By Margaret O’Hara
The Santa Fe New Mexican
The Senate went two-for-three Thursday.
Members of the House of Representatives concurred with the Senate’s changes to House Bill 2, the $10.8 billion spending plan for fiscal year 2026, and House Bill 3, an appropriation to the New Mexico Department of Transportation. Both bills will now head to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s desk.
However, the House voted not to concur with the Senate’s changes to House Bill 14, a tax package that combined an Earned Income Tax Credit for low- and middle-income New Mexicans with an oil tax hike. The increase would have raised $130 million a year to pay for the tax breaks.
Rep. Derrick Lente, a Democrat from Sandia Pueblo and chair of the House Taxation and Revenue Committee, urged fellow representatives not to concur with the Senate’s changes, which stripped the plan to pay for the tax breaks — an additional 0.28% “oil and gas equalization surtax” when crude oil prices are $55 per barrel or more. The Senate also added a series of new tax breaks.
The matter is now expected to go to a conference committee of six lawmakers, three from the House and three from the Senate, who are tasked with reconciling their differences.
If the Senate does not recede from its amendments, House Speaker Javier Martínez said from the House floor, he would appoint Lente, Rep. Cristina Parajón, D-Albuquerque, and Rep. Mark Duncan, R-Kirtland, to participate in the conference committee.
Trouble with the tax package
Blink and you’d miss the Senate’s big change to HB 14.
When the Senate started discussion on the tax package Thursday morning, Sen. Carrie Hamblen, a Las Cruces Democrat and chair of the Senate Tax, Business and Transportation Committee, framed the chamber’s changes as broadly beneficial.
The Senate’s version of the bill incorporated a series of proposals her committee has seen this session, offering tax breaks to foster parents, volunteer emergency medical technicians, search and rescue personnel and firefighters, and employers of local journalists.
“The provisions we have added in the Senate tax committee collectively strengthen public services, economic development, health care access and local journalism, ensuring broad benefits to the state and its residents,” Hamblen said.
Sen. Bill Sharer, R-Farmington, then proposed an amendment to strike seven sections of the tax package, a piece of the bill that would have imposed the oil and gas equalization surtax.
Hamblen deemed the change a “friendly” — or welcome — amendment “after conversations with multiple entities involved in this,” she said.
After a few minutes and a vote, the Senate struck the oil tax portion of the bill and then voted 36-1 in favor of the amended bill.
Budget bills move along
In contrast to the tax proposal, HB 2 and HB 3, which will fund state agencies for the fiscal year that begins July 1, faced little pushback from the House.
“Our Senate colleagues did some good work,” said Rep. Nathan Small, a Las Cruces Democrat and chair of the House Appropriations and Finance Committee.
The Senate’s version of HB 2 — a nearly 300-page bill that earmarks funds for everything from public schools to staff for the Regulation and Licensing Department’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Division — includes the 6% overall growth while maintaining 30% reserves, Small explained from the House floor.
The House’s housing and public safety spending initiatives remained “very strong,” Small added.
HB 3 provides for the Department of Transportation’s annual budget.
Though House Republicans largely voted against concurrence with the Senate’s changes — just as all Senate Republicans voted against the proposal — the majority ended up concurring in less than 10 minutes.
