Rio Grande Foundation Liberty, Opportunity, Prosperity New Mexico Southern New Mexico 2013 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES The Rio Grande Foundation Freedom Index examines legislation based on its impact on economic freedom and government growth. Numerical values are placed on each bill according to free market principles, regulations, taxation, government transparency, and other metrics. Legislators that vote against a bill that has a negative value gains the positive equivalent of that bill. Likewise, legislators who vote against a bill that has a positive value loses the value associated with that bill. Each legislator’s House or Senate floor votes is tallied from each relevant bill’s numerical value and determines the legislator’s overall index score. The results allow us to see whether a certain legislator, in total, supported or opposed economic freedom and to what degree.

How do the Southern legislators compare with the rest of the state?

➡ The House members had 44 bills impact their Freedom index score. Southern New Mexico Freedom Index contains 14 legislative districts. In this region, Cathrynn Brown (R) of district 01 tied for first in the index out of all 70 representatives, scoring 50 points. ➡ HB 168 establishes the state-run health insurance exchange. The bill granted significant powers to the board in running the exchange, including the power to exclude plans thereby picking winners and losers. The bill did not pass (30 to 39). SB 221 was the health insurance exchange bill that did pass (61-7), which limited the power of the board to control the plans offered on the exchange. However, by establishing the exchange, the state will still be held responsible for its consequences despite significant federal control. ➡ HB 460 significantly increases regulation over charter schools that would severely restrict the number of effective educational programs available to parents and students in the state. ➡ SB 416 raises the state minimum wage to $8.50 per hour, making it the fourth highest in the nation. ➡ HB 465 takes a significant step in decriminalizing marijuana possession by decreasing the marijuana possession penalties. Top bills the House voted on Representative Index Score Rank (70 total) (-8) HB 168 (-6) HB 460 (-7) SB 416 (+4) HB 465 (30-39) FAILED (34-33) PASSED (37-32) PASSED (37-33) PASSED Cathrynn N. Brown (R) (55) 50 1 Voted NO Voted NO Voted NO Voted NO Yvette Herrell (R) (51) 38 10 Voted NO Voted NO Voted NO Voted NO David M. Gallegos (R) (61) 32 15 Voted NO Voted NO Voted NO Voted NO Zachary J. Cook (R) (56) 31 17 Voted NO Voted NO Voted NO Voted NO William J. Gray (R) (54) 30 20 Voted NO Voted NO Voted NO Voted NO Terry McMillan (R) (37) 6 32 Voted NO ABSENT Voted NO Voted YES Dona G. Irwin (D) (32) -3 33 Voted NO Voted YES Voted YES Voted NO Mary Helen A. Garcia (D) (34) -23 35 Voted NO Voted YES Voted YES Voted YES Nate Cote (D) (53) -34 42 Voted YES Voted YES Voted YES Voted YES Phillip M. Archuleta (D) (36) -49 58 Voted YES Voted YES Voted YES Voted YES (D) (35) -50 59 Voted YES Voted YES Voted YES Voted YES Bill McCamley (D) (33) -59 67 Voted YES Voted YES Voted YES Voted YES Rodolpho Martinez (D) (39) -62 68 Voted YES Voted YES Voted YES Voted YES Doreen Y. Gallegos (D) (52) -67 70 Voted YES Voted YES Voted YES Voted YES Rio Grande Foundation Liberty, Opportunity, Prosperity New Mexico Southern New Mexico 2013 SENATE The Rio Grande Foundation Freedom Index examines legislation based on its impact on economic freedom and government growth. Numerical values are placed on each bill according to free market principles, regulations, taxation, government transparency, and other metrics. Legislators that vote against a bill that has a negative value gains the positive equivalent of that bill. Likewise, legislators who vote against a bill that has a positive value loses the value associated with that bill. Each legislator’s House or Senate floor votes is tallied from each relevant bill’s numerical value and determines the legislator’s overall index score. The results allow us to see whether a certain legislator, in total, supported or opposed economic freedom and to what degree.

How do the Southern senators compare with the rest of the state?

➡ The Senators had 35 bills impact their Freedom index score. Southern New Mexico Freedom Index contains 11 senate districts. ➡ Only 9 out of 42 senators scored positively in the index with the highest score being 29 points by Senator Lee Cottor of district 36. ➡ SB 221 establishes the state-run health insurance exchange. Although the bill limits the power of the board to control the plans offered on the exchange, the exchange will still be heavily controlled by federal rules. ➡ HB 460 significantly increases regulation over charter schools that would severely restrict the number of effective educational programs available to parents and students in the state. ➡ SB 416 raises the state minimum wage to $8.50 per hour which would make it the fourth highest minimum wage in the country. ➡ HB 379 increases the Film Production Tax Credit from 25% to 30% and essentially raises the cap to $60 million from $50 million due to being able to roll over unused cap space.

Senators Top bills the Senate voted on Index Score Rank (-8) SB 221 (-6) HB 460 (-7) SB 416 (-3) HB 379 (42 total) (36-5) (22-17) (25-17) (32-8) PASSED PASSED PASSED PASSED (R) (36) 29 1 Voted NO Voted NO Voted NO Voted NO (R) (32) 21 3 Voted YES Voted NO Voted NO Voted YES Gay G. Kernan (R) (42) 4 7 Voted YES Voted NO Voted NO Voted NO Carroll H. Leavell (R) (41) -1 10 Voted YES Voted NO Voted NO Voted NO Bill F. Burt (R) (33) -2 11 Voted YES Voted NO Voted NO Voted YES (R) (34) -17 17 Voted YES Voted NO Voted NO Voted YES Mary K. Papen (D) (38) -30 25 Voted YES Voted YES Voted YES EXCUSED William P. Soules (D) (37) -35 27 Voted YES Voted YES Voted YES Voted YES (D) (28) -42 38 Voted YES Voted YES Voted YES Voted YES Joseph Cervantes (D) (31) -42 38 Voted YES Voted YES Voted YES Voted YES (D) 35) -42 38 Voted YES Voted YES Voted YES Voted NO