By Mary Alice Murphy

The Grant County Prospectors, the lobbying group for entities in Grant County, invited Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to speak to them at a luncheon on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019. She was in town for the Outdoor Recreation Economics Conference beginning with a reception that evening.

Priscilla Lucero, Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments executive director and Prospector, welcomed Lujan Grisham and Lt. Gov. Howie Morales, who is a Silver City native.

"I'm grateful to (Western New Mexico President) Dr. (Joseph) Shepard for allowing us the use of this space," Lucero said. "He also allows us to use Light Hall for our annual Prospectors' Legislative Forum, where agencies and organizations get to present their needs to our area legislators. Prospectors hear the requests, prioritize them and move their projects to the Legislature. All local governments have to approve their own ICIP (infrastructure capital improvement plan). The top five in each ICIP qualify to request capital outlay. I'm a stickler for that, because I want to bring dollars to the area. We hold a workshop for members and begin to create a timeline for the forum and pick a date for the Grant County Day. The forum gives our legislators the opportunity to ask questions about the projects and get answers from the entities. We make sure when we get the information to the honorable governor that we've covered everything. Another benefit is that we create binders for our legislators and for the governor, so they have more information on each project. Our job is to make your job easier. Any way, we can help in moving the processes forward."

Morales said he was honored to have the governor "in my hometown. At the public event this morning at Adobe Springs, we had lots of questions. This group, the Prospectors, advocates for the community and makes sure that projects are vetted. I also want to thank (General Services Department) Secretary (Ken) Ortiz for working with Mayor (Richard) Bauch (of Santa Clara) on Fort Bayard. I have learned a lot from governmental interagency cooperation. The governor just signed off on the establishment of an Early Learning Department. I know Terry Anderson has worked hard on that. I continue to learn from the governor. When you see dollars come in, as we did this year, distribution has to be done properly. The Community Block Development Grant put out $750,000 for projects in this area. There is no other governor I want to work with. I'm honored to be at this university where I studied and graduated from. Governor, welcome."

Lujan Grisham said New Mexico is one of the last states where the governor and lieutenant governor are elected separately in the primary.

"I glad I got Howie," she said. "He's likable, affable, smart, energetic and effective. We don't see each other much, but the Lt. Gov has been to more schools in the past two years than the Secretary of the Public Education Department has. We want to be involved in education. His work helps us. We want to do a better job of highlighting the needs of schools. We are incredibly lucky, as he's already made a huge difference in education. I know this group doesn't need lectures."

She said she wants to keep investing in roads in the state. "We have an obligation to address public safety and to create vibrant comprehensive communities. What am I not doing? You know the priorities. I think capital outlay needs reform to make sure we are not over- or under-funding projects. There is a whole pent-up demand. We want winners and winners. Each county should be lifted. The Legislature is interested in bringing back money to your community. I think it will be challenging to reform capital outlay. We've thought about creating categories. Counties used to use GO (general obligation) bonds to buy vehicles. Why would we do that? I understand how we got there, but by the time bonds are paid off the vehicles are too old to use. We got vehicles to senior groups when they needed them. Seniors know they could get things for their centers in capital outlay."

"This community works on quality of life," Lujan Grisham said, "but basketball courts should not be a priority in capital outlay. It's going to be tough, but it's worth doing to determine where the categories should be. $900 million was spent in non-recurring spending. There should be no single dollar in capital outlay for roads. The sooner we spend money on roads, the better. We did get $400 million put into roads. We have an excise tax increase. It's not going into the general fund, but only into the roads fund. Auto dealers took the lead in getting the excise tax passed, because they knew we need good roads. The internet sales tax? Who keeps that? We made sure the local governments got a significant share. We are forming effective partnerships. We will respect what you need.

