Latest news with #Cadena
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
New Mexico lawmakers push for legislative salaries despite years of pushback
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – New Mexico is the only state in the country that doesn't pay a salary to lawmakers, even though some have pushed to change that policy for years. After another failed attempt this session, some are wondering if there is any chance New Mexico's system could change? 'Who we send to Santa Fe does not represent the incredible depth and diversity and insight and expertise of families across our state,' said Representative Micaela Lara Cadena (D-Mesilla). Democratic state Rep. Micaela Lara Cadena says that's just one of the many reasons why she thinks New Mexico should have a paid legislature. She says the state's current 'volunteer' set up ensures that the powerful, wealthy, or retired make up the vast majority of candidates who can do the job. New state law expands who can become a NM law enforcement officer 'And that means when we're there taking these consequential votes that affect and impact our lives every day, a lot of the folks taking those votes are really disconnected from what's happening in real time,' said Rep. Cadena. The issue is one of what drove Representative Cadena to write a letter at the end of this session, only saying, 'The people of New Mexico deserve better.' 'That body, in my perspective and insight, does not represent the New Mexicans that I try to show up for every day,' said Rep. Cadena. The legislative salary idea has been around for years, including this session, where a joint resolution, SJR 1, didn't get a hearing in the Senate Finance Committee, chaired by Democratic Senator George Muñoz. He opposes the idea of a paid legislature, saying the current system doesn't limit who's involved. Bernalillo County DA speaks out on juvenile crime bills not passing in the NM Legislature 'I see a wide variety of people there. I see teachers who have jobs that leave the schools for 60 days. I see non-profit organizations that have people that are elected, I see retirees, I see ranchers,' said Senator George Muñoz (D-Gallup). He adds that creating legislative salaries could also attract the wrong kind of lawmakers to the Roundhouse. 'Now, will it open it up to an array of people, sure it will. It will get people running for a job, and it will not be for service to the state or for service to their constituents,' said Sen. Muñoz. Democratic Representative Angelica Rubio was a sponsor of both the House, HJR 18, and Senate resolutions, SJR 1, for a legislative salary this session. She says they plan to reintroduce an updated version in 2026. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Axios
10-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Axios
Bite Club: Fab fish for Lent and beyond
During this season of Lenten eating for many, Chicago offers lots of great fried fish dishes, but one of the best comes from a colorful trailer in Logan Square called Omarcito's. The bite: Crunchy strips of tender cornmeal-battered catfish smothered in tangy salsa criolla and garlic sauce, all on a toasty griddled roll ($12). You can also get it on fried plantains as a jibarito ($13) or as a dinner ($16) with rice, plantains and beans. Tasty bonus: The warmth of Banchet award-winning proprietor and chef Omar Cadena, who will likely take your order, cook your food and serve it to you. The intrigue: It was Cadena who cooked the fried fish — at the erstwhile Big & Little's in Lakeview— that I chose as my fave back in 2022.
USA Today
28-02-2025
- Automotive
- USA Today
Trump's tariffs: What does it mean to be made in America?
CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico – Mexican workers. French employer. Texas landlord. American trucks. At manager Armando Cadena's factory near the U.S. border, the brake lights his workers build are a result of the globalization – and job exports –President Donald Trump so dislikes. But this plant is also part of the big bet by U.S. automakers to keep their factories in the Midwest competitive and car prices low. That bet could take a hit Tuesday, when the president's 25% tariff on Mexican imports goes into effect – unless there is a last-minute deal. 'It's going to have a huge impact,' Cadena said. 'At the end of the day, it's the consumer, you or me, who are going to pay the tariff.' The president has promised to slap tariffs on countries he says aren't playing fair with the United States. A tariff is a tax on imported goods, the cost of which is typically passed on to consumers. Trump said in a news conference earlier this week that "the tariffs are going forward on time, on schedule." But Cadena's plant, less than a mile from the U.S.-Mexico border, can't be quickly untangled from its spot in the global supply chain. The factory building is leased by El Paso, Texas-based Tecma Group. A company called Lacroix, headquartered in western France, owns the production lines. With U.S. and Chinese components, Mexican workers build the products: brake lights and control panels destined for General Motors, Ford, Stellantis and Toyota vehicles. "It's the system that has made it possible for virtually all Americans to have a smart phone and given us cars that are dramatically better than cars built 40 years ago," said Cullum Clark, director of the Dallas-based Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative. 