As the 2023 New Mexico legislative session rolls up to its halfway point, the state’s volunteer legislators have reoriented themselves to the Roundhouse and caught up with where they left off at the end of the 2022 session. Over the last two weeks, the number and pace of hearings, as well as the number of bills filed, has jumped dramatically — and oil and gas issues began bubbling to the surface.
This is another record budget year for state government, and everyone has their hand out for some of the money sloshing around state coffers. Oil and gas revenues, depending on how you count, make up some 35%-40% of the total budget — courtesy of record high oil and gas production, coupled with continuing high energy prices. The sheer magnitude of that percentage, coupled with the unpredictable, rollercoaster nature of fossil fuel revenues, has legislators both excited at the near-term fiscal possibilities and nervous about a future when that money suddenly, inevitably shrinks.
