Rep. Joanne J. Ferrary

STATE News:

SANTA FE — Last Friday, Rep. Joanne J. Ferrary (D-37) and Sen. Antoinette Sedillo Lopez (D-16) respectively filed House Bill 230 and Senate Bill 259, identical “Liquor Tax Rates & Differential” bills, creating an Alcohol Harms Alleviation Fund (AHA Fund) to increase public safety and address the harms that alcohol-related incidents cause in New Mexico.

New Mexico has the most alcohol-related deaths per capita in the country. In 2021, 2,274 New Mexicans died due to alcohol (Source – NMDOH). The legislation would address this issue by increasing the alcohol excise tax to $0.25 per drink. This would generate an additional $155 million for the State, which will go to prevention, treatment, and reduction programs to help reduce alcohol-related harms in New Mexico. 

New Mexico currently faces high economic losses due to injuries and illnesses, productivity losses, healthcare costs, and criminal justice responses to alcohol-fueled crimes. Federal and state researchers calculated these costs at $2.77 per drink in New Mexico as of 2010 – estimated to be $3.71 today (Sacks et al 2015). These numbers have led Rep. Ferrary and Sen. Sedillo Lopez to act.

“This is one of those bad lists that we are number 1 on, and New Mexicans want to know what we are going to do about that,” said Sen. Sedillo Lopez . She continued “This is our chance to protect public safety, improve public health, reduce excessive consumption and save taxpayers money related to alcohol harms.”

Rep. Ferrary stated “This is commonsense legislation to building a better future for us all. We all know someone who has been impacted by alcohol-related harms, and the AHA Fund will provide needed prevention, treatment, and other reduction programs. Not only does this bill make New Mexico safer, it invests our economy.”

The legislation calls for a significant portion of the revenue to be appropriated to the Department of Human Services, which will fund programs related to recovery, prevention, treatment services, victim support, domestic violence, drug courts, tribal governments, and more.

Co-sponsors include Representatives D. Wonda Johnson (D-5) and Elizabeth Thomson (D-24), and Senators Shannon Pinto (D-3)and Bill Tallman (D-18), and is supported by activists and researchers throughout the State and country.

To view the bills in their entirety, see: HB 230 and SB 259.