HOUSE MEMORIAL 63

54th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2019

INTRODUCED BY

Joseph L. Sanchez

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THAT ANY TAXATION TASK FORCE CONVENED IN 2019 BY THE GOVERNOR OR THE LEGISLATURE BE REQUESTED TO RESEARCH AND DEVELOP LEGISLATIVE RECOMMENDATIONS AND ALTERNATIVES THAT CAN PROMOTE MORE EQUITABLE REGIONAL TAX DISTRIBUTIONS FROM LOS ALAMOS NATIONAL LABORATORY OR SIMILAR FEDERAL RESEARCH FACILITIES IN NEW MEXICO.

     WHEREAS, New Mexico has been at the forefront of scientific endeavors for over seventy years and has achieved recognition as the home of one of the finest multi-program scientific research laboratories in the world; and

     WHEREAS, these research laboratories have made an enormous contribution to the safety and national security of the United States; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico's national laboratories continue to spur innovation and industrial applications that benefit the nation and private industry; and

     WHEREAS, these federal institutions recruit and employ a significant portion of their workforce from New Mexico's higher education institutions; and

     WHEREAS, in 2018, Los Alamos national laboratory celebrated its seventy-fifth anniversary; and

     WHEREAS, Los Alamos national laboratory annually purchases more than four hundred twenty million dollars ($420,000,000) in goods and services from suppliers in the state, or over forty-five percent of the total purchases of goods and services purchased by Los Alamos national laboratory; and

     WHEREAS, Los Alamos national laboratory contracts awarded to New Mexico small businesses totaled two hundred sixty-nine million dollars ($269,000,000) in 2018; and

     WHEREAS, Los Alamos national laboratory employs more than eleven thousand employees, mostly from northern New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, Los Alamos national laboratory is crucial to New Mexico's economic health, paying over one billion dollars ($1,000,000,000) in salaries, which has a direct impact on the state's economy each year; and

     WHEREAS, Los Alamos national laboratory's operations and construction have resulted in over eighty million dollars ($80,000,000) in gross receipts tax revenues annually for the state since 2006 and have also resulted in three billion one hundred million dollars ($3,100,000,000) in annual total impact on economic output across New Mexico from 2015 to 2017; and

     WHEREAS, Los Alamos national laboratory was founded in secrecy at a remote location during World War II, and northern New Mexico communities and residents built and have maintained the facilities since its inception and are an indispensable component of the current workforce; and

     WHEREAS, the majority of Los Alamos national laboratory employees live outside of Los Alamos county, with approximately fifty-five percent of laboratory employees residing in the surrounding counties, and the operations of the laboratory impact all of northern New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, there are current legislative efforts to tax Los Alamos national laboratory, regardless of whether the laboratory were to become a nonprofit entity; and

     WHEREAS, the local revenue distribution from the Los Alamos national laboratory gross receipts tax currently paid to the state greatly benefits Los Alamos county and does not benefit the rest of northern New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, the communities outside Los Alamos county contribute greatly to the success of Los Alamos national laboratory; and

     WHEREAS, the importance of equitable regional tax distribution on communities and workforces outside Los Alamos county must continue to be examined;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that any taxation task force convened in 2019 by the governor or the legislature be requested to research and develop legislative recommendations and alternatives that can promote more equitable regional tax distributions from Los Alamos national laboratory or similar federal research facilities in New Mexico; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED the legislative finance committee and the revenue stabilization and tax policy committee study the issue in the event no taxation task force is commissioned during 2019; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the members of the New Mexico congressional delegation, the secretary of the United States department of energy, the director of Los Alamos national laboratory, the director of Sandia national laboratories, the governor and the co-chairs of the New Mexico legislative council.

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