SANTA ROSA — The New Mexico Legislature convened Jan. 17 for its 2023 session, with a record-setting projected $3 billion-plus surplus — enough to allow lawmakers to dream big in how they want to spend it. Let’s they’ll be wise about it.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham wants to give some of it back to the citizenry, via $750 rebate checks, tax cuts for middle-income households and revisions to the tax code. Plus, she wants to move us toward making health care a right rather than a privilege (aka, “univeral health care”); put some more reasonable gun-control measures in place and making it easier to keep alleged violent offenders in jail before trial, take additional steps toward a greener economy, addressing homelessness, and much more. It’s not surprising she would be pushing a full agenda since the money is available to do all that and more.
It’s also not surprising that the “loyal opposition” — the Republicans — would be criticizing her ambitious agenda. Some of their criticisms so far appear to be knee-jerk reactions, commonplace in a two-party system, but their warnings about overspending with recurring expenses is a valid argument.
The governor’s proposal to pick up teachers’ health insurance premiums without doing so for other state employees is a case in point. Not only does such a generous approach seem unfair on the surface, it’s also something that can’t easily be reversed when the state budget gets tight again. The flush times we’re in now won’t last forever, you know.
Legislators need to be careful and responsible in how they spend the surplus. There’s a golden opportunity to invest in New Mexico’s future, but there’s also the risk of spending away the future.
The state will benefit from good investments. Let’s make sure that happens this year, when we can afford to look ahead.