Gov. Speaks At Economic Conference
Domenici Public Policy Event Touts Entrepreneurship
LAS CRUCES — Entrepreneurship and the state’s economic climate got center stage on the first day of the fifth annual Domenici Public Policy Conference on Wednesday.
Speaking at the New Mexico State University conference named in his honor, retired U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici said that the event is “becoming more and more ... the answer to New Mexico’s needs” by improving the understanding of the value of free enterprise and entrepreneurship.
Then Domenici, who served a New Mexico record of six terms in the U.S. Senate, made way for Gov. Susana Martinez, who touted her efforts in the last two years to enhance the state’s economy and business climate.
“Investing in job training, equipping our future workforce, using infrastructure dollars wisely, and investing in opportunities that are unique to our border status — these are all ways we can increase New Mexico’s competitiveness and attract future employers,” Martinez told a gathering of more than 500 at the Las Cruces Convention Center on the edge of the NMSU campus. “Since taking office, I have pledged that I would do everything within my power to pursue an agenda of economic change.”
Martinez underlined her efforts to rein in state spending, block tax increases, and invest in the workforce. Under her administration, she said, the state’s budget reserve grew from 4 percent to more than 13 percent at the end of fiscal 2012. She signed into a law a measure to increase funding the state’s Job Training Incentive Program from $1.2 million to $7.9 million.
The governor said her support of “education reform,” which will in part focus resources on underperforming schools, is aimed at producing a skilled workforce that, in turn, will lure businesses to the state.
In her prepared remarks, Martinez praised Domenici for his willingness to work across the political aisle. In that vein, the governor cited her own bipartisan efforts, noting she signed legislation pushed by state Rep. Mary Helen Garcia, D-Las Cruces, to benefit the Santa Teresa area. The legislation created a zone within six miles of the border that allows Mexican trucks, overweight by U.S. standards, to unload cargo at Santa Teresa without having to spend time repacking the cargo on other trucks.
That measure along with state funding for water and wastewater infrastructure improvements have made the Santa Teresa area more attractive to business, Martinez said.
Later Wednesday, Martinez formally announced that three new companies are moving to Santa Teresa: Ironhorse Resources Inc., an Illinois-based shortline railroad operator that will load and off-load containers at a new Union Pacific yard under construction; Bizlink, a Taiwanese manufacturer of cable assemblies and industrial equipment; and Ferza, an El Paso-based transportation firm. The three companies are expected to employ more than 110 workers.