Smart water projects for southwestern New Mexico
Sen. Martin Heinrich
It has been nearly two decades since Congress passed the Arizona Water Settlements Act (AWSA) of 2004, which was meant to deliver millions of dollars in federal funding to southwestern New Mexico.
Unfortunately, in all that time, the body that New Mexico put in charge of figuring out how to best put those funds to use the New Mexico CAP (Central Arizona Project) Entity squandered $16 million of the AWSA funds studying unproductive and wildly expensive proposals to dewater and divert the Gila and San Francisco rivers. Nothing that the CAP Entity proposed ever made fiscal, ecological, or economic sense. Unfortunately, the millions of dollars that they wasted studying unviable ideas is something that we can never get back.
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Senator Crystal Diamond
Commentary – This week, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed Senate Bill 193 into law. The bill, sponsored by Senator Crystal Diamond (R-Hidalgo, Luna, Sierra, and Doña Ana) and Senator Siah Correa Hemphill (D-Catron, Grant, and Socorro) creates a “Rural Equity Ombud” charged with addressing issues of concern to rural and frontier communities. “The urban/rural divide in our state must be addressed and this bill is an important step in that direction,” said Senator Diamond. “The Rural Equity Ombud will help us identify the needs of the underserved and give rural New Mexicans another advocate at the seat of government. The staff person will be housed in the Department of Finance and Administration and will work full-time to ensure the needs of rural communities are met.”
Credit Senator Crystal Diamond Commentary – This week, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed Senate Bill 193 into law. The bill, sponsored by Senator Crystal Diamond (R-Hidalgo, Luna, Sierra, and Doña Ana) and Senator Siah Correa Hemphill (D-Catron, Grant, and Socorro) creates a “Rural Equity Ombud” charged with addressing issues of concern to rural and frontier communities. “The urban/rural divide in our state must be addressed and this bill is an important step in that direction,” said Senator Diamond. “The Rural Equity Ombud will help us identify the needs of the underserved and give rural New Mexicans another advocate at the seat of government. The staff person will be housed in the Department of Finance and Administration and will work full-time to ensure the needs of rural communities are met.”
Senator Jacob Candelaria (D-Albuquerque),
Senator Siah Correa Hemphill (D-Silver City), and
Representative Javier Martínez (D-Albuquerque), Senate Bill 1 provides a four-month tax holiday for food and beverage establishments. It also creates a $600 tax credit for individuals who earn $31,200 or less, and heads of household, surviving spouses or those married filing jointly who earn up to $39,000.
“The past year has been devastating for New Mexico’s restaurants and bars, as well as frontline essential workers, like janitors and grocery store workers,” said
Rep. Martinez. “Senate Bill 1 provides needed relief for those hardest hit by the pandemic, helping hardworking New Mexicans navigate this difficult time, and putting more money back into our local economies.”