The New Mexico Legislature has approved a bill that would, if signed into law, force nonprofit operators of U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories in the state to pay a gross receipts tax.
Senate Bill 17 cruised through the legislature with little opposition this session, culminating with a 48-19 vote in the state’s House of Representatives Tuesday that sends the bill to Gov. Susana Martinez (R) to sign.
A Martinez spokesperson would not comment this week about whether the governor planned to sign the bill, but said Martinez has until March 7 to approve or veto the measure.
A gross receipts tax is essentially a tax on revenue that nonprofits in New Mexico do not currently have to pay. Local interest groups worry that if a nonprofit wins the next 10-year contract to operate the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the state could lose out on $25 million to $30 million in taxes now paid annually by for-profit incumbent Los Alamos National Security (LANS).
The Energy Department expects to award the next Los Alamos management contract in April or May. A number of universities are known or rumored to be pursuing the follow-on contract, though the details or their potential teaming arrangements are largely unknown.
The only other DOE national lab in New Mexico, Sandia National Laboratories, is managed by a for-profit subsidiary of Honeywell.