'It works." At the end of the production line on a Friday afternoon in mid-February, Cadena inspected LED taillights glowing white, then red, in a quality testing machine. This particular set would be sold to a bigger supplier that would then ship the lights and other components to a plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where 4,400 American workers build GMC's Sierra truck. A General Motors spokesperson referred USA TODAY to the American Automotive Policy Council, a trade group representing Detroit's "Big Three" automakers. The council has lobbied for Trump's tariffs to exclude cars, trucks and auto parts. "An integrated supply chain is vital to the success and competitiveness of Ford, GM, and Stellantis, their customers, and the 236,500 Americans employed by these iconic companies," Matt Blunt, the council president, said in a statement. Last time, tariffs had a swift impact on both sides of the border Before he took on the role for Lacroix last year, Cadena had managed Mexican assembly plants known as "maquiladoras," for more than three decades. He remembers when Trump threatened tariffs on Mexican goods during his first administration. In 2019, Trump vowed to impose a 5% tariff that would climb to 25% if Mexico didn't do more to reduce illegal migration and fentanyl trafficking. He made the threat even as the U.S., Mexico and Canada were poised to renew a free-trade agreement his administration had negotiated. Rather than ship a product whose price could skyrocket overnight, Cadena and other factory managers took the extraordinary measure of holding back millions of dollars in U.S.-bound goods amid the uncertainty. The domino effect in the United States was swift. "There were assembly plants that had to pause production because Mexico is a key country for the United States," Cadena said. "A light system we make here in two days might be used there by Ford or General Motors." In the end, Trump agreed not to impose tariffs after Mexico's then-president Andrés Manuel López Obrador sent his newly created National Guard to the border to crack down on illegal migration and drugs. But Trump did tack tariffs onto thousands of products imported from other countries, valued around $380 billion and amounting to one of the largest tax increases in decades, according to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, which advocates for policies that drive economic growth. The Biden administration kept many of those tariffs in place. Facing Trump's current threat, Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo mimicked her predecessor's response, promising to send 10,000 National Guard troops to the border. The move was enough for Trump to put tariffs on hold for 30 days, a timetable that ends March 4. Tariffs used selectively can be beneficial, said Jon Barela, executive director of the Borderplex Alliance, which promotes economic development in El Paso, Texas; Ciudad Juárez, Mexico; and southern New Mexico. "But tariffs used to punish our allies and friends are foolhardy," Barela said. "I hope this will be a rerun of Trump 1.0 when threats were made and that threat evolved into this great trade deal, the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement," which remains in effect and ensures zero tariffs on most products moving across North America. Made in (North) America This tri-state region between Texas, New Mexico and northern Mexico, known as the Paso del Norte, or the pass of the north, lies in a valley of the Rio Grande river between a break in the high desert mountains. The steel U.S. border fence cuts through urban sprawl, running east-west along the river channel. Negative portrayals of the southern border are common, as in the president's executive order describing the region as "overrun by cartels, criminal gangs, known terrorists, human traffickers, smugglers, unvetted military-age males from foreign adversaries and illicit narcotics that harm Americans." But this region has also played host to an economic transformation over the past 25 years that has interlaced the U.S., Canadian and Mexican economies in a way that lets North America compete with China, experts say. Some 300 factories in Ciudad Juárez make and assemble products that often crisscross the border multiple times, as value is added on each side. Mexican truckers deliver goods to warehouses in El Paso and Santa Teresa, New Mexico, where they're loaded onto U.S. trucks and rail cars for shipment across the country. "If we do this (with tariffs), who are we going to hurt most?" asked Jerry Pacheco, president of the International Border Association in southern New Mexico. "It's not a black-and-white issue." Many products crisscross the border multiple times, and an "import" from Mexico may include parts produced in the United States, effectively taxing a product partially made in America. "By whacking the entire product 25%, you might whack a 70% American-made product," Pacheco said. Lacroix manufactures goods at two plants in Ciudad Juárez, including the brake lights, panels that control vehicle air conditioning and dash lighting – valued at roughly $10 million to $15 million monthly, Cadena said. The company relies on a local workforce with years of electronics manufacturing experience and the plant's close proximity to the U.S. border. Factory wages in Mexico are a fraction of what they are in the U.S. Along Mexico's northern