouses and soil regeneration, safe local food processing and distribution, etc.).

The Land Grant Permanent Fund is worth about $17 billion. We can thank outgoing Sen. John Arthur Smith, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, who has guarded that fund for many years.

If ever there were a crisis necessitating tapping the land grant fund, this coronavirus pandemic must qualify. It’s the most devastating storm to hit New Mexico since the Great Depression. Tax structures and fair wages require bipartisan work to make them more equitable and to reflect the value of critical and essential workers. Tapping these resources is the only way to rebuild our economy, our livelihoods and our state.

The real issue is not the availability of funds to rebuild our state; it is a question of political will. Do our state leaders have the political will to initiate a New Mexican New Deal, to make bold decisions to jump-start the rebuilding of our state, our businesses and our family livelihoods?

It would be more efficient and effective if only we already had a New Mexico Public Bank. Then, all rebuilding investments would be financed through it in collaboration with our community banks and credit unions. A state public bank is surely in our future, but until then, we need to ask our legislators to show the political will needed to rebuild our state when they meet in the upcoming special session. We need to let them know we are counting on them.