HOUSE BILL 450

52nd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2015

INTRODUCED BY

W. Ken Martinez and Mary Kay Papen

AN ACT

RELATING TO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT; CREATING A PROGRAM TO ENCOURAGE SOLO-WORKER JOB CREATION AND INCREASE THE COMMERCIAL REVENUE DERIVING FROM OUT-OF-STATE SOURCES; MAKING AN APPROPRIATION.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     SECTION 1. A new section of the Economic Development Department Act is enacted to read:

     "[NEW MATERIAL] SOLO-WORKER PROGRAM.--

          A. As used in this section:

                (1) "economic-base job" means a job in which sixty percent or more of the revenue generated from the goods or services produced derives from outside of the state;

                (2) "program agency" means a certified business incubator, a community college or an organization whose purpose is to create jobs and promote economic development; and

                (3) "solo worker" means a person who is engaged in full-time employment and whose employer, if any, does not supply the office space or amenities used to perform the person's work.

          B. The "solo-worker program" is created in the department. The purpose of the solo-worker program is to improve the state's rural and urban economies by creating and sustaining economic-base jobs and expanding businesses owned and operated by solo workers engaged in economic-base jobs.

          C. To carry out the purpose of the solo-worker program, the department shall provide matching funding to program agencies for advancing initiatives that:

                (1) create opportunities for residents to become solo workers engaged in economic-base jobs;

                (2) support the continued employment and business expansion of existing solo workers engaged in economic-base jobs;

                (3) recruit from outside of the state solo workers engaged in economic-base jobs; and

                (4) make the state and its local communities more competitive for creating, attracting and retaining solo- worker jobs."

     SECTION 2. APPROPRIATION.--Five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) is appropriated from the general fund to the economic development department for expenditure in fiscal year 2016 to implement the provisions of the solo-worker program. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2016 shall revert to the general fund.

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