State Democrats discuss their jobs bills for current 30-day legislative session, 1/23/12

Saying they’re aiming at “putting a ‘Now Hiring’ sign in New Mexico,” Democratic members of the state Senate held a news conference Monday (Jan. 23) promoting 11 bills they are offering during the current 30-day legislative session they’ve dubbed as the Helping Incentivize Real Employment (HIRE) initiative.

“I strongly feel this session needs to be about jobs, jobs and jobs,” state Sen. Mary Jane Garcia (D-Doña Ana) said as New Mexico hopes to recover from the national economic downturn.

Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez (D-Belen) told reporters that sometimes Democrats are labeled as pro-tax, anti-business advocates. “I think that label has been attached to us,” Sanchez said. “I think it’s a wrong label. We’re trying to help small businesses. We want this state to prosper and the bread and butter of this state has always been those small businesses and I think you’ll see that the majority of these bills address those issues that small businesses face.”

Among the 11 bills the Democrats touted on Monday included a bill aimed at eliminating “tax pyramiding” that’s being offered by Sen. Steve Fischmann (D-Mesilla Park). Fischmann’s Senate Bill 74 would send $110 million aimed at reducing gross receipts tax practices that end up taxing New Mexico businesses multiple times (pyramiding). Republican Gov. Susana Martinez has offered her own plan calling for $55 million to fight tax pyramiding. “The governor is on the right track,” Fischmann said, adding, “I’ve upped the ante (with SB74).”

We talked to Fischmann about his bill and got a comment from state Sen. Tim Keller (D-Albuquerque) on how the 11 Democrats’ bills differ from the jobs bills Martinez advocates:

Here’s a list of the 11 bills the Democrats promoted Monday, via the news release they sent out:

*SB65 and SB66, sponsored by Sen. Carlos Cisneros (D-Questa) would invest more than $300 million in capital outlay projects targeted at infrastructure projects

*SB16, sponsored by Sen. Keller, would give businesses a $5,000 tax credit for hiring graduates of New Mexico universities

*SB99, sponsored by Sen. Tim Eichenberg (D-Albuquerque), would give a 25 percent tax credit on incremental income taxes for new businesses to start up, expand or relocate to the state

*Fischmann’s SB74

*SB42, sponsored by Sen. John Sapien (D-Corrales), would give a tax credit to manufacturers to expand their operations

*SB28, sponsored by Keller, that would allow 10 percent of the severance tax permanent fund to be in invested in entrepreneurship funds

*A bill by Sapien granting tax deductions for agricultural equipment and construction projects

*A bill by Sen. Sanchez that creates incentives for businesses to hire additional workers and increasing the wages of existing employees

*A bill by Sen. Garcia that would allow the New Mexican Finance Authority to to participate in federal funding

*Another bill by Garcia that give a $25,000 tax credit for sustainable energy technology

*And a bill by Sen. Phil Griego (D-San Jose) that provides a 20 percent tax credit for agricultural entrepreneurs exporting their goods to over states

Update: A spokesman for Gov. Martinez released this statement in reaction to the Democrats’ news conference:

The Governor is pleased that Democrats have moved away from talking about how to kill job-creating tax reforms, and are instead engaging in the discussion about how to make New Mexico more competitive. She is very skeptical, however, of some of the more risky proposals to raise taxes on vehicles and investment, and allow chosen corporations to gamble with our children’s permanent fund.

However, the Governor is willing to continue working with anyone who is interested in proposing genuine tax reforms that will work to create jobs.

The Governor’s jobs proposals are focused on helping small businesses – exempting more than 40,000 of them from the gross receipts tax and making sure that local contractors can hire new workers and better compete with out-of-state companies. It’s a focused, bottom-up approach that will help New Mexico small businesses and veterans and will not raise taxes or gamble with our kids’ permanent fund.