April 5, 2001

HOUSE EXECUTIVE MESSAGE NO. 70

The Honorable Ben Lujan and

Members of the House of Representatives

Executive-Legislative Building

Santa Fe, New Mexico 87503

Honorable Speaker and Members of the House:

I have this day VETOED and am returning HOUSE BILL 192, enacted by the Forty-Fifth Legislature, First Session, 2001.

This bill would raise registration fees on all vehicles by at least fifty cents. The revenue would go toward finding alternative uses for discarded tires.

The idea appears sound at first glance. Finding alternative uses for discarded tires extends the life of landfills and may create new industries here in New Mexico. We have tried this program before, enacting a fee approximately twice the size of this one in 1994. Results were at best mixed. In 1999, the Legislature converted these fees to paying bonds for highway construction and other road improvements.

We are being asked to increase taxes to renew a governmental program of indifferent results. Unless and until a stronger case can be made, I cannot approve taking more money from the public for this purpose.

Sincerely,

Gary E. Johnson

Governor

RECEIVED FROM THE OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR:

Time: _____________________ By:_____________________________

Secretary of State

Date ______________________

Time:______________________

Date_______________________ By:_____________________________

Chief Clerk of the House

Hem70hb92v