Public-private agreement crucial to economy

Our current economic state has been described as dismal and hopeless, and in New Mexico, people are struggling to find work. Those who are out of work are struggling to feed their families and take care of basic necessities.

Our state is seeing the greatest job loss in the region, and hard working people are suffering the consequences.

The construction industry of New Mexico has been especially hard hit — and the level of employment is equivalent to what it was in 1992. The only solution is job creation and small business growth.

As a result of this need, I introduced House Bill 405. The legislation allows for public-private partnerships, giving the state and local municipalities the opportunity to form innovative contracts with private businesses for public purposes.

Our economy needs the opportunity to grow, and this will allow us to expand and hire additional workers. This legislation helps make that a possibility by increasing the amount of projects that will be made available for workers.

Simply put, this is a bill to put New Mexicans back to work, create jobs and move New Mexico in the right direction.

Public-private partnerships provide a voluntary financing mechanism for public agencies to meet public purposes more quickly and efficiently while creating new jobs for hard working men and women across our state. Additionally, this legislation can help to instigate new projects and increase the tax base, bringing in greater revenue to the state.

Importantly, this option gives public entities the ability to choose the right option for public projects. The partnerships can be utilized for public projects — including infrastructure development and improvement, renewable energy and clean water, among many other possibilities. It allows for public improvements and private job growth to come together in a cyclical fashion.

Additionally, this bill provides a framework to ensure transparent and objective review and approval, so it increases accountability.

HB 405 passed the House on Tuesday with bipartisan support, showing that job creation is much more important than partisanship. I am grateful that my colleagues in the House joined me in supporting such a job growth measure. It is my hope that the Senate will act quickly in passing this legislation for the benefit of New Mexico workers.