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Committee advances bill to study grocery costs and recommend reductions
Summary
The House Appropriations & Finance Committee voted to recommend House Bill 17, which would form a commission to study grocery prices and recommend strategies to lower costs for consumers.
The House Appropriations & Finance Committee voted to give House Bill 17 a favorable recommendation after adopting an amendment that removes an appropriation. HB 17 would establish a commission to study grocery prices in New Mexico and recommend strategies to reduce costs for consumers, with an emphasis on essential food items and expanding market channels for locally produced and processed food.
Sponsor Representative Little told the committee the commission would meet in March after the session and deliver findings by Nov. 15, enabling interim committees and state agencies to consider implementing its recommendations. The amendment adopted in committee removes the bill's appropriation while leaving an emergency clause in place; committee members said funding for the commission's per-diem and mileage would come from Economic Development Department (EDD) budget lines.
Why it matters: Witnesses from nonprofit and economic-development programs said the commission could identify financing tools, technical assistance and infrastructure projects (storage, aggregation, distribution) that improve supply chains for local producers and lower retail costs. Several lawmakers questioned whether a study is the best use of funds and urged the committee to examine laws and other policy drivers that influence price, such as wages, taxes and large-scale market forces.
Public comment: Scott Lopez of Vida Mejua Capital, Erin Ortigosa of EDD, and other economic-development witnesses supported the bill as a way to produce actionable strategies for expanding healthy local food access. Representative Garrett and others pressed that the commission should study labor and out-of-state sourcing that influence prices.
Vote and next steps: The committee recorded a due-pass recommendation for HB 17 as amended; the transcript includes a roll call showing an 8-6 vote in favor. Sponsor and staff said the commission's member appointments will include efforts to ensure geographic, economic, gender, cultural and racial diversity and expertise spanning economics, consumer protection, agriculture, food production and nutrition.