"You are an incredibly organized group," she said. "I didn't adequately thank you. We need you to do it again. This upcoming session is a budget session. We want to hear from you. We have to fix the school funding issue. Impact Aid, we want to fix it. The other impact is that we don't want to create recurring funding using non-recurring revenues. The Senate Finance Committee is committed to figuring out how to fund early childhood. I think we should get the money out of the Permanent Fund, but I'm not winning that battle. I want to create a new fund, spend it judiciously and invest to grow it. Getting early childhood done is critical to this state. I'm expecting we will put $200 million into it. We are also tackling pension reform. We have an idea on the table to make it solvent for 40 years. Employees and employers would pay a little be more. We can suspend the COLAs (cost-of-living adjustment) for three years. What if the state gives you a thirteenth check every year? It saves the funds, then go to profit-sharing for the COLAs. Some populations we worry about. Those 80 and over have higher health care costs. We can model separate segments of the populations and set aside more money over three years. Those are the three high price tag areas that can make a difference in solvency, stability, predictability and economic development.

"I think we should save more," Lujan Grisham said. "I tried to save 25 percent. We got to 19.8, I think. I am making investments in nine additional sectors and all of them are making money. They include value-added hemp to renewable energy and cybersecurity and aerospace. All of them are providing an economic return to the state today.

"No doubt there will be a push for more money for public education and we've added some. We need more for aging and veterans. Charlie (Alfero), we are not making the grade in health care reform. We have a multitude of ideas We're rebuilding behavioral health too slowly, but we're building a fire under it. I want to talk to you about Medicaid buy-in to lower everyone's health care costs. We've got an idea for a whole new drug formulary that would protect the price of things like the Epi-Pen, insulin, and some other chronic-care drugs.

"I think we should spend more on higher education and pay for college education. We have 55,000 students in New Mexico. If we pay for their education, it creates untold investments and they stay here. We would put $25 million of the recurring lottery fund up front and add federal grants. We would figure it out in two to four years. I'm proud of the job we're doing, but we're not done yet. I think New Mexico is moving. There has been news about New Mexico as the top-moving government in the country. We are tackling needs and harnessing opportunities."

Jack Brennan, Tour of the Gila director, asked the governor to expand on the new Outdoor Recreation Bureau.

"We have invested funding into the office," Lujan Grisham said. "The outdoor economy in New Mexico is $9 billion. But that compares to Colorado with $30 billion. We have to grow it. We have everything in New Mexico. The Rockies start here. We have to put attention to detail. We can meet any outdoor recreation opportunity that anyone wants. The agency will create a plan."

Anderson asked about the leadership of the Early Education Department. "The bill was intended for ages birth to 5 years. I heard at the signing that public schools are exempt for kindergarten and pre-kindergarten."

Lujan Grisham said: "Cabinet secretaries are tough. The public education cabinet secretary doesn't want to give things up. Getting the bill across the finish line needed the PED. It was all or none. The argument was that the constitution says the state is not able to invest in private businesses. We thought a hybrid would give us the opportunity to support both systems. We have to navigate it. We are looking for space for the department and we have no secretary. We don't pay enough, so it limits our choices. We need expertise and commitment. We start cabinet secretaries at $120,000. Even if we raised it to $150,000, it would be hard. We have not invested in our own. We are on the third round of interviews. They may be brilliant, but we tell them $150,000 and they have to move here, and they're gone. It's challenging to put departments together. We are struggling to fill vacancies. The PED is still using MS docs. We have 70,000 open jobs in New Mexico."

To a question about Impact Aid, she explained that it is for direct investment into minority populations.

"It's an easy fix to adjust the education formula," Lujan Grisham said. "Right now, one gets more, and one gets less. When you're 50th, it isn't a good formula. If we fix it in an entire separate fund and determine how it gets spent, it will fix it. House Appropriations is 95 percent there. We're close."

Anthony Quintana about free college. "Will it separate the subjects?"

"It will be universal," Lujan Grisham said. "Too many universities are not creating students for business needs. It's a perverse situation. If students know a job is at the end of a course of study, that's what they are interested in. We want kids to stay here. I'm open to ideas. We don't want to create barriers."

Quintana said he went to college. "Some have talent, but they don't have the money."

Lujan Grisham said: "We need trades. They have excited young people. We need people here. Let's train them."

Lucero thanked the governor for listening to rural America. "As a person in government for 32 years, I've worked with more cabinet secretaries, but now they are listening to our comments and the issues we face."

Evangeline Zamora, Prospectors president, thanked the governor for speaking to the group. She announced that Grant County Day has been set for Jan. 29.