The 2009 60-Day Legislative Session ended on March 21st with the usual mad rush to finish the work up by noon. The Session, all in all, was a successful one for the Association and as far as I can see we were able to stop all tax increases. I believe the Governor will call the Legislature back into session sometime in late September or early October and if the State is still looking for revenue to balance the budget, it is going to be a challenge. These are how some of the bills that we were tracking concluded:
HB157: Unfair Practices Act sponsored by Rep. Al Park. The intent of this bill is to clarify when a person damaged by an unfair or deceptive trade practice may bring a civil action. In essence, it increases the scope of activities for which recovery may be sought to anything that is "deceptive" or "unfair, “ instead of confining the definition of what is deceptive or unfair to those things specifically prohibited in the statute. This would leave it up to the courts to define those nebulous concepts (as in prima facie tort). This passed the House and was tabled in Senate Corporations. HB346: Education Gross Receipts Surtax sponsored by Rep. Stewart proposes the funding mechanism. True to the title, the bill proposes the gross receipt tax rate be increased by 1%. In addition however, the bill also proposes an increase in the personal income tax rate (PIT). The PIT would increase in tax year 2010 from 5.3 percent to 6 percent for married persons filing jointly with taxable income of at least $24,000 and for single persons with taxable income of at least $16,000. ACI is neutral on the HB331, the formula, and opposes HB346. This opposition is not only based on the increase in taxes, but the lack of total fiscal accountability for our public schools. Currently, there are as many as 23 school districts without audits. Additionally, New Mexico stands to receive $326 million from the federal stimulus package for education. This passed the House and was tabled in Senate Corporations.
HB 420 – This bill prohibits a minor from being under the influence of alcohol and makes it a 4th degree felony. This has not been heard in committee. This bill died on adjournment in House Judiciary.
HB493: Minimum Wage Protections sponsored by Rep. Park. This bill changes the statute of limitations for bringing a wage claim to three years (from one now). The statute of limitations will also be tolled during an investigation by the agency. More problematic still is the new “continuing violation” language which means the department can go back as many years as it wants and look at alleged “continuing violation” problems. That means there really would be no statute of limitations. The bill also adds an extreme penalty that wasn’t there before (damages would now be the wages due plus interest plus an additional penalty of double the wages). So a claimant actually would have incentive to wait to bring a claim as long as possible and could end up with much more than they would have had if no violation had occurred. This bill passed the House but died on adjournment in Senate Finance.
HB506: Higher Attorney Fees for Workers’ Comp sponsored by Rep. Martinez that provides for higher attorney fees for claims under the Workers’ Compensation Act and the Occupational Disease Disablement Law. The Workers’ Comp attorney fees for a single claim are capped at $20,000, up from the current $16,500. If the $20,000 is exhausted, a judge may award up to $5,000 more for adequate representation in subsequent proceedings. The bill also authorizes a fee of up to $10,000 for a successful appeal. If a claimant requests discovery, the amount the employer must advance is capped at $3,000, up from the current $1,000. For claims under the Occupational Disease Disablement Law, attorney fees for a single claim are capped at $27,500, up from $12,500. If the $27,500 is exhausted, a judge may award an additional $2,500 fee for adequate representation in each subsequent proceeding. For both types of claims, the limits are cumulative and apply whether the claimant has one or more attorneys. This passed on House Floor and died on adjournment on Senate Floor.
HB 527 – Prohibits retail liquor sales within one-half mile of an Interstate Highway. This bill was tabled in House Consumer and Public Affairs.
HB 560 – Relates to alcoholic beverages requiring package sales to be restricted to a segregated area and a stand-alone cash register. This bill was tabled in House Consumer and Public Affairs.
HB 742 – Cigarette Tax Rate. This would raise the cigarette tax by a dollar a pack. This bill was originally assigned to the Business and Industry Committee, but the Speaker withdrew the bill and sent it to House Health and Government Affairs Committee which is a much more favorable committee. It passed out of House Health and Government Affairs but was reduced to $.50 per pack and then it was tabled in House Taxation and Revenue committee.
HB 818 – Requires a liquor retailer to carry a minimum of $1,000,000 in liability insurance. This was tabled in Business and Industry.
SB 1 – The Beverage Container Recycling Act. This Bill provides a tax on all containers that includes cans, bottles, and plastic. The tax is $.10 and consumers redeem them at all retail locations. This is a very bad bill. There were a number of us who worked with Sen. Sanchez to turn this Bill into a Recycling Act. The original bill was substituted in Senate Conservation Committee. The Beverage Container Recycling Act now reads all counties and municipalities shall develop a recycling program by December 31, 2009, and implement by July 1, 2010. This passed the House but died on adjournment.
SB33/HB329: Public Works Minimum Wage Changes sponsored by Sen. Cisneros and Speaker Lujan. These bills do away with the entire survey process of establishing prevailing wage and simply leave it up to the state agency to establish it—based upon collective bargaining agreements in the area. In this fashion, any employer without a collective bargaining agreement (i.e. non-union) will have no input into the process of establishing the prevailing wage at all. Union wages and fringe benefits will become the standard. This Bill passed the House and Senate and now it is up to the Governor to sign or veto. SB 260 – This Bill provides for an annual cost-of-living increase in the State Minimum Wage Rate. This Bill died in Senate Corporations.
SB281: Health Security Act sponsored by Sen. Cisneros also known as the Single Payer bill. This bill creates a Health Care Commission, charged with developing and adopting a five-year Health Security Plan designed to provide comprehensive health care benefits. This bill will establish a government-run health care system and government-run insurance program modeled after the Canadian system. This Bill died on adjournment in Senate Finance.
SB389: Mandatory Combined Filing of Corporate Income Taxes sponsored by Sen. Wirth requires unitary corporations to file New Mexico corporate income tax returns on a combined basis. The option to file on a federal consolidated basis is repealed. One-sixth of the net receipts from the corporate income tax are earmarked for the Public School Fund. This is considered an economic development tool to bring new employers to the state. With a few exceptions, a “unitary corporation” is controlled by a person who also owns at least 50 percent of the corporation; a “unitary corporation” also has substantial operational linkages. This Bill was debated in Senate Corporations for about an hour and then was tabled.
If you have questions or concerns about other legislation or have questions on anything listed above, please call NMGA at 505-888-1812
