SANTA FE — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed legislation Friday that calls for sending a share of New Mexico’s booming oil and gas revenue into a permanent fund, where it will be invested to generate long-term income.
The measure, Senate Bill 26, passed each chamber of the Legislature without a dissenting vote.
It will automatically take some of the state’s excess oil and gas revenue — income above a certain baseline — and transfer it into the severance tax permanent fund, starting in July 2024.
The bill was sponsored by Sen. Roberto “Bobby” Gonzales, D-Ranchos de Taos, who said it would help smooth out the volatility in the state’s revenue stream.
The severance tax permanent fund acts as an endowment of sorts.
“This might be the wisest, most prudent and effective use of our windfall money, particularly in oil and gas, that certainly I’ve seen as governor,” Lujan Grisham said in a signing ceremony.
