SENATE BILL 960
47th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2005
INTRODUCED BY
Gerald P. Ortiz y Pino
AN ACT
RELATING TO GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY; REQUIRING ANNUAL DISCLOSURE OF ALL PUBLIC CONTRACTS, TAX BENEFITS, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT INCENTIVES AND THEIR RESPECTIVE VALUES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
Section 1. [NEW MATERIAL] LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS.--The legislature finds that, while various tax benefits and economic incentives have been created over the decades for good purpose, these emoluments remain largely unknown while the annual struggle by the legislature to fund expanding programs without raising taxes becomes more difficult each year. The legislature needs a consistent, accurate and current accounting of its generosity and investments on an annual basis just as any business needs an accurate annual inventory to remain solvent.
Section 2. A new Section 9-6-3.2 NMSA 1978 is enacted to read:
"9-6-3.2 [NEW MATERIAL] SERVICES CONTRACTS DISCLOSURE.-- A. The management and contracts review division of the department of finance and administration shall annually provide to the legislature a complete report of:
(1) all services contracts, in effect and pending, by department;
(2) the length of time to fully complete the entire task as well as the length of the contract;
(3) the purpose and dollar value of the contract;
(4) the person contracting to provide the service, including identification of the person's primary state of business;
(5) a succinct explanation, including comparable cost estimates, for contracting for the service rather than having the work provided by state or other public employees;
(6) the revenue source for payment of the contracted services; and
(7) whether the contract was awarded as a "sole source" contract pursuant to Section 13-1-126 NMSA 1978 and if so, setting forth the review process and the specifics of the purchasing negotiations.
B. The report shall be provided annually on or before November 1 starting in 2005 to the governor, the New Mexico legislative council, the legislative finance committee, the revenue stabilization and tax policy committee and any other appropriate legislative committee charged with study of economic development or taxation matters.
C. As used in this section, "services contract" means a contract valued at twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) or more to provide information or other services, but not tangible goods, to the state."
Section 3. [NEW MATERIAL] DEFINITIONS.--As used in Sections 3 through 5 of this act:
A. "department" means the taxation and revenue department;
B. "economic development" means activities or efforts directed toward attracting new businesses and industries into the state, expanding existing businesses and industries, increasing the number of jobs or attracting certain types of employment or enhancing the state's ability to compete with other states in attracting and retaining businesses and industries in the state;
C. "economic development incentive" means any of the following provided or intended for economic development:
(1) an expenditure of or authority to expend public funds with a value of at least five thousand dollars ($5,000) for the benefit of one or more recipients, including state or local bonds, grants, loans, loan guarantees, participation interests in loans, guaranteed debt investment in projects, tax increment financing and other enterprise zone property and infrastructure benefits and direct or indirect assistance for economic development projects pursuant to the Local Economic Development Act; or
(2) a tax expenditure;
D. "recipient" means an individual, corporation, business entity or other person or an industrial or commercial facility, project or enterprise that is eligible to receive or has received money or other consideration, benefit or any thing of value from an economic development incentive; and
E. "tax expenditure" means a tax deduction, exemption, rebate, credit or exclusion or preferential tax rate or other special tax treatment that:
(1) decreases public revenues;
(2) applies to a narrow class of taxpaying entities that would otherwise be subject to a general tax provision and for which the special tax provision is a clear exception; and
(3) is intended to stimulate economic development in the state or any of its local communities.
Section 4. [NEW MATERIAL] TAXATION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT REPORT.--
A. The department shall submit an annual taxation and economic development report on or before November of each year beginning in 2005 to the governor, the New Mexico legislative council, the legislative finance committee, the revenue stabilization and tax policy committee and any other appropriate legislative committee charged with study of economic development matters.
B. The report shall present information on every state and local government economic development incentive, the recipients of the incentive and the intended objectives and outcomes of the incentive. The report may also include recommendations for legislative changes to economic development incentives.
C. The department, working with the department of finance and administration, the state investment officer and representatives of municipalities and counties, shall compile a list and description of every economic development incentive available in New Mexico and each incentive's intended objectives. The list shall be compiled and included in its annual report.
D. The report shall include the following information for each current economic development incentive:
(1) the total amount of expenditures or public revenues foregone or the current value or other approximate value of each economic development incentive received by recipients in each calendar year in which the incentive has been in effect;
(2) the aggregate number of recipients benefiting from each economic development incentive, and, where practicable and permitted by law, the names and amounts or values of the incentive to each recipient;
(3) the location of recipients and incentive amounts and values aggregated by municipality and county;
(4) the number of new jobs created or new employees hired by each recipient as a result of the economic development incentive, and for each new job or employee, the employee's wage or salary, gender and state of residence immediately prior to employment; and
(5) information on health care coverage or health insurance provided by each recipient to its employees.
E. Tax expenditure information shall include:
(1) the known or estimated annual revenue loss to the state in the current year and for the past five years;
(2) the number of years the tax expenditure has been in effect;
(3) figures showing the expansion or contraction in the last ten years of the class of business of the recipients of the tax expenditure; and
(4) if a beneficiary of a tax expenditure involving state or local bonds, grants, loans, loan guarantees or other enterprise zone property and infrastructure benefit or assistance pursuant to the Local Economic Development Act is also a recipient of an economic development incentive.
F. In compiling the report, the department shall present and organize the information on the various economic development incentives and recipients in such a way as to provide a coherent and complete picture of the state's economic development incentive efforts and the results of those efforts. It shall develop methods to analyze, evaluate, measure and project the effectiveness of the economic development incentives in meeting their stated objectives and intended outcomes.
Section 5. [NEW MATERIAL] INFORMATION REPORTS--RECIPIENTS' COOPERATION.--The department may request that recipients of economic development incentives file annual reports providing the appropriate information in order to better assess and evaluate state and local incentive polices. Except where specifically prohibited by statute or court order, every recipient of an economic development incentive shall cooperate with and provide information and access to records related to the economic development incentive as requested by the department or other state agency or local government administering or providing an economic development incentive.
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