HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 47

51st legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2013

INTRODUCED BY

Georgene Louis and Timothy M. Keller

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THAT THE NEW MEXICO LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL CREATE A TASK FORCE TO STUDY PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS IN OTHER STATES AND DETERMINE IF SUCH PARTNERSHIPS WOULD BE BENEFICIAL TO NEW MEXICO AND HOW SUCH PARTNERSHIPS MIGHT WORK BEST FOR NEW MEXICO.

     WHEREAS, as states are increasingly challenged to improve outdated infrastructure and build new infrastructure to meet the demands of the modern economy, they must consider new sources of capital investment; and

     WHEREAS, in the current anti-tax environment, federal, state and local governments have looked to public-private partnerships as a mechanism to provide needed capital financing for public projects; and

     WHEREAS, governments have been lured by the siren song of public project financing without having to raise taxes or displace funding for other vital services; and

     WHEREAS, P3s, as public-private partnerships are called, have had both phenomenal successes and dismal failures for the governments that have entered into P3 agreements and for the taxpayers and citizens who pay for them, both monetarily and socioeconomically; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico needs to look at those successes and failures before considering its own legislation to allow P3 agreements; and

     WHEREAS, central to the issue of P3s are the questions of who should provide public services and who should own public property; and

     WHEREAS, the privatization of public services was a contentious debate in the late 1990s among New Mexico legislators and other policymakers in the state, and P3s raise those concerns once again, as well as concerns over asset privatization; and

     WHEREAS, in addition to these considerations, New Mexico policymakers need a public conversation about what kinds of projects would be appropriate for this sparsely populated but geographically large state and whether the state can attract significant capital investment; and

     WHEREAS, it is essential that New Mexico policymakers develop a long-range plan that includes realistic goals of where the state should be in five, ten and twenty years in terms of economic drivers, focused expertise in education and employment, environmental protection, dedication of scarce water resources and quality of life for New Mexico residents, as well as realistic, focused strategies to reach those goals; and

     WHEREAS, without a long-range plan, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to attract the kinds of private capital investment that will ensure that all New Mexicans benefit from public-private partnerships or to properly evaluate proposals that do come to the state or local governments from private investors;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the New Mexico legislative council create a task force to study and evaluate the laws concerning public-private partnerships in other states, as well as existing P3 projects, and determine if such partnerships would be beneficial to the state of New Mexico; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force examine, in regard to legislation and public-private partnerships in other states, such issues as transparency; trade secrets and confidentiality; best value for taxpayers; comparisons with traditional capital outlay and bonding financing methods; full-cost assessments; the application of triple bottom line accounting principles; job creation and displacement, including evaluation of job benefits and salaries; environmental impacts; revenue sources; effects on local business; contract and employee hiring; private company profits; non-compete clauses; procurement methods; public input and oversight; legislative input and oversight; eminent domain; and best and worst practices in each of these areas; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force be composed of the following members appointed by the New Mexico legislative council:

          A. six members from each house of the legislature;

          B. one member from a labor union in the state that represents primarily private-sector employees;

          C. one member from a labor union in the state that represents primarily public-sector employees;

          D. one member from the business community in the state;

          E. one member who represents an environmental organization;

          F. one member who represents local governments;

          G. one member from an organization with a primary mission of good government, transparency or other public interest goals; and

          H. the following members who may serve in person or through a designee:

                (1) the secretary of economic development;

                (2) the attorney general;

                (3) the state treasurer;

                (4) the state auditor; and

                (5) the director of the bureau of business and economic research at the university of New Mexico; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force develop a work plan and budget for the New Mexico legislative council's approval prior to July 1, 2013; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force report its recommendations and findings to the relevant legislative interim committees that deal with finance, water and natural resources, revenue stabilization and tax policy and economic and rural development by November 1, 2013; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the New Mexico legislative council, the governor, the secretary of economic development, the attorney general, the state treasurer, the director of the bureau of business and economic research at the university of New Mexico, the executive director of the New Mexico municipal league and the executive director of the New Mexico association of counties. 

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