Created: May 06, 2021 04:17 PM
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.- Many New Mexico businesses believe they have overpaid into the state s Unemployment Insurance Fund.
Terry Keene, owner of Artichoke Café, said the bill couldn t have come at a worse time. I paid over 5% for each one, which is an amazingly high number, dollar number, he said. Up to $7,000 or $8,000 when I usually pay $600 or $800. So, I understand that was a mistake.
The bill for businesses is based on how many of their former employees received unemployment benefits. In New Mexico, businesses were told their rates would not go up if an employee was laid off for pandemic-related reasons.
As drought settles in, public officials focus on little stuff
Sherry Robinson
When the governor addressed the Economic Forum, a business group, one inevitable question was about water. A developer didn’t think the Legislature had done anything for water, and nothing happens without water, he said. The governor referred vaguely to options, but she didn’t really answer the question.
Considering how grim the news is – the paltry snowpack, the shrinking reservoirs, the dire predictions – we might have seen some thoughtful new policy or creative legislation this year, but we didn’t. Water was an afterthought.
The only water bill passed and signed was HB 200. It does an about face on the controversial Gila River diversion project and invests the remaining $80 million in water infrastructure projects for southwestern New Mexico.
New census date present opportunity for EDD/SRI research
Harold Morgan
News from the census offers us opportunity that we might be in a position to begin to pursue. The “news” isn’t exactly news. During the ten years between census counts from 2010 to 2020 we stood defiantly in the face of people and prosperity in the states around us. Our population increased just 2.8% during the decade to 2.12 million as of April 2, 2020.
The population change for the states around us defines the much-commented donut hole of prosperity: Utah, 18.4%; Texas, 15.9%; Colorado, 14.8%, Arizona, 11.9; Oklahoma, 5.5%. Of the surrounding group, Utah’s population is closest to New Mexico with 3.27 million, nearly all of them around Salt Lake City.
New Mexico Shifts Metrics, Some Virus Restrictions Relaxed – Associated Press Friday marked the start of New Mexico's updated color-coded framework for
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Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham speaks during a news conference after adjournment of a 60-day legislative session in March. The governor said Wednesday her administration would soon release new policies aimed at getting unemployed New Mexicans back to work. (Eddie Moore/Journal)
SANTA FE Faced with a stubbornly high unemployment rate, New Mexico will soon adopt new policies aimed at encouraging state residents receiving jobless benefits to go back to work, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham told Albuquerque business leaders on Wednesday.
While the Democratic governor did not provide details, she indicated the policies would be unveiled in the next week or so and said expanded unemployment benefits should not be a “disincentive” to work.