OPINION: STATE LEGISLATORS PROPOSING TO ROB

THE PERMANENT FUND...VOTERS SHOULD SAY “HELL NO” IN SEPTEMBER!

BY Senator Rod Adair

New Mexico Senator Says All Is Not Lost, But It Could Be.

While the State Senate has been disappointing in blindly passing the raid on the Land Grant Permanent Funds, Senate Joint Resolution 6 (SJR 6), I remain optimistic. The reason I do is my abiding belief that the people of New Mexico are much, much smarter than the New Mexico Legislature. I know this to be the case. There is ample evidence. The attempted raid on the permanent fund has to be approved by the people in a popular referendum. Proponents of the raid plan to set the election for September. I am confident the people will understand the importance of not destroying a fund set up to provide for the education of our children and our children's children. This gives the people an opportunity to veto bad choices made by legislators and special interests. But before that question goes to the people, SJR 6 still has to pass the New Mexico House of Representatives. In the House, SJR 6 appears to have run into at least a measure of skepticism. The voters can go a long way toward increasing that doubt and protecting the permanent fund by contacting their representatives. I urge voters to do just that. Below, I have described the reason we have permanent funds. If you agree that we need to protect those funds for future generations, call the Legislative witchboard at 986-4300 and ask for your representative.

If you prefer, you can e-mail your representative at: house@state.nm.us. You can also contact your representative through the Legislature's web site at http://www.legis.state.nm.us.

Explanation of the Permanent Fund: Our state has been richly blessed with oil, gas and mineral deposits. The concept of the permanent fund is based on the fact that these fossil fuels and minerals eventually play out. A state that uses income from such assets must prepare for that day when a significant percentage of its income will be gone. One way to do that is to set aside earnings from the production of these natural resources. New Mexico is one of the few states to have done so. (Kentucky egislators have often lamented the fact they did not do this---as they see their dwindling coal deposits and have nothing to replace the income from them in the future.) Creating and preserving our permanent fund means that when the geological formations are gone, we will have a financial asset equal to the physical one, which will have been depleted. Put another way, we will have made for ourselves an artificial deposit (virtual minerals if you will) to replace the hard rock and petroleum deposits no longer working for us. If we choose to raid the permanent fund we could reach the year 2040 and find that we no longer have oil, no longer have natural gas, no longer have copper, no longer have molybdenum, AND we have nothing to show for having had those assets to begin with. If we do not raid the permanent fund, we would have $37.4 billion by that year. We would be able to distribute $1.62 billion to our general fund that year and still see the fund continue to grow. (Today the fund is worth about $6.3 billion and our state's general fund receives $276 million----lowering everyone's income tax bite and reducing the need for taxes from other sources.) Raiding any of our permanent funds is stealing from our children and our grandchildren and leaving them with nothing to show for our stewardship. That would be a lasting legacy---but not one we could be proud of.

**Senator Adair represents Chaves, Eddy and Lincoln Counties and can be reached at rod.adair@state.nm.us or at 505-986-4385.