Issue Position: Making Government More Effective

Issue Position

As your Governor, my commitment is to ensure our state modernizes the way it provides services to you, our people. We will modernize the communication systems The coming years are pivotal in the future of the state and we will be ready for the new economic realities in the world. We will initiate discussions on how to address the complicated issues we must solve to find the new beginning for New Mexico.

Most of New Mexico's government agencies were designed for a time long passed. A time with a slow, creaking gears and cogs; a tractor-like economy, with mechanical foundations. Processes were paper-based, top-down, closed, cold and artificial. Old government was political, elite, artificial, distant and primitive. It required conformity, standardization and knowing the "right people".

Our agencies seem tired and immobile; unable to adapt to today's modern lifestyle. In their fatigue, they have forgotten the everyday man and woman who go to work each day, who quietly raise their children to respect the law and take responsibility for themselves and their family. Government has forgotten the people who make society and our country work.

Our modern economy features companies that were not even in existence when many of our agencies were designed and our laws written. Uber did not exist 5 years ago. Today it is worth about the same as New Mexico's entire economy. Amazon, Air B&B, and a host of other ideas are redesigning our way of life.

Today's modern economy demands that we redesign our government. We need a government that is next-generation, fresh and innovative. Our government should be local, personal and fair. It should guarantee equal opportunity for all.

Our redesigned government should offer freedom of choice, diversity of options and should be organic and bottom-up just like the economic opportunities. A new ecosystem of incentive-based government is the model of the future. It is what we should be working to design.

We will build a team across generations; baby-boomers, 30's-40's and millennials who have a burning desire to redesign our state government. I invite you to be part of the team, to share in the vision and in the planning and design.

Mental Illness & Drug Abuse
Programs to deal with these problems have become decentralized and are rarely able to adequately address the problem. We should find the latest, most innovative and effective ways to help rescue people. They should not be consigned to homelessness and failure.

Regulatory Burdens
Small businesses create most private sector jobs in New Mexico.

Large companies have staff and resources to respond when the government oversteps its authority or fails to uphold its obligations. Small business owners are alone in the fight. Punitive attitudes and regulations hurt New Mexico jobs far more than larger, wealthier states.

Therefore, we will concentrate on regulations that protect the environment and workers without killing jobs or destroying jobs in the state.

Business Friendly State
In 2017 New Mexico fell to No. 42 in CNBC's annual list of the best and worst states for business, dropping into the bottom 10 after being 24th in 2014 and 39th in 2016.

When companies are subject to more than one licensing agency and have to comply with mandates from multiple levels of government, we make it harder to create jobs.

Many companies complain that our state treats them like adversaries. A high priority of mine is to establish business-friendly attitudes and policies in our government agencies.

To begin our climb to the top, we will focus on:

training and networking programs,
regulatory and licensing simplicity and
helpful government websites to cut red tape
By focusing on becoming more business friendly we will improve life for all New Mexicans.

One-Stop Business Potential
In 2014, New Mexico implemented a one-stop business portal in order to reduce administrative burdens on businesses and business creation. We should continue to perfect that process.

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