On Jan. 26, Terri Cole, Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce president and CEO, was featured in the Sunday Journal laying out the Chamber’s Legislative wish list.
Cole said despite the state’s impressive revenue picture, New Mexico’s economic growth — outside of the oil and gas industry — is tepid, our population is not growing and participation in the labor force lags most other states. Soaring energy revenues will not last forever, leaving New Mexico with an extraordinary opportunity — while the state remains flush with cash — to build a more dynamic and competitive economy that is sustainable for the long haul.
Cole said the Chamber’s primary goal for the 2025 session is to encourage lawmakers to position our state to better compete for new businesses, workers, residents and visitors.
“Competition is a choice, and in New Mexico’s case, it will require leaders to prioritize and address a set of serious challenges that currently put our state at a competitive disadvantage,” Cole said.
The article also featured Leslie Hielema, incoming president and CEO of the New Mexico Chamber of Commerce, and Ernie C’deBaca, president and CEO of the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce. There’s a definite theme among the leaders’ priorities of promoting economic growth, business-friendly policies, public safety and health care. Read the full article here.
Cole shared that during the 60-day Legislative session, the GACC will work to:
- Make New Mexico a safer place. Our well-earned, high-crime reputation makes our state a less welcoming place for businesses to locate and deters people from choosing to live and work here. Too many talented workers leave the state, and existing businesses struggle to recruit people to New Mexico to fill their workforce needs. … The Chamber supports increasing penalties for the illegal possession and use of firearms, closing the revolving door that so easily lets violent teenagers and dangerous people battling mental health disorders back onto the streets, adding to the ranks of our police and prosecutors and investing in the wider use of crime-fighting technology.
- Reducing the tax burden on businesses and families. New Mexico’s tax structure provides little incentive for people to either live here or start a business. Neighboring states either charge lower corporate income taxes, impose lower taxes on small businesses or charge no residential income tax at all. This session, the Chamber will vigorously oppose the imposition of any new taxes on businesses or families — including the proposed new tax to establish the family/medical leave mandate — and will specifically seek a reduction in the state’s high gross-receipts tax rate, as well as the reduction of tax pyramiding that puts New Mexico small businesses at a direct competitive disadvantage with businesses in other states.
- Make New Mexico a more attractive place to practice medicine and add to our health care workforce. It’s not really health care if it’s hard to find a doctor and medical appointments take months to schedule. New Mexico’s dire shortage of health care workers — from primary care doctors to specialists to nurses of all types — threatens our economic future in a big way. … The Chamber supports a package of proposals to make New Mexico competitive and attractive for health care workers — including eliminating the GRT on medical appointments, streamlining credentialing, joining interstate health care compacts to make it easier to move to New Mexico and practice medicine, raising Medicaid reimbursement rates and overhauling a medical malpractice system that is uncommonly punitive toward doctors and sending our health care workers to other states.
“New Mexico is already a beautiful place, rich in diversity, culture, history, weather and natural resources. We envision a state with increasingly safer streets, stronger schools, lower taxes and improved access to health care; such a state would be a powerhouse economically and one of the very best places to start a business, work, live and visit. May that be our North Star this session,” Cole concluded.
