NEW MEXICO
State delivers delivers inflation relief payments to residents
SANTA FE — New Mexico is delivering the first in a series of direct payments to the state’s adult residents to offset higher consumers costs amid inflation.
Individual taxpayers who get direct deposit rebates are scheduled to receive $250 and couples who file jointly were set to receive $500 as early as May 19. Checks for another 200,000 taxpayers were expected to arrive in the mail over the next few weeks.
The payments are among the $1.1 billion in tax relief and payouts authorized earlier this year by the Democratic-led Legislature and Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.
Individual taxpayers will be eligible to receive up to $750 and couples are set to receive as much as $1,500 during three installments between June and August. That doesn’t include a newly approved annual per-child tax credit of up to $175, depending on household income.
Residents who do not file taxes because of limited income can apply for one-time relief payments of $500 or $1,000 depending on family size. Undocumented immigrants are eligible for relief under the programs.
High fuel prices are hurting household finances as the state government benefits from a financial windfall linked to record-setting oil production in the Permian Basin. New Mexico last year surpassed North Dakota to become the No. 2 oil producer in the nation behind Texas.
Supporters of the proposed payments, including the governor, have said the state has an obligation to help people suffering financial hardships because of inflation. Some Republicans legislators have warned that that rebates might make inflation worse.
Tribes closer to recreational cannabis sales
SANTA FE — Two New Mexico tribes have signed an agreement with state officials recognizing the tribe’s authority to collect taxes on sales of cannabis products.
The move announced by state officials on May 19 after it was signed the previous week further formalizes potential involvement in the cannabis industry by the Pojoaque and Picuris pueblos, both in northern New Mexico.
Recreational marijuana sales began across the state on April 1, grossing around $2 million on the first day.
The agreement means that cannabis products can now be sold in the pueblos and taxed by the tribes much like cigarettes and gasoline are sold and taxed now, according to state Taxation and Revenue Department spokesman Charlie Moore.
The state’s 12% tax on the product won’t be levied on products sold by the tribes.
“New Mexico has a strong history of collaborating with tribes to efficiently administer taxes while recognizing tribal sovereignty and the limitations of state authority on tribal lands,” said Taxation and Revenue Secretary Stephanie Schardin Clarke.
Cannabis is still illegal at the federal level, and tribes are warily preparing to enter the industry in a legal gray zone. In Picuris Pueblo, federal law enforcement officials destroyed marijuana plants licensed for medical use in 2018.
WYOMING
By some measures, Cheyenne’s economy is at a record high
CHEYENNE — It’s official: By at least one state government measure, the local economy has completely rebounded from the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, in the Cheyenne geographic area, the economy has reached a record level.
New statistics from the Economic Analysis Division of the Wyoming Department of Administration and Information help to tell the story.
The state-overseen Cheyenne Economic Health Index shows the value of 109.6 this past March “is the highest value the ChEHI has ever recorded since it began being measured in January of 2005.” That is according to a May 20 report from the Economic Analysis Division.
The report’s author, the division’s principal economist, Dylan Bainer, said by phone that the record level reflects several factors: Employment is “strong,” with high sales and use tax collections, as well as home prices — making up the “ChEHI” overall economic statistic.
Jobs have come roaring back from the depths of the coronavirus-induced economic malaise. The unemployment rate in March was 3.3%, lower than the year-earlier 4.7% and the statewide March 2022 rate of 3.7%. Put another way, per the new report, our county “has recovered all of the 4,000 jobs lost during the worst parts of the pandemic” in March and April of 2020.
Things in the state overall are not growing quite as gangbusters as they are in the Cheyenne area.
One area of strength for energy has been rising oil and natural gas prices, although this has also created pain at the gas pump, among other rising energy costs for consumers. Wyoming’s collection of the 4% sales and use tax has been gaining, although it has not returned to its five-year average.
MONTANA
State not following transgender birth certificate ruling
HELENA — A month after a Montana judge temporarily blocked enforcement of a state law that required transgender people to undergo surgery before they could change their gender on their birth certificate, the state still wasn’t in compliance with the court order, the ACLU of Montana said.
Jon Ebelt, spokesperson for the state health department, said the agency is still working with the Department of Justice to review the April 21 ruling and its implications. He did not respond to an email asking if that meant the state was evaluating whether to appeal the order.
The ACLU of Montana said the state’s “willful indifference” to the court order was “inexcusable.”
Montana is among a growing list of Republican-controlled states that have moved to restrict transgender rights, including requiring student-athletes to participate in sports based on their gender assigned at birth or making it illegal for transgender minors to be treated with hormones or puberty blockers.
Beginning in late 2017, transgender residents could apply to change the gender on their Montana birth certificate by filing a sworn affidavit with the health department. District Court Judge Michael Moses’ order requires the state to revert back to that process while the challenge to the new law is pending.
Republican state Sen. Carl Glimm, who sponsored the legislation, has argued that the Department of Public Health and Human Services overstepped its authority in 2017 by changing the designation on a birth certificate from “sex” to “gender” and then setting rules by which the designation could be changed.
NEBRASKA
Pool noodle fight over the name Josh again attracts hundreds
LINCOLN — A couple hundred people grabbed their pool noodles and headed to a Nebraska park again on May 21 to battle over the right to the name Josh.
The event started as an online joke when Josh Swain from Tucson, Arizona, sent out a tweet challenging anyone who shared his name to fight over it. After it took on a life of its own, Swain turned it into a real event last year at the random coordinates he included in his original note, which happened to be in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Several of the competitors this year donned costumes, including masks, animal suits and football helmets, before heading out to Bowling Lake Park. But that wasn’t enough to dethrone 5-year-old Josh Vinson Jr., who defended his title as the No. 1 Josh.
The event raised nearly $21,000 for Children’s Hospital & Medical Center in Omaha, and the owners of the Josh Cellars wine label pledged to match that amount with a donation of their own. The hospital said it plans to share some of the donations with the Joshua Collinsworth Memorial Foundation that promotes water safety with its Josh the Otter mascot who attended Saturday’s battle.
Swain said he’d like to make the Josh Fight an annual event but he’s not sure if he’ll be able to keep it up.
NEW MEXICO
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