Latest news with #HB93
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Gov Lujan Grisham signs electric grid, solar power and cannabis-enforcement bills into law
Gov. Lujan Grisham signed more than 40 more bills on April 8 ahead of an April 11 deadline. (Photo by Danielle Prokop/Source NM) Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed 41 more bills into law Tuesday, including several to boost New Mexico's ability to install solar panels in small communities and allow utilities to seek rate changes for technology to improve electricity transmission. She has until April 11 to sign or veto legislation. House Bill 128 establishes a $20 million dollar fund to provide grants for solar energy and battery storage for tribal, rural and low-income schools, municipalities and counties. 'This fund is an investment in our infrastructure, our economy, and our future,' Sen. Harold Pope (D-Albuquerque) one of the bill's sponsors, said in a statement. 'It fills crucial funding gaps for rural and underserved areas, ensuring that all communities — no matter their zip code — can implement solar projects that cut energy costs, lower emissions, and enhance our resilience during fires, blackouts, and intense storms. I'm proud that we passed it.' House Bill 93 will allow larger electric utilities to incorporate advanced grid technology projects into their grid modernization plans, and incorporate those plans into the ratemaking process before the Public Regulation Commission. Co-sponsor Kristina Ortez (D-Taos) told Source the alternative: building more transmission lines can be '100 times to 1,000 times more expensive' than using technologies that boost lines capacity to carry more electricity, and state law allows electricity companies to pass on those costs to customers. 'Advanced grid technologies are way cheaper for ratepayers,' Ortez said. 'These utilities now have incentives to try to make their existing lines more efficient rather than building a whole new one.' HB93 is limited to investor-owned utilities, such as Public Service Company of New Mexico Xcel Energy and El Paso Electric, and does not impact smaller electric cooperatives, she noted. The governor also signed : House Bill 10, which establishes a new enforcement division under the state's Regulation and Licensing Bureau to enforce state cannabis laws; House Bill 63, which proposes changes to the public school funding formula to generate more money for low-income, English-language learning students and students in seventh through 12th grades; andSenate Bill 19, which requires that members of university governing boards undergo 10 hours of training on ethics, student services and best practices. Four of the bills she enacted related to water treatment for ongoing climate impacts, addressing so-called 'forever chemicals' contamination and pollution control. Here's a full list of the bills the governor signed: House Bill 56: Medicaid Reimbursements for Birth Centers House Bill: Prohibit Discrimination Against 340B Entities House Bill 117: Death Certificate by Physician Assistant House Bill 171: Pharmacy Custodial Care Facilities House Bill 178: Nursing Practice Changes Senate Bill 120: No Behavioral Health Cost Sharing Senate Bill 122: Expand Prescription Drug Donation Program Senate Bill 249: Health Care Provider Gross Receipts House Bill 93: Advanced Grid Technology Plans House Bill 128: NMFA Local Solar Access Fund House Bill 137: Strategic Water Supply Act House Bill 140: 'Hazardous Waste Constituent' Definition House Bill 212: Per- & Poly-Flouroalkyl Protection Act House Bill 240: Drinking Water System Grants & Loans House Bill 295: Tax On Property Owned by NM RETA Senate Bill 21: Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Act House Bill 19: Trade Ports Development Act House Bill 368: High Wage Jobs Tax Credit 'Threshold Job' House Bill 456: Architect & Engineering Services & Construction House Bill 63: Public School Funding Formula Changes House Bill 69: Loan Forgiveness Multiplier Act House Bill 89: Graduate Scholarship Act Changes House Bill 336: Certain Retirees Returning to Work Senate Bill 19: Boards Of Regents Training Requirements Senate Bill 146: Educational Opportunity for Military Children House Bill 10: RLD Cannabis Enforcement House Bill 24: Community Governance Attorneys Changes House Bill 113: Animal Welfare Program and Trust Fund House Bill 158: Military Base Planning & Impact Act House Bill 296: Public Accountant Licensure Requirements House Bill 398: HMO & Contract Provider Exam Time Lines House Bill 468: Retiring of State Flags Senate Bill 88: Medicaid Trust Fund & State Supported Fund Senate Bill 92: Horse Racing & Jockey Insurance Fund Senate Bill 126: Increase Rural Service Fund Allocations Senate Bill 159: Independent Theater Beer & Wine Licenses Senate Bill 221: Additional Unfair Insurance Claims Practice Senate Bill 267: Housing Application Fees Senate Bill 280: NMMI In Capital Outlay Act Senate Bill 290: Raise Marriage License Fees Senate Bill 357: Essential Services Development Act
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Federal budget deficit is a revenue problem, not a cost problem
