ACI News:

• New Mexico Business Leaders Meet to Discuss Priorities, Goals

ALBUQUERQUE – More than 70 business leaders from throughout New Mexico convened Thursday at the semi-annual board and membership meeting of the New Mexico Association of Commerce and Industry (ACI), the statewide business advocate. 

The group discussed the upcoming legislative session and voted on a detailed policy agenda that ACI will support during the upcoming legislative session. ACI’s President and CEO, Dr. Beverlee McClure, said she and ACI’s advocacy staff are ready to get to work. 

“Businesses join ACI because we’re constantly engaged during the session and year-round,” McClure said. We’re in committees, we’re watching votes, and we’re helping legislators understand what a bill means for their constituents.  Bottom line, New Mexicans need jobs.  We work to make sure that the laws being passed in Santa Fe will create better opportunities for all New Mexicans.”

“We have a great agenda this year because it comes straight from the businesses who are hiring New Mexicans and who have a vested interest in growing our economy. It’s bipartisan, and it’s statewide—you don’t see that kind of perspective very often.”

One example is right-to-work, which has received statewide attention recently but has been an ACI priority for years. 

“ACI is not a group to only do what’s popular or easy,” McClure said. “We’re always advocating for the needs of our members and ultimately, New Mexicans.”

Other priorities this year include changes to the state procurement code to give New Mexico businesses a fair shot at competing for state contracts, and the introduction of an independent hearing officer to strengthen accountability and openness for taxpayers, both individuals and businesses. Every single item on ACI’s policy agenda (available here) is recommended, developed, and vetted by ACI’s member businesses.

Historically, ACI has been a powerhouse for passing pro-jobs legislation in New Mexico. During the 2014 legislative session, 57 percent of the bills ACI supported became law, compared to less than 6 percent of the anti-business bills the organization opposed.

ACI represents hundreds of individual businesses and thousands of New Mexico employees statewide.