border, the minimum wage is 50% higher than in the rest of the country, but workers still earn roughly $2.62 per hour, or roughly $21 per day, at the current exchange rate. A 25% tariff could raise costs between $2.5 million to $3.75 million per month, he said. "We can't ship our products absorbing all those costs," Cadena said. "We'll have to immediately adjust prices." The Texas-based Perryman Group, which provides economic analysis, estimates that sustained tariffs on Mexico could cost the United States 1.1 million jobs, when multiplier effects are considered. Tariffs could also push inflation higher, particularly on food, electronics and vehicles imported from Mexico, according to the report. If a blanket 25% tariff goes into effect, "that would mean that every Suburban, every Denali, every Audi, VW, Jeep, every appliance, every washer, dryer, refrigerator and fresh produce would immediately go up in cost 25%," said Alan Russell, chief executive of Tecma Group, which handles real estate and other services for companies to manufacture in Mexico, including for Lacroix. That's why Russell thinks the tariffs are likely to be reduced, postponed or scrapped. "Trump is a smart guy," Russell said. "The people around him are smart. They obviously know that we can't live without Mexico." Lauren Villagran can be reached at lvillagran@
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bill to impose 6% alcohol sales tax passes first committee
Feb. 19—SANTA FE — Democrats are trying once again to impose a tax on alcohol sales in the hopes of addressing one of the leading causes of death in New Mexico. The legislation might have enough support this year to get to the governor's desk after failing in past years. The House Health and Human Services Committee passed House Bill 417 Wednesday morning by a vote of 6-4. All committee Republicans voted against the measure that would institute a 6% tax on alcohol sales at the register, on top of the state's current wholesale liquor excise tax, starting in July 2025. The effort aims to discourage New Mexicans from buying alcohol. The proposed 6% alcohol tax is estimated to reduce the consumption of spirits by 1.2%, wine by 1.14% and beer by 0.66%, according to a legislative analysis of the bill. HB418 would also redirect where money from the current liquor excise tax goes, sending the annual $25 million to $50 million to local harm alleviation funds instead of the state's general fund. The surtax revenue, an estimated $30 million to $60 million annually, would go to the Indian Affairs Department for tribal prevention and help efforts. Bill sponsor Rep. Micaela Lara Cadena, D-Mesilla, said New Mexico would become the second state to impose such an alcohol surtax. Legislative finance and tax officials would be required to review the tax and surtax rates as well as the distributions before 2033 to consider if any changes should be made. "We have enough humility to say we are not projecting that we're getting this exactly right, but we know we need to go in a new direction," Cadena said in a news conference after the committee meeting. The legislation came after failed attempts in past years to impose new alcohol taxes. The state hasn't changed its liquor excise tax in 30 years, said bill sponsor Rep. Joanne Ferrary, D-Las Cruces. Cadena explained that she joined onto the bill this year because she thought it was more reasonable than last year's proposed 12% tax. The proposal started over the summer as a 3% surtax from Reps. Cadena and Christina Parajón, D-Albuquerque, and the bill's seven sponsors landed on a flat 6% as a compromise, Cadena said. "We've spent many contentious hours looking at research around the country, like what impact do we think we can have? My argument continued to be before we go to a sky-high rate, I need to see that we're even changing consumption," she said. "Six was about as low as they would go, and we said we couldn't go higher." Many liquor and restaurant industry representatives showed up to oppose the bill. Ron Brown, who owns the convenience store Latitudes in Rio Rancho, said the legislation "was a brilliant vision" at 3%. "And we could have supported that vision at 3% as it was this summer. It would have helped out retailers with cash flow," he said. "But unfortunately at 6% this creates a giant bureaucracy ... and it's going to put us in an uncompetitive point." He also brought up that alcohol consumption and charges for driving while intoxicated are down. Data from the New Mexico Department of Health indicates that alcohol-related deaths have dropped over the past two years. However, New Mexico is still consistently at the top in the nation for alcohol-related deaths and had twice the national average in 2021, when the number peaked at 2,274 deaths. The pandemic worsened the rate of alcohol deaths. In 2023, nearly 1,900 people in New Mexico died as a result of alcohol, according to DOH. Rep. Jenifer Jones, R-Deming, said she wasn't completely confident in the accuracy of New Mexico's data tracking deaths directly caused by alcohol. "I have a feeling that we are reporting alcohol-related deaths, like in cirrhosis of the liver, that perhaps have nothing to do with alcohol. ... We may not really be that far ahead of anybody. We may not even be at the top of the list," she said. The bill is expected to be heard in the House Taxation and Revenue Committee Friday or Monday, Cadena said.