We hear a lot of talk about the federal debt these days, but it's important to recognize that loss of revenue is actually entirely responsible for the entire debt, not high costs. Per the Congressional Budget Office, rising costs are not responsible for the increased federal debt. In fact, compared to long-term projections made in 1999, costs now are significantly lower than expected and have been responsible for decreased debt, according to the CBO. Revenue is dramatically lower than projected, however, due to Republican tax cuts and failure to report income. For example, the Bush tax cuts alone resulted in a drop in revenue of over $16 trillion over a decade, and the Bush and Trump tax cuts combined contributed 92% of the increase in debt ratio through 2023. In addition, in 2019 the IRS estimated that Americans report less than half of their non-W-2 income, which resulted in an estimated $600 billion shortfall in revenue in 2023, and will result in a loss of over $7.5 trillion in the next decade. The bottom line is that our country does not have a cost problem, it has a revenue problem, and I think we should be looking at tax revenue before cost reduction. Tim Carlson, Boise Idaho has a governor who can be brainwashed. Governor Brad Little has just proved that by signing House Bill 93, which allows parents of K-12 students to access tax funds to pay religious school fees. House bill 93 provides 50 million dollars from the Idaho State General Fund that home schoolers can apply for as $5000 tax credits. They can use the Bible or the Koran as a text. HB 93 passed both Houses but the Legislature could have sustained the governor's veto. This bill was debated on the floor of both Houses. Republicans and Democrats voted against it. Public testimony was strongly negative.. The Governor set up a phone system that allowed Idahoans to let him know how they felt about HB 93. In all, 37,457 callers voted against HB 93, compared to 5,091 voting for it. The governor signed it. Political forces against education worked on Brad Little , convincing him that he had no choice but to violate the separation of church and State. These forces bullied him into believing he could not refuse to make tax funds available to homeschoolers and religious schools. Governor Little could not understand when Idaho told him differently. Janelle Wintersteen, Boise I'm an Idaho native, senior citizen, and Republican who wholeheartedly voted for Trump in 2016. Albeit concerned about his erratic behavior, I reluctantly voted for him again in 2020. Trump — and only Trump — lost that election. His response on January 6 to that loss, his continued lies, disregard for the Constitution, alliance with Putin, etc., convinced me that I could no longer support him in the 2024 election. Witnessing Trump's vindictiveness toward anyone who doesn't bow down to him, I 'get it' that Idaho's representatives in D.C. fear bearing his wrath by speaking the truth to him. That said, the GOP is the people's best hope to stop this individual and his cronies from destroying America. If we are really ever going to 'make America great again,' the Trump madness and his tyrannical administration must be dealt with, regardless of which political party we support. Patricia James, Garden City Donald Trump, as a convicted felon and indicted insurrectionist, has made it clear to the whole world that he admires and supports Vladimir Putin, who is a murderous dictator and war criminal according to the International Criminal Court. Trump is attempting to replace our system of governing 'of the people, by the people and for the people' with a Putin style of government and eliminates all forms of individual freedoms and allows corruption and evil to flourish in a government 'of the rich and powerful, by the rich and powerful and for the rich and powerful.' If there is any hope to salvage our damaged democracy, it is imperative that every citizen and our elected officials at every level, honor the principles and the values written into our Constitution and the oath taken by those We the People have voted into office to represent us. Michael Laskowski, Star Our Founding Fathers always knew there was a possibility that a 'king-like' person would try to rule as a dictator and use the power of the presidency to enrich himself, but they never foresaw the legislative and judicial branches of government completely abdicating their responsibilities and going along with it. When an unfit and incompetent clown gets elected to the presidency by using a very deliberate, systematic, and targeted campaign of spreading lies and disinformation, we can all hate that man. But the real entity to blame for our nation now finding itself sliding into authoritarianism is the Republican Party. Republicans invited this malignant narcissist into their midst thinking they could get him to do their dirty work while simultaneously (and arrogantly) thinking he could be contained. They should be ashamed of abdicating their responsibilities to upholding our Constitution. Stop allowing Trump to trample all over it. Do your jobs and protect our democracy: Invoke the 25th Amendment now. If not, the American people will hold you accountable. As Thomas Jefferson so famously said, 'When people fear the government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.' We the people will have the last word. Peggy Fahy, Star Deport criminals, not lawbreakers. There is a big difference. A criminal is someone who commits malicious harm to persons or property that would be wrong in any society. A lawbreaker is someone who has crossed a line that could easily be drawn in a different place. Have you ever driven at 85 mph on the Interstate? Mailed your IRS forms in on April 20 instead of April 15? Served a beer to your son's 20-year-old buddy? Then you are a lawbreaker, but not a criminal. There are multitudes of people living in this country without proper papers, yet they are peaceful and hard-working, and have kept the law since their settlement here. Let's not deport them. Yes, they have in the past broken the law, so make them pay—a fine, maybe, as an admission of the infraction. Let them clear their record and continue to be productive members of our society. Criminals and terrorists must go, but not our peaceful neighbors. Monty D Ledford, Aberdeen
