New Mexico legislators are considering higher taxes and new restrictions on nicotine products such as nicotine pouches. These proposals are typically framed as public-health measures. In practice, they risk doing precisely the opposite—nudging smokers back toward cigarettes, expanding illicit markets, and increasing preventable disease. Cigarettes remain the most dangerous nicotine product legally sold in the […]
We need to modernize how financial literacy is taught entirely.
The Center for Responsible Lending’s “Buried in Debt” report fails as policy analysis.
Former New Mexico Republican chairman Steve Pearce is the opposite of what the complex agency needs.
The Institute warns that the Pearce nomination could undermine western land management
Originally published at abqjournal.com on October 18, 2025. Jeff Tucker is right about one thing: New Mexico needs to think big. His recent call for a billion-dollar NBA arena in Albuquerque is exactly the kind of visionary thinking our state has lacked for decades. But where Tucker sees an opportunity for government to build a […]
The Southwest Public Policy Institute (SPPI) has filed a formal complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) regarding the loan-sharking lending practices of former State Representative Tara Jaramillo and her company, Positive Outcomes, Inc. The action follows years of inaction by New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez and other state agencies, despite overwhelming evidence […]
As CFPB retreats, the new danger is a jumble of state-level mandates.
Good intentions don’t pay the bills. But choice, transparency, and access can.
The Southwest Public Policy Institute (SPPI) is proud to announce the unanimous appointment of Zachary Fort to its Board of Directors during the Institute’s quarterly board meeting held Monday, August 11th. Fort’s appointment comes as SPPI recognizes the dedicated service of three outgoing board members—Megan DeLaRosa, Becky Ingoglia, and Patrick O’Brien—whose terms have reached their […]
