Favoring tuition-free college?
N.M. Senate eyes savings now during state’s oil sector windfall
SANTA FE, N.M. — New Mexico would set aside well over $1 billion to guarantee tuition-free college and sustain government spending in case its oil production bonanza fades in the transition to cleaner energy sources under an annual spending plan endorsed by the state Senate on Monday.
The 31-10 Senate vote sends the bill back to the House for concurrence on amendments.
The Democratic-led Legislature has until noon Thursday to send a budget bill to Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who can approve or veto any provisions.
The bill as amended would increase annual general fund spending by $653 million, or 6.8 percent, to $10.2 billion for the fiscal year running from July 2024 through June 2025.
The boost in state spending is dwarfed by more than $1.3 billion in general fund transfers to new endowments and trusts designed to bolster scholarships for college and professional training, housing construction, outdoor conservation programs and autonomous Native American education programs.
Legislators anticipate a $3.5 billion budget surplus for the coming fiscal year, driven largely by oil and natural gas production in the Permian Basin that overlaps southwestern New Mexico and western Texas.
Republican state Sen. William Burt of Alamogordo urged colleagues to support the bill “because oil and gas won’t always be there for us.”
“We’ve got to look farther than the next few years. We’ve got to look at the long … future of New Mexico,” said Burt, one of six Republicans who voted for the spending bill.
The budget plan includes a new $959 million trust to permanently underwrite tuition-free college without fees for New Mexico residents — an initiative championed by Grisham since taking office in 2019. Public scholarships still are supported in part by lottery ticket sales.
The bill allocates $512 million to a “government results and opportunity” trust that would underwrite a variety of new programs during a three-year vetting period before future funding is guaranteed.
Another $75 million fund would help state and local governments compete for more federal infrastructure spending from the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden administration’s signature climate, health care and tax package.
A conservation fund established in 2023 would get a $300 million infusion. Democratic Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth said that would guarantee annual distributions of about $21 million to an array of conservation programs at state natural resources agencies, from soil enhancement programs in agriculture to conservation of threatened and biggame species.