First: The Good bills of 2021

The New Mexico Legislature adjourned on Saturday. While most of the bills passed were NOT good, there were a few highlights which we’ll discuss in further blog posts this week. Gov. Lujan Grisham has announced (see this rather bizarre video) where she indicates she’ll soon call a special session to pass marijuana legalization legislation.

Here are a few of the BEST bills to pass this session:

HB 255: Liquor licensing reform. While the bill is messy and not entirely pro-freedom, the effort to undertake reform of New Mexico’s anti-business liquor licensing laws is probably the best pro-business legislation this session. RGF supported this legislation once a tax hike was eliminated from the bill on the Senate floor;

HB 177: Reduce restrictions on sale of non-perishable homemade food;

HB 278: Eliminates gross receipts tax pyramiding for certain “business to business” sales of manufactured goods;

HB 55: Increases transparency for capital outlay projects by requiring the publishing on the legislative website a searchable list of capital projects passed beginning with the 2022 Legislature;

SB 304: Creates legislative redistricting commission to draw lines for various political seats including Congress and the Legislature.

Various COVID related tax rebates and exemptions, especially those targeted at bars and restaurants also passed with bi-partisan support.

You can find out more about these and other bills along with (tentative at this point) ratings of legislators at the Foundation’s Freedom Index.