The honeymoon is over for this session as things really heated up today.

House Memorial #4,OPPOSITION TO CITIZENS UNITED RULING, requesting Congress to make an amendment to the United States Constitution passed the New Mexico House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee this afternoon. This is a great memorial against the unlimited corporate funding of our political system.

Representative Nunez's H.Bill 103, rescinding drivers licenses for undocumented foreign national was tabled in the House Labor & Human Resources Committee. Rep. Nunez promises to bring it up on the floor as he did last year, but already several compromise bills have been dropped which would allow undocumented workers to maintain some form of a driver's license and avoid being relegated to the shadows of our society. Recent history demonstrates that undocumented immigrants without any identification are exploited in the workplace and on a great many other levels. CWA-NM has members within immigrant families who stand to lose if the wrong version of this bill is signed into law.

Sen Howie Morales has introduced S.Bill 228 which gives Public Employees BACK the 1.5% pay-cut a year early. Remember that the 1.75% pay-cut is due to expire this year as well. We had to fight hard last session to make certain that those pay-cuts were temporary.

Sen. Wirth's S.Bill 9, Lowering NM Business corporate taxes, and closing the loophole allowing out-of-state corporations to avoid paying any tax, is idling for the moment. CWA-NM has made this a priority fight during the early part of this session. By collaborating with AFSCME and many dozens of citizen lobbyists from across the state, we've helped put this issue on the map and we're looking forward to an intense struggle. Tax codes are anything but simple, and the members of Senate Corporation and Transportation are facing a lot of opposition to the bill.

The concerns about whether S.Bill 9 will be good in the long run are valid. CWA's position remains the same; at its core, Senate 9 WILL deliver fairness to NM businesses and generate revenue for our state by requiring wealthy corporations to pay a fair share New Mexico Tax.

Over the past few years, our Legislature and Governor gambled that the economy would not suffer as the the budget was balanced on Public Employees' backs. After taking $175 million over three years out of public employees paychecks, we're worse for the wear, but WE ARE STILL STANDING. The 1% take gambles on working New Mexicans everyday. We strongly support Senator Wirth's Bill, and are betting that the powerful corporations can bear the burden of paying a small N.M. tax, even if they have to sell the jet.

If you have not yet, please call Senate Corporations and Transportation AND your legislators. When we hear that the bill is scheduled for a hearing, we'll send an alert and invite everyone to join us at the roundhouse!
 

In Unity,
–
Miles D. Conway, Political Coordinator