The 30-day 2022 Regular Session of the New Mexico Legislature ended at noon on February 17 with the Speaker of the House (Rep Egolf) announcing that he would not run for reelection. While somewhat surprising, the announcement did not come as a total shock as there had been some grumblings that he would not run for reelection throughout the session. His departure will create a power vacuum in the House as numerous House Democrats position themselves for a run at the Speaker’s Chair with Reps Javier Martinez, Doreen Gallegos and Patty Lundstrom being the early favorites to replace Egolf.
Aside from the historic $8.4 billion dollar budget, due in part to ARPA money and increased revenue from online and internet sales and oil and gas operations, the most significant legislation focused on energy issues, like the hydrogen Hub initiative (HB 4, HB 227, HB 228, SB 194), crime reduction and criminal justice reforms (HB 68 – See below), targeted tax reforms and tax credits (see below), salary increases for school and various state employees, election reform (SB 6 and SB 8 – both died) and a free college tuition that got money in HB 2 (Click here for Legislative Council – 2022 Session Summary).
The 2022 session was only somewhat eventful for the Tourism industry as only a few pieces of legislation (HB 171 – Rural Air Service Grant Expansion, HB 104 – Venture Capital Program, HB 148 – Loan Forgiveness Date Extension, etc.) that will have a positive impact on tourism were passed. No negative legislation passed either but our priority bill SB 191 (Hospitality Workforce Programs) was not heard in Senate Finance. However, some of the relevant request from SB 191 did make it into the Tourism and Workforce Solutions budgets per HB 2. Also provided is the associated legislative tracker that contains all the legislation relevant to NMHA that was introduced and tracked during this session.
Get Involved!
If you are interested in joining the association’s Government Affairs Committee and participate in the process, please login to your membership portal, the MIC, and sign up to join the committee. Click HERE.