Issue Position: Jobs and Rural Economic Development

Issue Position

Small towns across New Mexico are struggling. Jobs in rural communities are drying up and economic opportunities are being shifted to larger cities or out of state. Too many families are struggling to make ends meet and many are forced to consider whether they must leave a community they've known their entire lives. I believe that our first priority should be to create good jobs with benefits in rural New Mexico. We should do our job to help struggling families and to give our young people the opportunity to live and work in their local community near family.

- Invest in local economic development by supporting local businesses and providing rural infrastructure tax credits;
- Expand broadband access to rural communities;
-Support family operated farms and ranches that are crucial to the state's agricultural sector and to New Mexico's economy as a whole;
-Stop tax giveaways to large out of state corporations that don't result in promised jobs. These tax favors reduce state resources that could be invested in education and training programs, homegrown business and rural economic development strategies;
-Require more transparency and accountability by supporting a tax expenditure budget that would provide policymakers and the public with a full accounting of how state resources are being used and whether performance requirements are being met.

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