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Idaho Gov. Brad Little signs law that directs state funds to private school tuition
Idaho Gov. Brad Little gives his annual State of the State address on Jan. 6, 2025, on the House floor at the Statehouse in Boise. (Pat Sutphin for the Idaho Capital Sun) This story was first published by Idaho Education News on Feb. 27, 2025. Gov. Brad Little signed House Bill 93 Thursday, codifying Idaho's first private school choice program that directs state funds to private school tuition. The new $50 million program offers private schoolers and home-schoolers up to $5,000 — or $7,500 for special needs students — for tuition and other education expenses. Idaho now 'boasts even more abundant schooling options for Idaho students and families,' Little said in a news release, adding that his administration has increased public school funding by 60% the last few years. 'Idaho can have it all — strong public schools and education freedom,' the Republican governor said. 'Providing high-quality education for Idaho students will always be our top priority.' The bill was sponsored by Rep. Wendy Horman, R-Idaho Falls; Senate Majority Leader Lori Den Hartog, R-Meridian; House Majority Leader Jason Monks, R-Meridian; and Sen. C. Scott Grow, R-Eagle. Horman and Den Hartog for years have pushed the Legislature to adopt a private school choice program. On Thursday, Horman said she's 'beyond excited for the students and families whose lives will be blessed.' 'I appreciate Gov. Little recognizing the need for this program and responding to the families who need help getting their child into the best education environment possible.' Little, who previously expressed skepticism about spending public dollars on private schooling, surprised many last month when he pledged $50 million for a private school choice program that's fair, responsible, transparent and accountable. On Tuesday, Little said HB 93 didn't meet one of those standards. 'There's not enough accountability in it,' he told reporters during a Q&A. 'But I don't think there's enough accountability in the money we give public schools either.' House Bill 93 cleared the House on a 42-28 vote and the Senate on a 20-15 vote. It also attracted significant public interest. Idaho Education News previously reported that the House Revenue and Taxation Committee received more than 1,000 emails on House Bill 93, and 94% of messages opposed it. Little told reporters Tuesday that his office received 'thousands' of messages, but the governor's office declined to release data verifying the volume or showing how many people have supported or opposed the bill before he signed it. Before Thursday's bill signing, Idaho was one of a few Republican-led states that had yet to implement a private school choice program. Most states direct public funds to private education through school vouchers, education savings accounts (ESAs) or tax credits. Little's signature ends a bitter, yearslong debate over opening the door to private school spending in Idaho, but it's likely not the conclusion. Opponents could sue to block the tax credit or pursue a ballot initiative inviting voters to weigh in. And supporters could seek to expand the tax credit program in the future — or propose a second private school choice program. Utah and Wyoming have both adopted ESA programs since 2023, and this year lawmakers are moving to lift limitations on eligibility or spending. The 'Utah Fits All' scholarship program started two years ago at $42.5 million, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. Last year, spending nearly doubled, and this year GOP leadership is pushing to nearly double it again, to $162 million. Idaho's tax credit program will be initially capped at $50 million. HB 93 directs the Idaho State Tax Commission, which would administer the program, to create a waiting list 'demonstrating who would be eligible on a first-come, first-served basis if the annual maximum limit…increased.' Idaho Education Association President Layne McInelly said Thursday that the teachers' union stands 'on the right side of history' for opposing the bill. 'Our members will fight every step of the way to limit and roll back the damage caused by this legislation,' McInelly said in an emailed statement. 'They will wade into electoral politics with renewed vigor to ensure future Idaho legislatures support students and public schools — not out-of-state lobbyists and their billionaire benefactors. No one fights for public schools like IEA members.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
