ACI lists priorities for 2018 session
List for Legislature urges revamp of ‘outdated’ NM air quality laws
A statewide business advocacy organization has announced its priorities for the 2018 legislative session, a list that includes changing New Mexico’s air quality laws.
The New Mexico Association of Commerce and Industry presented the plan Tuesday to a group of business leaders from around the state. A written version of the list circulated at the event described the air quality strategy as “the elimination of the state Total Suspended Particulate (TSP) standard and redrafting of the state air quality regulations consistent with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards, to make New Mexico competitive with other jurisdictions and alleviate unnecessary compliance costs.”
ACI President Jason Espinoza has written that the standards are an outdated and unnecessary burden on industry.
Louis W. Rose, an attorney with Montgomery & Andrews and a member of a committee that prepared the legislative priorities, said the state’s current TSP standard is a vestige of the 1970s and does not reflect federal air quality standards.
“From our perspective, it’s a regulation that’s not necessary to protect health, and it’s an impediment to growth in some areas,” said Rose.
Rose said the New Mexican industries most affected by the standard are mining, road, construction, and grain processing.
The written version of ACI’s legislative priority list noted that Doña Ana County has a pending “non-attainment designation” related to ozone emissions in the area. According to the document, ACI believes the county should be evaluated for “potential relief measures” because the county’s proximity to Mexico “negatively affects its attainment designation due to Mexico’s lack of enforcement and lax environment air quality regulations.”
Among the other items on the ACI’s legislative priority list:
Increasing investment in economic development programs like the Job Training Incentive Program, Local Economic Development Act and Rapid Workforce Development fund.
Overhauling the state’s tax code, in particular reducing the corporate tax rate.
Incentivizing the national laboratories to create and continue community programs, particularly those focused on technology transfer.
Securing full funding for the state’s Medicaid system.
Making New Mexico a so-called right-to-work state, meaning private-sector employees would not be required to join unions or pay union fees as a condition of their employment.