Check out our 2022 legislative agenda!

Here are brief summaries of the bills we are working on during the 2022 legislative session, with links to our Action Center so you can easily contact your legislators and the governor about any of them:

• Repeal the tax on Social Security income for 90% of New Mexico seniors and make up the lost revenue by increasing taxes on cigarettes, e-cigarettes, and other tobacco products. We are supporting legislation sponsored by Senator Bill Tallman that would repeal the state’s tax on Social Security income for seniors who have total incomes of less than $72,000, or $124,000 for a married couple, which meant that only the top 10% wealthiest seniors in New Mexico would continue to be taxed on their Social Security income. The bill is revenue neutral to the state because it increases taxes on e-cigarettes, cigarettes, and other tobacco products, which is an important tool to reduce youth smoking. New Mexico currently ranks third highest for teen vaping and fifth highest for teen smoking. Read more about this reform.

• Make personal finance a high school graduation requirement. Today, only 11% of students complete this course, but every student needs to learn essential skills like how to make a budget, open a bank account, save and invest for their futures, and avoid high-cost debt. We are supporting legislation sponsored by Representative Moe Maestas to elevate personal finance from an elective to a graduation requirement. Read more about this reform.

• Maximize the amount of the state’s education budget that is spent in the classroom, rather than on school district central administration. We are working with Senator Bobby Gonzales to pass legislation will help ensure that the big investments that the governor and legislature are making in our schools will actually reach students and teachers in the classroom. The bill would limit the growth of school district central administrative spending to no faster than the Consumer Price Index or the overall growth in the state education budget, whichever is lower. Classroom spending would not be limited. So in good budget years like this one, when legislators and the governor are making significant investments in our schools,  the vast majority of that funding will be directed to the classroom where the learning takes place. Read more about this reform.

• Reform the Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA) pension board. House Bill 51, sponsored by Representative Phelps Anderson and Senator George Munoz would require relevant financial qualifications for most of the members of this public pension oversight board that oversees $18 billion for nearly 100,000 public workers and retirees. Currently, no qualifications are required for board members. If PERA fails to meet its obligations due to poor board governance, all New Mexico taxpayers will be on the hook to make up any shortfall. Read more about this reform.

• End predatory lending. We are advocating for legislation that would lower the maximum annual interest rate on small loans from 175%, one of the highest rates allowed anywhere in the nation, to 36%, the national average. Read more about this reform.

Thanks for helping us meet the challenge!

Our deep thanks go out to the eight extremely generous New Mexicans who put together a pool of challenge grants totaling $135,000 and to the 338 New Mexicans who helped us more than match that challenge!

Including both the challenge grants and your matching contributions, during the online fundraising campaign between October 18-29, 2021 you helped us raise $276,530, which is more than 40% of Think New Mexico’s annual budget. We are especially pleased to welcome our 47 new supporters.

Help Ensure that Every New Mexico Student Has Access to Financial Literacy Education!

The New Mexico Public Education Department is updating its K-12 Social Studies standards, which detail the concepts that students will learn in classes like history and economics. This gives us an important opportunity to make sure that every New Mexico student has the opportunity to learn essential personal finance skills before they graduate from high school.

New Mexico is one of only five states that fails to include personal finance in its education standards. Personal finance standards teach students essential life skills like budgeting, checking and savings accounts, credit, interest, investment in stocks and bonds, and the costs of borrowing. The research shows that students who receive this education are more likely to save money, budget their spending, invest, and obtain more financial aid for college.

The department’s draft revision didn’t add any personal finance benchmarks, so Think New Mexico wrote our own based on the national best practices and the standards in place in other states like Colorado. (You can review our proposal here: Think New Mexico’s proposed additions are highlighted throughout the draft rule.)

We hope you’ll join us in urging the Public Education Department to adopt strong personal finance standards for New Mexico’s students! Please note that comments must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. on November 12.

Think New Mexico Receives 100 out of 100 Rating from Charity Navigator

Think New Mexico has received a score of 100 out of 100 on Charity Navigator’s new Encompass Rating System for small nonprofits. This score, which is based on Charity Navigator’s Finance and Accountability analysis, provides an assessment of a nonprofit’s financial health (stability, efficiency and sustainability) and its commitment to governance practices and policies. Charity Navigator is the world’s largest and most trusted nonprofit evaluator. Learn more on Charity Navigator’s website.

Think New Mexico Hires Its First Ever Education Reform Director!

We are delighted to announce that we have hired Abenicio Baldonado as Think New Mexico’s first ever Education Reform Director! As this Santa Fe New Mexican column explains, we created this new position because we believe that nothing is more critical to the success of our state than improving the quality of our public schools. Yet because Think New Mexico takes on new issues every year, we have not been able to give education reform the consistent, intense focus that it needs every day of the year. The Education Reform Director position is designed to fix that, and we could not have found a better fit for the position than Abenicio. He is a proud graduate of Robertson High School in Las Vegas, NM, earned his BA and Masters from Highlands University, served as a public school teacher and charter school board member, and spent the last three years as the Legislative Liaison for the Public Education Department. Read Abenicio’s bio on our staff page.

Executive Director Fred Nathan Receives Humanitarian Award

Think New Mexico Executive Director Fred Nathan received a 2021 Humanitarian Award from the Jewish Community Center of Greater Albuquerque, in recognition of his three decades of public service on behalf of New Mexicans. Read the Albuquerque Journal’s profile of Fred here.