TJ Trujillo, attorney and lobbyist at Strategies 360, provided an update to attendees of the New Mexico Alcohol Alliance 2021 annual meeting held by videoconference on December 13, 2021.
Trujillo said the New Mexico Legislature may look at the results of the statutory changes that were made last year and may make changes. Legislators want to know if people are taking advantage of the GRT tax break that was written into the law. He also said there is confusion related to new laws governing cannabis; For example, can an owner of a liquor license also own a cannabis license if the two businesses are physically separated? Legislators may make some changes in the 30-day session if the governor’s call allows them to address this subject. Trujillo said that members should expect additional potentially harmful bills to be introduced in the 60-day, 2023 session, as lawmakers continue to try to change the New Mexico Liquor Control Act..
Trujillo encouraged everyone to look at the new ABC website, which contains a large amount of information. The interactive map indicates the number of liquor licenses per county. Information about the value of transferred licenses is also on the website, although it is buried toward the bottom of the Forms-Rules-Laws page. Currently, posted information only indicates license sales prior to changes in the law. But it was noted that ILD licenses dropped in value by about $100,000 during the first half of 2021.
A meeting participant estimated that the collective loss to liquor license owners is about $150 million. It was reported that banks are no longer making loans collateralized by licenses, however, banks are not calling existing loans that are performing well.
Discussion ensued about potential next steps that might compensate for harm done by the legislation. There was agreement that additional research and discussion is needed.